It’s been an awful season so far for Wolves, who currently look nailed on to be in a relegation battle at the business end of the season.
It’s just nine points taken from 15 games in the Premier League, and a whopping 38 goals conceded.
Wolves sit second-bottom of the table right now, and many are stunned that Gary O’Neil remains in charge. It was reported the morning after the defeat to West Ham that O’Neil will take the Ipswich Town game this weekend.
There have been so many negative slants to the season so far, and one situation a lot of people have been talking about in recent weeks, and will probably continue to talk about, is the goalkeeper situation.
This came up on the latest E&S podcast, and journalist Nathan Judah dropped a verdict that some will certainly agree with.
Wolves goalkeeper situation with Jose Sa and Sam Johnstone branded ‘an absolute mess’
In the summer, Wolves signed Sam Johnstone from Crystal Palace for £10 million. That was a lot of money to pay and most felt that meant he’d be coming in as a the new number one.
Jose Sa was linked with a move to Saudi Arabia, but nothing materialised in the end.
Johnstone played a handful of games without impressing, before picking up an injury that allowed Sa to get back in. After a few good games, Sa then started to struggle and on Monday, Johnstone was back in the team against West Ham United.
Before the game, O’Neil had said that Sa had picked up a shoulder injury, but suggested he would have started Johnstone anyway.
Goodness knows who he’ll start against Ipswich, with both players now out of form – and Nathan Judah summed up the feelings for a lot of Wolves fans on the latest E&S podcast.
He said: “I’m worried. It’s an absolute mess the goalkeeper situation. I don’t care how you dress it up. The whole situation, from the signing in the summer, the way that it’s to’d and fro’d, the no summer move for Sa. Back and forth, I’m ill here, I’m injured here.
“It is two goalkeepers who are woefully out of form at this moment in time. It is a mess, and it kind of epitomises Wolves’ season to be honest for what’s happening overall.”
Judah went on to talk about the £10 million transfer fee Wolves paid to sign Johnstone, describing it as ‘unacceptable’.
He added: “Johnstone, remember he was on the bench for Palace, they kind of put him to one side, he wasn’t going to be a starter for them. If he’d come in on a free, or for £1 million or £2 million I could suck it up. But to come in for £10 million, and you look at the squad now, what the squad could do with £10 million, that is unacceptable really from my point of view. That’s a big blow.”
Wolves have needlessly created a problem
This goalkeeper situation continues to baffle, with neither making a solid case to be the number one at Molineux.
The decision to sign Johnstone felt strange at the time and the Englishman has certainly not proven himself in a Wolves shirt so far.
With so much talk and so many eyeballs on the situation, it feels as though both are struggling with the pressure that has been needlessly created.
| Jose Sa for Wolves this season | Sam Johnstone for Wolves this season |
| Appearances – 9 | Appearances – 6 |
| Clean sheets – 1 | Clean sheets – 0 |
| Goals conceded – 23 | Goals conceded – 15 |
| Save percentage – 58.3% | Save percentage – 63.9% |
| Pass completion rate – 59.6% | Pass completion rate – 65.3% |
It’s frustrating because the £10 million spent on Johnstone could have gone on a new centre-back, with Max Kilman needing to be replaced.
Perhaps Wolves felt that Sa was going to get his move to Saudi Arabia and tried to jump the gun by signing Johnstone. If that was the case then it was a mistake for Wolves to act so hastily – the club should have got assurances that Sa would definitely be leaving before getting Johnstone in.
Wolves have surely got to consider selling one of them in January, purely to remove all the noise around the pair and help whoever stays to settle down.