Wolves faced off with Brighton and Hove Albion in a 3pm Premier League kick-off at the Amex.
It has been a rough start to the 2024/25 season for Gary O’Neil and his players, who were probably disappointed not to get at least a point out of their meeting with Manchester City last weekend.
Wolves kicked off on the South Coast 20th in the Premier League table and still winless after eight games.
Despite their struggles this campaign, the Wolves manager opted to make just one change to his starting eleven on Saturday.
Tommy Doyle came into the line-up for the first time in the Premier League this term, with Andre dropping to the bench.
And the decision to start the former Manchester City midfielder, who moved to Molineux permanently over the summer, proved to be the right one.
Tommy Doyle was Wolves’ MVP vs Brighton
Things got off to a typically nightmarish start at the Amex for the Midlands outfit.
Jose Sa was at fault for the Brighton opener, with fans taking to social media to hit out at the goalkeeper.
The game then went from bad to worse in the 85th minute when Evan Ferguson put the home side 2-0 up and seemingly killed off any hope Wolves had of securing a point.
However, the away side finally clicked into gear in the closing stages and scored two very late goals via Rayan Ait-Nouri and Matheus Cunha to rescue a draw.
While both players deserve credit for their role in the comeback, it was Doyle who really stood out amongst the crowd for Wolves.
As per Sofascore, the 23-year-old provided the assist for Cunha’s goal, had a 91 percent passing accuracy, completed all of his dribbles, won four of his six ground duels and made two clearances.
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Gary O’Neil deserves credit for starting Tommy Doyle for Wolves vs Brighton
Prior to Saturday, Doyle had played just 110 minutes of action across six league appearances, with no outing lasting longer than 45 minutes.
Doyle had been left ‘disappointed’ by his game time in the current campaign but has now surely done enough to warrant keeping his starting place for Wolves’ next fixture.
O’Neil has been under a lot of pressure this season as his team still remain winless after nine league ties.
And the former Middlesbrough man did come under fire during the game and prior to kick-off when he dropped Andre.
However, the decision to start Doyle vs Brighton proved to be a masterstroke and O’Neil should be praised for that call.
It should now also be clear to the 41-year-old that Doyle needs to be a regular fixture in the starting eleven going forward.