It has been a while since Vítor Pereira ventured into The Moon Under Water, the Wolverhampton city-centre Wetherspoons where last season he savoured victories with supporters. Now Wolves are at risk of drowning in the Premier League, bottom after taking two points from their opening nine games and without a win in six months. Supporters have made their anger plain but the Wolves head coach insists he is au fait with the pressure. “I remember in Porto after a draw it was impossible to go into a restaurant to eat with my family,” Pereira says. “This is football.”
For Wolves supporters, this campaign has descended into one big, fat told-you-so. Wolves have been stuck in a negative cycle and after another slow start fans are worried this will be the season they fail to escape and spiral into the Championship. Pereira rescued them after arriving last Christmas but much of his credit has evaporated. With every game comes increased pressure. “I’m a fighter,” he says. “The pressure is what I put on myself. I don’t feel the pressure, believe me. The pressure is important to be alert … if you don’t feel anything, you’re too relaxed. If you don’t accept the criticism or pressure, you must go to another job.”
Wolves have seen this film before. They waited until last December to dispense with Gary O’Neil and Julen Lopetegui left of his own volition on the eve of the previous season. Before him, Bruno Lage made it until the beginning of October. Nuno Espírito Santo left by mutual consent in May 2021 after four largely golden years and Fosun, Wolves’s Chinese owner, pines for stability. It will not get it if bad results continue, with Saturday’s trip to Fulham the next hurdle. The soul-destroying thing for supporters is they saw this coming. It has been signposted for a while.
The decision to reward Pereira with a three-year contract in September amid a poor start looks peculiar now but had long been mooted. Wolves prioritised the summer transfer window and believed this season could be different. Matheus Cunha, Rayan Aït-Nouri and Nélson Semedo departed but they retained Jørgen Strand Larsen, rejecting a bid from Newcastle totalling £55m, which would have earned them handsome profit, and convinced him to sign a new contract. It feels like deja vu given O’Neil and his staff were given fresh contracts the previous summer.
Wolves are haemorrhaging goals – only West Ham have conceded more in the top flight – and have been punished for slow starts and careless finishes. They surrendered leads against Brighton and Tottenham and after clawing back to 2-2 from two goals down at home to Burnley last Sunday they conceded a stoppage-time winner. They have given up seven points across three of their past four league games with goals conceded in the 86th minute or later. In the Carabao Cup against Chelsea on Wednesday, after dragging themselves back into the game from 3-0 down, they allowed 10-man opponents to re-establish a two-goal buffer.
Strand Larsen’s one league goal has come from a penalty against Burnley and only Nottingham Forest have scored fewer league goals. Bart Verbruggen, whose own goal gave Wolves the lead against Brighton last month, has as many league goals for Wolves as any Wolves player. This time last year O’Neil could point to a wretched run of fixtures. This season Wolves have been beaten by all three promoted teams.
Pereira has struggled to land on his best team and flip-flopped with his selections, some more curious than others. João Gomes and André, the Brazil midfielders and probably Wolves’ most talented players, have been dropped. He has not named the same defence since an alarming defeat at Bournemouth in the second game. Since then Pereira has flitted between systems and personnel, switching from his favoured 3-4-3 to a four-man defence. Sam Johnstone has replaced José Sá as his first-choice goalkeeper. Toti Gomes, named club captain at the start of the season, has played one league minute since being withdrawn at home to Leeds. The same goes for Emmanuel Agbadou, a January signing integral to their upturn last season.
There are also questions around leadership, with Toti one of six players to wear the armband across nine league matches. Strand Larsen became the latest, after Hugo Bueno, João Gomes, Matt Doherty and Sá. In a season where experienced performers such Kyle Walker, arguably the best player on the pitch at Molineux last weekend, Granit Xhaka and Jordan Henderson have driven impressive team performances, it feels a salient point. Those kinds of signings fly in the face of Wolves’ policy to generally recruit younger players with resale value.
A lot of Wolves’ problems go back to recruitment. There have been several success stories but there is not much wriggle room. Jackson Tchatchoua, Ladislav Krejci, Jhon Arias, Fer López, David Møller Wolfe and Tolu Arokodare arrived without Premier League experience. Johnstone’s signing from Crystal Palace last August was the last time they did a deal with another Premier League club.
Wolves want to give Pereira time to turn things around. Despite results, it is hard to argue the players are not playing for the Portuguese, given the way they stirred against Burnley and salvaged some credit at home to Chelsea. Last season under O’Neil Wolves felt there were more problems permeating the squad, chiefly ill-discipline, disharmony and a lack of belief from players and staff. “It’s the first time in my career I am facing this kind of situation,” says Pereira, this his 14th club. “I am resilient. I have confidence in the work, in my players and that we have the conditions to tackle the situation.”
The lights briefly went off as Pereira fielded questions about his future inside a room at Wolves’ Compton training base on Friday. Has he been pleasantly surprised by the internal support given the shelf life of managers in this era?
“You know why?” he says. “Because they work every day with me and my staff. They know the way that we are working, fighting, trying to find solutions, to keep the spirit, to defend the club. And because we proved that last season in a few months that we can get results and play good football. This season has been more difficult. Today is what we must live by. Tomorrow: be focused to compete at our level and try to get the result. The future? I don’t know if I will be there or not.”
