Last night’s defeat to Chelsea threw up a lot of talking points, and the appearance of Emmanuel Agbadou in Wolves’ midfield was certainly a surprise.
Wolves lost 4-3 to the Blues, with the first-half performance ultimately giving the hosts too much to do.
That said, Wolves gave it a real go, improving immensely in the second 45.
Vitor Pereira changed his whole team for the visit of Chelsea at Molineux, and his starting XI included six defenders.
Immediately, that pointed to one playing in midfield alongside Joao Gomes – and it turned out that Emmanuel Agbadou was that man.
It unfortunately just didn’t work, with Pereira moving Agbadou back into defence after around half an hour. This suited him, with Agbadou improving in the second-half and having a hand in both of David Moller Wolfe’s goals.
After the game though, Pereira did not rule out playing the Ivorian in midfield again.
- READ MORE: Wolves player ratings vs Chelsea, David Moller Wolfe shines in chaotic 4-3 defeat but several 4/10s
Vitor Pereira suggests Emmanuel Agbadou could play in midfield again for Wolves
Agbadou playing in midfield was a real surprise.
But this season his form playing in defence has been poor, so perhaps the manager was looking to try something new to prompt an improvement.
The suggestion last night was that Pereira felt Agbadou playing in midfield ultimately didn’t really work, as he moved him back. He was having issues positionally, with Chelsea totally exploiting how high he had pushed up the pitch for their second goal.
In his post-match press conference, Pereira was asked if we could see him play in midfield again, to which he replied: “We are trying to find solutions, because when we changed the system to 4-3-3, the plan for the season was not in this system. It means that we are missing players in the positions.
“We’re missing wingers, one against one, wingers with these kinds of qualities. Missing midfielders. We are trying to find solutions, with Agba and with Krejci. They have quality. For me, Agba and Krejci, they have quality to play as midfielders or as central defenders.”
- READ MORE: Who is Emmanuel Agbadou? Everything you need to know about Wolves’ commanding centre-back
Pereira clearly after January reinforcements
This is the second time, the manager has spoken about needing certain players for his squad. After the defeat to Sunderland, Pereira hinted he wanted a new winger in January. Now, he’s spoken about a new midfielder.
It is going to leave some perplexed, because he was at the very forefront of Wolves’ recruitment in the summer, and he green-lighted moves for players for a 3-4-3 system.
Now Wolves are also using four at the back, and the manager feels he needs additions. But of course, we will have to see if he makes it that far, with Pereira under increasing pressure at Molineux.
It seems that we could actually see Agbadou in midfield again before the January window opens, which would be surprising.
We saw how well Ladislav Krejci did last night when he came on, and surely if any defender is going to go in that engine room, it should be the Czech international.