Wolves have had a rough start in the Premier League this season, but Mario Lemina has given everything so far.
The Gabon international became the club’s new captain over the summer, after Max Kilman was sold to West Ham United.
It was a decision that most fans backed, with Lemina having pretty much acted as a captain beforehand, just without the armband.
So far, Lemina has been heavily involved once again for Wolves, playing every minute of every Premier League game so far. He has also featured off the bench twice in the Carabao Cup.
Lemina cut an emotional figure on Saturday at the full-time whistle after Wolves lost to Liverpool.
The star was crestfallen after Wolves’ efforts did not lead to any points and it has been suggested that he could perhaps even do with a rest.
But Gary O’Neil would certainly lose a lot of combativeness if he did that.
Mario Lemina second only to William Saliba for tackle success rate in Europe’s top five leagues
Lemina ended up at centre-back on Saturday against Liverpool.
Santi Bueno was forced off with an injury, with O’Neil replacing him with midfielder Tommy Doyle.
Craig Dawson did not make the matchday squad due to illness, so Lemina once again played out of position.
The 31-year-old has been all over the place so far this season, but regardless of where he’s been on the pitch, Lemina has still been his usual tenacious self.
WhoScored reported one impressive statistic about the Wolves skipper yesterday.
According to them, so far this season, Lemina actually has the second-highest tackle success rate across Europe’s top five leagues (of players to attempt over 20 or more).
The star has a very impressive rate of 91.7% up to now.
The only player ahead of him is the Arsenal centre-back William Saliba, who has 100% so far.
WhoScored stress that the above stat is ‘tackle success, rather than tackle win %’. They say ‘tackle success is the % of all tackles attempted (includes when a player is dribbled past) that dispossess the opponent. Tackles won is % of tackles where a player leaves a tackle with possession’.
A big effort from Lemina
It has been a typically big effort so far this season from Lemina, and his reaction to the defeat against Liverpool was somewhat understandable.
The £10 million signing is a player who always leaves everything out there, and the way the game went on Saturday seemingly just caused his emotions to come out.
Lemina’s tenacity is always very impressive.
Realistically, he should not be operating in those advanced midfield positions because his combativeness is nowhere near as effective. He also isn’t exactly prolific in front of goal, although he does pop up with one from time to time.