- Wolves moved two points clear of the drop zone after Black Country derby win
- Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Matheus Cunha were on the scoresheet for hosts
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Ollie Watkins to Arsenal? It’s terrible planning from Arsenal… it’s all a bit late and panicked from the Gunners!
Maybe Unai Emery is tricking us all and has developed a cunning plan to play Marcus Rashford in defence for Aston Villa.
The Manchester United forward is due to have a medical on Sunday ahead of a loan move to Villa Park in what would be one of the most remarkable deals of the window.
Yet as this poor display at Wolves proved, Emery’s greatest need is at the other end of the pitch, where he is without three regulars and allowed Diego Carlos to join Fenerbahce without lining up a replacement. Villa have now failed to win seven of their eight league games that have followed a Champions League fixture and Emery’s four substitutions at half-time told its own story.
A word on Wolves. This was perhaps their best display of the season and lifted them out of the relegation zone. There were plenty of excellent performances in old gold and they could have won by many more than Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s first-half strike and Matheus Cunha’s stoppage-time clincher.
With Ipswich and Leicester losing earlier in the day, Vitor Pereira’s men put themselves back in the driving seat for survival. There was no excuse, though, for the bottle launched in stoppage time that nearly struck Villa substitute Leon Bailey as he prepared to take a corner.
Rashford could be many things for Villa, but he is unlikely to be an effective replacement for Pau Torres, Tyrone Mings or Matty Cash, who all missed this one due to injury. Villa are desperate to sign a centre-back before the window closes on Monday and they have put themselves in a rotten negotiating position.
To sum it up, Kosta Nedeljkovic – a player Emery has said publicly is available for loan this month – was brought on late for Lamare Bogarde, whose best position is in midfield but finished his match at right-back.
Emery is a brilliant coach who has taken Villa from a relegation scrap to the last 16 of the Champions League in less than two and a half years, but Villa’s behaviour in the market is chaotic. They seem to move at random rather than following a clear plan and letting Carlos and Emi Buendia leave without securing reinforcements was an unforced error.
Villa’s transfer chief Monchi once claimed the club follow about 500 players at any time. If their research is so thorough, why the late move for a very highly-paid forward who has not played well consistently for two years – and has not played at all since December 12?
The Molineux crowd launched straight into their chants targeted at chairman Jeff Shi yet their team were superb.
Bellegarde drove in the opener after 12 minutes when he was allowed to run untracked on to Pablo Sarabia’s pass, but Wolves should have had more before the break.
In the 36th minute Cunha – a target for many clubs in this window – shook off Boubacar Kamara and was thwarted by Emi Martinez. Goncalo Guedes put the rebound wide.
Unai Emery was furious that Wolves had not been penalised for heavy challenges on Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins earlier in the move. His set-piece coach Austin MacPhee, never a man to stay in the background during a game, was similarly animated.
Guedes had two more excellent chances in the closing moments of the half. Sarabia and Bellegarde combined impressively to send the Portuguese forward through, only for him to miss the target. And when Andre and Cunha dovetailed to create another chance for Guedes, Martinez came to Villa’s rescue a second time.
Effectively admitting he had made a mess of his team selection, Emery changed nearly half of his outfield players at the interval. Debutant Andres Garcia was playing instead of the injured Matty Cash and was hooked along with Jacob Ramsey, Lucas Digne and Watkins, as Amadou Onana, Ian Maatsen, Donyell Malen and Leon Bailey arrived for the second half.
Villa had the ball in the net when Wolves switched off at a free-kick and Malen steered home John McGinn’s low cross from inside the six-yard box but the effort was ruled out for offside.
Malen looked livelier than the jaded Watkins had and at least gave the Wolves back three something to think about. His fellow Dutchman Maatsen also tried to step on the gas, only to fall on his backside in front of the South Bank, who reacted with merciless delight.
They were nearly silenced moments by Leon Bailey, whose effort was arrowing towards the corner when Emmanuel Agbadou blocked it just in time.
Thankfully for Wolves boss Vitor Pereira, his side had been more organised off the pitch than they were on it. A simple double substitution turned into a farce as Tommy Doyle and Rodrigo Gomes waited to come on, and Pablo Sarabia twice though he was being taken off. Eventually the mystery was solved and Rayan Ait-Nouri was brought off along with Guedes.
With time ticking away, Sa made two fine saves from Malen and as they had been all day, Wolves defenders were quick to snuff out the danger. Then with Villa stretched, Cunha settled the matter with an expertly-taken goal on the counter-attack.
