Wolves’ squad is being stretched now as the season wears on – and it’s possible we could soon be seeing Noha Lemina getting some minutes for the first-team.
Wanderers crashed to a 3-0 defeat on Saturday against Newcastle United.
Wolves did have chances and actually enjoyed more possession as the Magpies sat deeper than usual, but they were clinical when their opportunities came about.
There were elements of luck to their first two goals, but the hosts probably deserved to win on balance.
Frustratingly for Wolves, Jose Sa and Pedro Neto were both withdrawn at half-time after picking up knocks. Gary O’Neil said after the game that Sa had a sore squad, and Neto had a tight hamstring.
Neto should be back for the next game against Fulham, but Hwang Hee-chan is out and it could well mean we soon start to see more of Wolves’ only January recruit Noha Lemina…
Gary O’Neil may have no choice but to turn to Noha Lemina for Wolves
Wolves fans have been left gutted by the news about Hwang.
He has been such an important player this season, so for him to now be out for six weeks is a real blow. It was rightly described as a ‘disaster’ by journalist Nathan Judah.
Hwang is no stranger to a hamstring injury, so his latest doesn’t really come as too much of a surprise.
With Neto also showing signs of fragility, it may now be that we start to see Noha Lemina get minutes for the first-team.
Noha signed on loan from Paris Saint-Germain in the January transfer window, and the expectation has been that he would play some games for the U21s before eventually turning out for Gary O’Neil.
Yesterday, O’Neil named him in his matchday squad for the first time, so seemingly, he’s not far away from making his debut now.
The 18-year-old was probably being targeted to play towards the end of the campaign. But given the current state of O’Neil’s squad, and the fact he was on the bench yesterday, that has surely now been fast-tracked.
Opportunity knocks for Noha Lemina
The injury to Hwang surely opens the door for Noha.
Matheus Cunha is also still out of action, and Neto’s tight hamstring casts doubt on his potential to play as much as he has been doing.
You would imagine that it will not be long now before Noha gets an opportunity to shine in old gold, with the youngster having been impressing in training.
At the moment, Pablo Sarabia is the only other winger available to Gary O’Neil. The likes of Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Matt Doherty can all play as wingers but they are not natural options.
When he signed, sporting director Matt Hobbs talked Noha up as an ‘exciting, young, quick, direct winger who can play on either side’, and someone with ‘good technical ability’. It would be good to see him get a chance.