Molineux legend Lee Naylor has suggested that Wolves could have done with Tommy Doyle on the pitch sooner against Brentford.
Wanderers crashed to a 2-0 defeat at home at the weekend, with two mistakes making it a tough result to stomach.
Christian Norgaard and Ivan Toney scored for the Bees, and Wolves have now slipped down to 11th in the table again after Chelsea beat Crystal Palace on Monday.
Wolves were sloppy against Brentford.
After scoring their opener, Thomas Frank’s side got men behind the ball and were tough to break down, but Wolves weren’t good on the ball.
In the eyes of Naylor, Gary O’Neil might have turned to Tommy Doyle a bit sooner than he did…
Lee Naylor suggests Wolves could have done with Tommy Doyle coming on sooner v Brentford
Naylor spoke after the game on Saturday and like many fans, was really disappointed with the performance at Molineux.
Wolves were just not incisive enough when they really needed to be, and for Naylor, Doyle should have been brought on earlier in the game.
He said on Matchday Live Extra: “Seeing the game with hindsight and how it went, Doyle is probably the one that you probably would have had on. Because of his passing and the way he moves it fast.
“We didn’t have that in the first-half. We hardly got on the ball let’s be honest. But when we did we gave it away. But when you’re looking at the game, that’s when you think Doyle is probably the one that should be in there moving the ball.”
Doyle did eventually get on against Brentford, replacing Joao Gomes on 63 minutes.
Doyle completed 36/40 passes (90%) during his 30-minute appearance, and had 45 touches of the ball, compared to the 50 Gomes had for the 60 or so minutes he was on (via Sofascore).
Half-time sub may have been the play
Quite possibly, Doyle, 22, should have come on at half-time for Wolves with the player Brentford were playing.
Gomes did not have one of his best games and wasn’t controlling the midfield or using the ball particularly effectively and Doyle – a player branded ‘outstanding’ by former Wolves winger Mark Kennedy – might have been a better option, especially with Wolves losing the creativity of Matheus Cunha, who got injured.
Doyle did come on in the second-half, but didn’t have a huge amount of time to make an impact.
O’Neil leaving Gomes on a bit longer was understandable though, given how good the Brazilian was against Chelsea.