Dave Edwards believes Ruben Neves’ substitution against Leeds United was hugely detrimental to Wolves.
Wanderers were beaten 4-2 by the Whites, in what was one of the worst results of the season.
There were a number of poor decisions in the game.
Wolves felt they should have had a penalty for a foul by Junior Firpo on Nelson Semedo. Match of the Day pundit Ashley Williams disagreed though.
And Leeds’ fourth goal was contentious, with Adama Traore’s shirt being pulled in the build up.
Leeds felt Craig Dawson should have received a second booking for a foul on Patrick Bamford. The defender was slightly fortunate.
And Jonny Castro Otto’s challenge on Luke Ayling was initially only given a yellow card by Michael Salisbury. After a VAR intervention, it was rightly upgraded to a red. Wolves won’t be appealing against that decision.
Wolves were poor at both ends of the pitch on Saturday.
But they did well to get it back to 3-2, and there was a feeling that Julen Lopetegui’s side might have been able to find an equaliser.
Lopetegui then decided to hook Ruben Neves and bring on Joao Moutinho.
According to Edwards, this move really killed Wolves’ momentum, as he was the team’s best player.
He wrote in his latest Express & Star column: “I could not quite understand why he took off Ruben Neves.
“I do not know if there was an injury there or something. But he was the best player on the pitch and when he went off at 3-2 Wolves seemed to lose all their momentum.”
Ruben Neves substitution against Leeds really harmed Wolves, but Lopetegui felt it was needed
Neves was indeed the best player on the pitch. So it was frustrating to see him go off when he did.
Who knows what might have happened had he stayed on.
After the game, Lopetegui did say that Neves had been contending with a slight knock in the game.
So seemingly, he was unable to play on for any longer.