Wolves’ defeat to Aston Villa was disappointing, but Andros Townsend isn’t pinning the blame on the players.
The Midlands derby at the weekend was decided by one moment — a thunderous strike from Boubacar Kamara.
Dave Edwards reckons Chris Kavanagh made a mistake in not calling a foul on Joao Gomes in the build-up, but many are pinning the blame on a Wolves defensive lapse.
Townsend is not, though. He thinks Rob Edwards and the players were caught between a rock and a hard place.
It took a screamer for Aston Villa to break down a resilient Wolves defence 🚀
Andros Townsend not blaming Wolves defence for Villa goal
The goal itself was simply quality. Kamara rifled it in from 20+ yards.
Criticism was focused on Wolves not getting out to him in time, but the former Crystal Palace star — who boasts a few Premier League worldies himself — reckons they didn’t have much of a choice.
Appearing on BBC’s Monday Night Club, Townsend was asked about their threat from distance this season. More than half of Villa’s league goals have come from outside the penalty area.
He said: “The game the other day, Youri Tielemans, who’s got a hell of a strike from outside the box, Wolves decided we’re not going to go close him down. We’re going to let him shoot.
“If you let someone with that quality shoot, more often than not, he’s going to score. Now, if you then say, I’m going to take my midfielders and we’re going to close down the two number sixes, uh, Tielemans, and Kamara on that occasion, then what Villa want to do is they want to slip the ball into their three number 10s, Buendia, McGinn, and Rogers.
“So, it’s like, which one do you prefer? Do you want them to shoot from long range or should we press the shooters and they slip it in to their number 10s and score that way?”
Townsend has been critical of Wolves this season, but he isn’t blaming them for not closing down shooters, considering that Villa had three attackers waiting to receive the ball between the lines. Sometimes, you make a choice and it doesn’t pay off.
The verdict is in for the Old Gold players…
Wolves can accept that goal and move on
The Premier League’s Goal of the Month nominations will be coming out in the next few days.
It will be a shock if Kamara’s strike isn’t in contention.
So many times this season, Wolves have thrown away results through defensive errors and generally wasteful play. While the finishing left a lot to be desired, it’s hard to find fault in how they set up defensively.
Sometimes, individual quality decides games. That’s what happened on Saturday.
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