Bruno Lage went with Marcal and Ki-Jana Hoever at wing-back for the clash with West Ham on Sunday, which ended in defeat.
Nelson Semedo was out injured but Marcal was preferred to Rayan Ait-Nouri, and David Edwards has criticised their performances in the Express and Star.
It was a game which underlined the importance of Semedo and Ait-Nouri, as we have already written and it would not be a surprise to see the latter earn an instant return to the side.
“In particular I thought the wing-backs were poor, which was a real shame. Ki-Jana Hoever hadn’t played this year, so it was a huge ask for him, but you could tell he was off the pace,” he wrote.
“Fernando Marcal is a lot more reserved and more of a left-back, so you won’t get him bombing down that left side, which really restricted Wolves in the way they played.
“Once Wolves allowed West Ham to get back in their shape, which we did a little bit too easily without enough pace on the pitch, they were very quick to go backwards and retain possession. Wolves had to be quicker to move it wide and get around the back.”
The size of Wolves’ squad has been a concern and a talking point all season but Lage rotated and made five changes at the weekend.
It is fair to say it did not pay off at the weekend and there was not a noticeable energy boost in the side after the late defeat to Arsenal on Thursday.
The problem with rotating is some of the players coming in are not quite match sharp and that was true at wing-back on Sunday, a position of the pitch where it is so important to bomb up and down.
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