Wolves put in a performance to remember on Saturday afternoon as they overcame Fulham 4-1 at Craven Cottage.
After an initial horrific start to the season, Wolves are finally producing the quality that the Molineux faithful have been craving.
On the back of their vital 2-0 victory against Southampton, Gary O’Neil’s side faced the tricky task of challenging an in-form Fulham side.
Injuries had limited Wolves’ options with only one fit centre-back available. However, Matheus Cunha produced a masterful performance as he netted twice and picked up an assist on the way to victory.
While Cunha will no doubt take the headlines, after the game, O’Neil highlighted Mario Lemina’s display after the captain was forced to play out of position throughout.
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Gary O’Neil praises Mario Lemina for his ‘excellent’ performance against Fulham
Lemina was thrown into the deep end at Fulham. With the captain forced to play as a centre-back due to shortages, the line-up echoed deja vu as a similar situation happened to Ruben Neves in Bruno Lage’s last game.
However, unlike the uninspiring defeat at the London Stadium two years ago, Lemina held firm and produced a great performance at the back.
While the assist was no doubt the highlight, defensively, the Wolves captain barely put a foot wrong, with Fulham creating little after the equaliser.
After the game, O’Neil was overjoyed as Lemina produced a ‘top display’ despite his unusual role at Craven Cottage.
He said: “I thought he was excellent there. It’s not that I thought it was excellent for a midfielder playing there, I thought it was an excellent centre-back performance. Physically, he has the tools to play there, he’s strong, he’s quick, he’s very good with the ball, but obviously there’s a concern when you put someone there who hasn’t played there.
“I don’t think he’s ever played there in a four, but he hasn’t played in the back line for years, there were concerns maybe in his position stuff. We did a bit of work with him yesterday on understanding positioning and Jimenez, but he was excellent at all of it.
“I thought it was a real top performance, and that’s not easy to do at the highest level, when you’re thrown into a position that you’re not used to. There were so many good performances, it feels wrong to speak too much about individuals, because you could go on forever; Joao Gomes, Rayan, Toti Gomes – Toti’s our number one left back and he just had to play centre-half with Mario Lemina and didn’t put a foot wrong.
“Jose Sa as well. Since we brought Sam in to fight and to stay with a group and to earn back his place, there’s some real good stories in there of what the lads have had to go through to get to this point. But we need to move forward again.”
Mario Lemina is getting back to his best at Wolves
Lemina was at the centre of Wolves’ poor start to the season. The captain continuously struggled for the Old Gold as the results worsened.
Against Brentford, Lemina was horrific and easily had his worst game in an Old Gold shirt.
However, since then, he has recovered well and has led the club on a four-game unbeaten streak, pulling them out of the relegation zone.
The captain is no doubt one of Wolves’ best players when he is on form and going into the next few fixtures, it is vital that he builds upon his display against Fulham to ensure more points are won.