Unai Emery have given credit to Wolves’ midfield, following last night’s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.
Wolves took a point at Villa Park, but it could easily have been all three, or even zero.
Wanderers created several good chances, but were only able to take one in the first-half through Daniel Podence.
He exchanged passes with Joao Moutinho and showed some lovely footwork before finishing on his left foot into the far corner.
Matheus Nunes and Adama Traore both had presentable opportunities to double Wolves’ lead.
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But Villa grabbed an equaliser through Danny Ings, who collected a lofted through ball from Tyrone Mings.
Jose Sa might have been more decisive following the striker’s heavy touch. But he hesitated, slipped slightly and could not stop Ings’ shot.
Julen Lopetegui will be pleased with what he saw though.
Wolves are definitely improving under the new manager and with a few more good additions, the picture will hopefully be looking much better.
Wolves were good in most departments at Villa Park.
And Emery gave credit to the visitors’ midfield after the game. He admitted: “The first half we were very, very upset because we didn’t play like we usually play. Wolverhampton were very good in the centre of the pitch; we didn’t control the match with good positioning or ball possession.
“We started with a very good chance for Leon Bailey, it was good.
“But then they created more opportunities around our box and we were losing, it was fair.
“In the second-half we came back, with our supporters pushing, playing with heart.”
Wolves had control against Aston Villa and we must see more of this, as Emery praises midfield
On paper, Wolves’ midfield is the strongest aspect of the team.
So last night it was good to see it in control against Villa, who have two very good midfielders in Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara.
You can see that Matheus Nunes is starting to come good. He is now being played in a deeper role he is more familiar with. And Joao Moutinho is operating more advanced, with Ruben Neves sitting.
It has a nice balance about it, and of course they all hail from Portugal meaning communication should be strong.
It has the potential to dominate games moving forwards and hopefully that will prove to be the case. Winning the midfield battle is often key to winning games.