Wolves suffered a deserved defeat to Newcastle United on a night that saw many players struggle.
Wolves’ defeat to Newcastle saw the Old Gold slip back into the relegation zone, in what is a trialling time for the club.
Vitor Pereira’s unbeaten start to life at Molineux is starting to be considered a honeymoon period, which is now regrettably coming to an end.
The Wolves manager has a lot to tackle in order to keep his talented squad in the top flight, with plenty of challenges to come.
Jorgen Strand Larsen slammed for Newcastle performance
There was little room for Wolves to stutter at St James’ Park and frustratingly, that’s just what the visitors did.
Wolves fans were not happy with Hwang Hee-chan, who was at fault for the Magpies’ opener, on another difficult night for the Korean.
Pereira was also furious at Hwang although, the forward was not the only member of the Wolves squad to disappoint in the North East.
Jorgen Strand Larsen failed against Nottingham Forest and the Norweigan’s form did not improve against Newcastle.
The striker had several chances to score and make an impact away from the third, however, he fluffed his lines, as journalist Liam Keen noted when reacting to the defeat.
“Strand Larsen really, really struggled to hold the ball up. I know that it’s a really difficult defensive partnership to deal with but he’s got to do a lot better than that,” the Wolves expert told Express and Star.
While Strand Larsen’s quality is clear, Keen emphasised that he expects more from the summer signing.
“I’m a fan of Larsen but in the last three games, he’s nowhere near good enough,” he said.
“You mention the chance in the second half, the goalkeeper does brilliantly but as far as I’m concerned, as a Premier League striker that is a routine finish that he should be taking every day of the week.”
Vitor Pereira showed support for Strand Larsen
Strand Larsen missed two big chances to score and hit the woodwork twice, opportunities that could’ve saved the result for Wolves.
Despite the striker disappointing in the final third, Pereira admitted he was satisfied with other areas of the 24-year-old’s game.
“Strand Larsen works a lot for the team, the keeper made some big saves,” he said to the media post-match.
“When we miss chances, we need to give players confidence, I believe we will start to score goals.”
Pereira called for fans to back Hwang for the reason of boosting confidence, with the boss keen to get his players believing again.
The best way to respond to a poor performance is redemption in the next game, as Wolves prepare to battle Chelsea at Stamford Bridge next.