Dave Edwards recently spoke about the form of Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, insisting that the midfielder was badly missed when he missed games through injury earlier this season.
As Wanderers don’t play a game until April 10, now is a good time to take stock of the season.
It’s been a disastrous campaign and one that looks like it will sadly end in relegation.
But at least now, Rob Edwards’ hard work is starting to bear fruit, with Wolves pulling a few great results out of the bag.
It may be too little too late though, and one wonders if the situation perhaps might have been different had Jean-Ricner Bellegarde been fit for the whole campaign.
For Dave Edwards, the Haiti international’s injury earlier this season was costly.
Dave Edwards talks up Jean-Ricner Bellegarde as Wolves seek strong finish
Speaking on the Official Wolves podcast, Edwards said of Bellegarde.
“I think he’s someone who we really missed earlier in the year when he was injured. I think Rob would have really used him a lot in that period of games.
“But he’s come back in, and I think he’s just an effective footballer. I think he impacts the game in good ways, he’s very reliable. You know what you’re getting from him defensively.
“He carries the ball extremely well, and he ate up the ground (vs Brentford), travelled 30 or 40 yards.
Back in December, Bellegarde sustained a hamstring injury in the first game against Manchester United at Molineux.
It was the very last thing Wolves needed, with Bellegarde in form at the time. He’d even scored in that 4-1 defeat, giving Wanderers a lifeline in the game.
He’d miss the next eight Premier League games, with Wolves winning just one game during his absence, drawing three and losing four.
Bellegarde then made his return against Bournemouth, getting around 20 minutes off the bench.
His first start since coming back from injury was against Arsenal, and he has started three of the four games since, which coincided with Wolves’ upturn in form.
Bellegarde’s absence was certainly a blow for the Old Gold, especially as he has always been one of the only real attack-minded midfielders capable of making things happen for Wolves in the final third.
Had he not sustained that injury, who knows if Wolves would be cut as far adrift at this point.
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