Wolves lost to Sunderland in the Premier League on Saturday – and Jorgen Strand Larsen again lacked impact.
Wanderers’ search for a first victory in the competition this season continues, with Sunderland running out comfortable winners at the Stadium of Light.
The newly promoted side, who showed real ambition in the summer, won 2-0 to move up to 14 points from eight games.
Meanwhile Wolves are stuck on just two points, and now the pressure is on Vitor Pereira.
The credit in the bank he has built up from last season has surely gone, and it is now essential that he oversees a win against Burnley next weekend.
One of the biggest reasons Wolves have struggled this season is because so many goals have gone out of the team.
As well as players leaving the club, Jorgen Strand Larsen has been a shadow of the player he was last season – and after yesterday’s game, Pereira gave a worrying verdict about his number nine.
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Vitor Pereira drops worrying Jorgen Strand Larsen verdict after Sunderland loss
Strand Larsen has been struggling with an Achilles injury this season.
The striker missed a couple of games against Everton and Newcastle United, and has yet to score in the Premier League.
Yesterday’s game against Sunderland was another tough afternoon for Strand Larsen, who recently admitted his struggles with injury, and afterwards Pereira made it clear that his top striker cannot train regularly right now.
He said (via Wolves official): “The problem of Jorgen is he’s not working every day, in the last weeks he worked one or two times in the week, and it is difficult to get at his best level, because he cannot have two, three training sessions in a row, because he needs to control the pain on the tendon.
“But, this is a moment to forget the pain and he’s trying to help. He’s not the Jorgen I saw last season, pressing everybody, now he is struggling in the pressing, struggling to do he wants to do, to attack the space, but he’s trying. I need to defend him because he’s working not at the 100 percent.”
Strand Larsen fitness a huge problem for Wolves
Strand Larsen’s lack of fitness is a real nightmare for Wolves.
After game-changing players like Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri left the club, Strand Larsen became even more important for Wolves.
But he has not been able to get going this season due to this injury. And some will also wonder whether the approach by Newcastle for Strand Larsen has affected the player.
The issue for Wolves is that, the alternatives to Strand Larsen aren’t really good enough, and so the manager is persisting with the half-fit Norwegian to try and conjure something up.