The Wolves players continue to work hard out in Portugal ahead of the 2025/26 season, and one tactic was being worked on ‘a lot’ today in training.
Vitor Pereira oversaw his first game of the pre-season training camp on Tuesday, with Wolves losing to Santa Clara.
Despite the defeat, Wolves apparently played well, with several stars really impressing. Nathan Judah noted that Andre was looking a level above most other players.
And previously Liam Keen praised Sasa Kalajdzic for taking his goal so well.
Jorgen Strand Larsen and Fer Lopez’s link up play was also branded ‘outstanding’, which bodes very well indeed.
The work has continued today on a particularly hot day, although there has been no let up in the level of intensity.
And journalist Liam Keen has shared something Wolves were doing quite a lot on the training ground.
Wolves have worked on long ball to striker tactic in pre-season training
Under Pereira, Wolves have played in different ways.
Wanderers can allow the opposition to have more of the ball if they so desire, with Pereira placing emphasis on relentless pressing through the likes of Marshall Munetsi, Joao Gomes and Andre, and turning the ball over in dangerous areas.
But we have also seen Wolves use the ball really well and play some nice football, getting the ball out to the wing-backs.
With Rayan Ait-Nouri having been sold, and Nelson Semedo’s exit soon to be confirmed, there may well be less focus on those two positions in 2025/26.
And one thing Wolves were working on ‘a lot’ in training on Thursday was the long ball up to the striker tactic – with Emmanuel Agbadou mentioned.
Liam Keen said: “We know having spoken to Fer Lopez, he spoke about the manager wanting to control possession, and we saw a lot of that under Vitor last season as well. Obviously, in certain games that isn’t possible.
“But you have to adapt the game plan depending on how you’re going to best win that game. And we’ve seen that a lot in training.
“But what we also saw today was a lot of long ball stuff as well. Agbadou with one hell of a ping on him by the way, taking the goal kick, hitting it today Kalajdzic, Larsen…
“To be fair to Larsen and Kalajdzic, we saw some really good knock downs from both of them into the likes of Fer Lopez, Lima, Ki-Jana Hoever, any overlapping 10s as well.
“So they’re sort of working on different scenarios for different games and different oppositions, which is exactly what you’d expect from pre-season.”
Wolves must mix it up tactically and Agbadou long ball could be effective
We did see Agbadou – who cost Wolves just over £16 million (BBC Sport) – taking goal kicks on occasion for Wolves at the backend of the 2024/25 season.
And it seems we will likely be seeing this again in the new season.
It is something to be welcomed, because Wolves could still improve in terms of playing out from the back. Sometimes, the team can invite pressure from trying to play through a high press – especially against top teams.
So it makes sense to try and get comfortable with launching the ball to the central striker – especially when Strand Larsen and Kalajdzic are both tall and good in the air.