Wolves are in serious trouble at the bottom of the Premier League table following their latest 5-3 defeat against Brentford on Saturday.
Gary O’Neil has collected just one point from Wolves opening seven league matches this season, leaving them rooted to the foot of the table.
Although it’s not been the easiest start with defeats coming against Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Newcastle, the Old Gold need to start winning matches, otherwise, they could be in big trouble.
Former Premier League player Darren Ambrose has predicted Wolves to get relegated along with Leicester City and Southampton while Shay Given pinpoints O’Neil’s downfall on the sales of Pedro Neto and Max Kilman.
Given is correct in saying that Neto and Kilman haven’t been adequately replaced but that isn’t the most pressing problem at the moment.
Nathan Judah thinks Wolves playing Toti Gomes is a ‘recipe for disaster’
Wolves are on track to break Sheffield United’s record of conceding 104 goals in a single Premier League campaign with O’Neil’s men shipping 21 in their opening seven games.
The Wanderers have huge issues defensively and that stems from their inability to sign an experienced centre-back in the transfer window.
One player who has seriously struggled in defence is Toti Gomes, who was at fault for Brentford’s first and third goals on Saturday.
Toti has put in some ‘clumsy’ performances for Wolves and isn’t suited to playing in a back four however, with the injury to Yerson Mosquera, O’Neil has no choice but to play him.
Wolves expert Nathan Judah believes that starting players who are out of form such as Toti is a ‘recipe for disaster’.
Speaking on the Keen & Judah show via Shots TV, Judah said: “If you go to a three at the back, which Gary O’Neil kind of alluded to in his post-match press conference that he’s going to have a bit of a re-think.
“With someone [Toti Gomes] who is struggling so much in terms of his form, what would you do? You would take him out of the lineup, you would give him a bit of a rest.
“O’Neil has taken Toti out of the team before and benched him a little bit but you can’t do that at this moment in time, especially if you’re going to three set centre-backs in terms of Toti, Craig Dawson and Santi Bueno. There’s no one else, you’ve got Alfie Pond as your only lone, I guess realistic centre-back.
“Yes, you can move Nelson Semedo inside there or Matt Doherty or you can move Mario Lemina back.
“But let’s be honest, we’re talking about three senior centre-backs at the club, and they’re going to have to play. And that means you’re playing people who are out of form, and that is just a recipe for disaster as well.”
Wolves made to pay for lack of planning in the summer
Everyone knew that a replacement was needed for Kilman, who joined West Ham for £40 million in the summer.
However, sporting director Matt Hobbs felt Wolves didn’t need to sign a player to fill Kilman’s void, and how wrong has he proven to be.
The injury to Mosquera, along with Hugo Bueno being sent out on loan to Feyenoord, means Wolves have three senior setbacks, as mentioned above, with only Craig Dawson, Toti and Santi Bueno to choose from.
Another injury to one of those players would leave O’Neil in serious bother as he would have to keep with a back four or use youngster Alfie Pond in a back three.
To only go into a Premier League campaign with four fit centre backs was a recipe for disaster and now they’ve realised how important Kilman’s presence was in defence.