Rob Edwards must be gutted as Wolves player dazzles out on loan with 9/10 match rating

Rob Edwards will surely not thank Vitor Pereira for allowing one loan exit at Wolves in the summer.

Rob Edwards took his first game in charge of Wolves on Saturday, and opened with a 2-0 defeat against Crystal Palace at Molineux.

Daniel Munoz and Yeremy Pino’s second-half goals handed the visitors all three points, with Wolves comfortably beaten.

The very worrying aspect of the latest defeat was that Palace were nowhere near their best, and for the first hour of the game they were there to be got at. But Wolves simply did not have the quality to capitalise.

Many have commented on the state of Wolves’ squad, and how it lacks quality, leadership and balance.

Edwards must now work with what he’s got to try to work a miracle to keep this club in the Premier League.

But one player who Wolves do actually still own is Tommy Doyle, who continued his great form on Saturday.

Tommy Doyle wows against Norwich

Doyle had a bit of a slow start to the season with Birmingham after joining Blues on loan, but now he’s really starting to purr.

The midfielder was back starting for the sixth Championship game in a row under Chris Davies – and he is certainly justifying his continued involvement.

Before the international break, Birmingham fans praised Doyle for his performance against Millwall.

And yesterday he was back at it with another strong performance – this time against Norwich City.

Birmingham won 4-1, with Doyle enjoying a fine display in the engine room. As per Sofascore, he completed 43/48 (90%) passes, executing 6/8 long balls.

Doyle also made four defensive contributions.

And the local outlet the Birmingham Mail was impressed with the 24-year-old, saying of his performance: “Doyle has become the orchestrator to the Blues machine and his importance increased in Paik Seung-ho’s absence. The midfielder was perfectly positioned to regain possession whenever Blues lost it.”

The publication rated his performance 9/10.

READ MORE: Wolves fans loathe Tommy Doyle summer decision as Rob Edwards seeks turnaround

Edwards just wish he could call on Tommy Doyle

Earlier this week, there were claims of Rob Edwards liking Doyle and wanting to bring him back to Wolves early from his loan spell.

But there’s no recall option in the Doyle loan agreement, meaning Wolves would have to pay to terminate it. And of course, Birmingham would need to agree.

There will almost certainly be strong resistance from Birmingham if Wolves try to propose terminating the loan, because clearly Doyle is now really impressing and has become a key player.

Birmingham are an ambitious outfit at the moment, with new owners buying the club in 2023 and plans for a new stadium being unveiled earlier this week.

They have ambitions of being promoted to the Premier League this season, and currently sit ninth, but just two points off the play-off places.

Birmingham can actually buy Doyle permanently for £10 million in the summer if they achieve promotion, so Edwards can probably forget about any early return.