Wolves moved up into eighth place in the Premier League table at the weekend with a 1-0 win over Sheffield United – but Andy Thompson feels one player is a little bit off the pace at the moment.
Gary O’Neil‘s side took three points against the Blades, despite a pretty poor second-half showing.
Wolves were good in the first 45 and took the lead through Pablo Sarabia, who scored a wonderful header from a perfect Rayan Ait-Nouri cross.
After emerging for the second-half though, Wolves just struggled to play their usual passing game, with several players guilty of misplacing passes. Thankfully, Sheffield United were not able to capitalise on Wolves dropping their standards.
After the game, former Molineux full-back Thompson gave his thoughts on Matchday Live Extra – and admitted he feels Hwang Hee-chan isn’t quite at it at the moment…
Lee Naylor believes Hwang Hee-chan hasn’t found his feet since returning to Wolves from the Asia Cup
Hwang was starting his second game in a row for Wolves on Saturday, since returning from the Asia Cup with South Korea.
Hwang actually picked up an injury in training after returning to Wolves from international duty, and could not feature in the (second league) game with Brentford.
He came back against Tottenham but didn’t make too much of an impact, and on Sunday against Sheffield United it was a similar story. On Sofascore, he was the lowest-rated Wolves player and didn’t have any shots at goal.
Thompson said: “I think before he went away playing in the Asian Cup games, I think he would have hit that. He’s come back, and he doesn’t look right at the moment. He doesn’t look his (usual) sharp self. He looks a little bit lethargic, his movement didn’t look as sharp.
“You usually say him and he’s usually on the button with his runs. With his touch, and running.
“We saw the injury he had before the game, maybe he was carrying that a little bit. He didn’t look himself at all.”
There was some concern for Hwang just before kick-off when he went down while warming up for Wolves. After receiving treatment though, he was deemed fit enough to start.
Hwang’s momentum has taken a slight hit
Hwang did not seem his usual sharp self against Sheffield United, although he did work hard as he always does. The Molineux crowd absolutely loved when he chased down a full-back to prevent a clearance in the early stages of the game.
But it was a bit of a frustrating afternoon for him, as it was against Spurs at times.
But Hwang missed a couple of South Korea’s games at the Asian Cup through injury, and then obviously he came back and picked up another knock and so, the momentum he had right at the start of the year has kind of gone.
But Wolves fans will back the start to find form again. It’s been a bit stop-start for him recently, but hopefully, he can get back amongst the goals on Wednesday against Brighton.