It has been a pretty tough start for Wolves so far this season in the Premier League.
It was perhaps always going to be the case that Wanderers would struggle to get points on the board, with Arsenal away and Chelsea at home the first two games of the season.
Wolves lost both matches. Against the Gunners, there were positive signs in the 2-0 defeat. There were also some encouraging periods against Chelsea, before the Blues ran riot in the second-half at Molineux, winning 6-2 in the end.
Rayan Ait-Nouri came in for a lot of criticism after the game for his poor defending.
He was rather all over the place, with Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer doing a lot of damage.
Ait-Nouri has not started too well, although he was better in the Carabao Cup win over Burnley.
But there is currently another Wolves player that Gary O’Neil could do with getting a lot more from – and he is a player who was one of the standouts last season.
Hwang Hee-chan has underwhelmed for Wolves so far in 2024/25
Last season, Hwang Hee-chan was a real success story for Wolves.
He was one of several players to respond really well to O’Neil’s arrival, with the South Korean contributing greatly in the final third.
He finished the season with 13 goals and three assists to his name, and all through the campaign the manager picked him when he was available to play.
He was rewarded with a new contract last December and made one of the club’s top-earning players.
But it has been a rather slow start for Hwang in 2024/25 so far.
According to fbref data, Hwang hasn’t actually had a single shot at goal across his three league appearances against Arsenal, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest.
The £14 million signing has also struggled to beat his man, recording a take-on success percentage so far of just 20%.
It’s not all bad though. Hwang has tried to be positive, and has a shot-creating actions per 90 metric of 2.01 so far. This is higher than Strand Larsen (0.70), but pales in comparison to Cunha (4.24).
Against Forest, O’Neil actually dropped Hwang to the bench with Jorgen Strand Larsen and Matheus Cunha operating in attack with support outside from Rayan Ait-Nouri and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde. He came on in place of Ait-Nouri around the 60-minute mark.
Last season, Hwang didn’t spend too much time on the bench, indicating he was very important for O’Neil. Seemingly now, he has work to do to regain his undroppable status.
Wolves need Hwang to rediscover his mojo
So it has not been the greatest of starts this season for Hwang.
Perhaps the arrival of Strand Larsen has affected him slightly, and maybe he still needs to work out how best to play with the Norwegian.
A big part of why Hwang was so good last term was that he arrived in the box a lot. Now, Strand Larsen is in there occupying those spaces, with Hwang holding width a bit more than usual.
Hwang remains a very important player for Wolves. He hasn’t started too well, but you still see him trying to work his socks off and that is a trait that will always stand him in good stead.
The manager just needs a bit more threat from him, and we all know he can provide it.
The international break perhaps comes at a good time for Hwang, with Andy Thompson having recently noted that the player looked ‘leggy’ against Chelsea.
Hwang could do with rediscovering his mojo soon though, because there are some very talented players waiting to get minutes and the warning signs are already there for him, having been dropped to the bench in place of Ait-Nouri on Saturday.