Jorgen Strand Larsen featured in Monday night’s game – and journalist Liam Keen noted one thing he was doing in the game against Como 1907 that was particularly impressive.
Wanderers beat the Italian side 1-0 thanks to a goal from Matt Doherty. The wing-back headed in a Rayan Ait-Nouri free-kick.
The game was sadly marred by an incident of alleged racist abuse, with a Como player making a remark towards Hwang Hee-chan.
This led to a punch being thrown by Daniel Podence, who was then sent off by the referee. Podence has since come in for a lot of praise from supporters for standing up for Hwang.
Gary O’Neil played two teams against Como, one in each half.
The game was a chance for the manager to get a look at his new signings in match action, and Liam Keen gave his thoughts about new striker Jorgen Strand Larsen.
Wolves star Jorgen Strand Larsen hailed for solid hold-up play against Como
Wolves fans are especially excited about Strand Larsen.
The club have signed him on an initial loan basis, but the move will be turned permanent after a handful of appearances. It is thought he will cost £25 million in total.
So with the player having a relatively big outlay spent on him, expectations are high.
Strand Larsen said all the right things when he arrived, and seems like a great lad. But how did he fare on his first Wolves outing against Como? Liam Keen dropped his verdict last night – and he was struck by the Norwegian’s hold-up play.
He said on the E&S podcast: “Early days, needs a bit of time. He did score a really nice goal. It was a beautiful finish. Makes a run down the right channel in between full-back and defender, receives the ball, I think it was first-time (finish), and finds the bottom left corner. Beautiful finish but gets flagged offside.
“What was the most impressive (thing), I felt… Jorgen Strand Larsen can run in behind, he’s not a slouch and he’s definitely athletic. But what he does give Wolves is that focal point to hold the ball up.
“A couple of times, Dan Bentley didn’t have an option. The midfielder would drop in and centre-backs would spread wide. The full-backs are out wide and there’s no pass option because Como have pressed high and aggressively and he has to go long.
“I don’t think there was many, if any, occasions when Larsen got bullied off the ball or didn’t win the ball. He’s very, very strong, really good at holding the ball up and bringing others into play.
“Not only holding the ball up and shrugging off the defender. He was nodding the ball down into the path of wide players or Cunha in behind him. He’s going to add a totally different dimension to the way Wolves player. That is going to be exciting.”
Strand Larsen verdict is exciting
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This is a very promising verdict on Strand Larsen.
It is obviously early days, but it sounds very much as though he is going to provide something completely different for Wolves.
It has been quite a while since Wanderers have had a solid focal point up top. But Strand Larsen does sound like he will bring a mixed bag, and that he is also capable of running in behind which is good.
Raul Jimenez – a player Strand Larsen talked up when he joined Wolves – used to be fantastic at holding the ball up and bringing others in to play and the hope is that Strand Larsen will perhaps play in a similar way to the Mexican.
We will see how he gets on, but the early signs over Strand Larsen are definitely encouraging.