Wolves manager Vitor Pereira watched his side lose their third consecutive Premier League game.
The Old Gold lost 3-1 to Chelsea in a disappointing contest at Stamford Bridge, leaving Wolves level on points with 18th-place Ipswich Town.
Several Wolves players struggled against Chelsea, with Matheus Cunha’s behaviour the talk of the game both during and after the defeat.
Pereira admitted his disappointment in Cunha when speaking to the media at full-time, however, it wasn’t the Wolves manager’s only complaint.
Vitor Pereira demands more from his players from set pieces
Once again, Wolves were unable to keep a clean sheet in the Premier League, conceding three avoidable goals against Chelsea.
No team has conceded more goals than Wolves in the league so far this season, with the tally rising to 51 after the trip to Stamford Bridge.
Rayan Ait-Nouri’s defensive frailty was blasted against Chelsea although, the Algerian’s contribution wasn’t the be-all and end-all of Wolves’ issues on the night.
After the defeat, Pereira took the time to express his frustration at how his players failed to defend from set play, identifying where the defence are going wrong.
“We need to be more aggressive in the in the area of duels, because we are conceding too many, and we need to be committed to win the second ball,” Pereira said.
“In between the games, we have two trainings just about set pieces to try to fix this problem.”
The manager revealed just how frequently the Old Gold are working to fix their set piece defending however, it’s not working due to the frailty of his players in duels.
“Sometimes it’s not the position, sometimes it’s because the duel is one against one and they must want to win the duel,” Pereira continued.
“They must think, ‘I must win the duel’, and this is the problem in this moment. We need more physicality. We need to be more aggressive on the duals because here, each duel the opponent are strong. They are strong in the air and on the ground.”
Wolves are staggeringly bad defensively
This season has been a disaster for Wolves, who have lost 63% of their games at the 22-match mark.
It’s now Pereira’s problem to solve however, the issues were evident long before the Portuguese arrived to replace Gary O’Neil.
| Wolves in the Premier League 2024/25 |
| 51 goals conceded |
| 19 set piece goals conceded |
| 2.3 goals conceded per game |
| 1.5 goals scored per game |
| 1.1 big chances missed per game |
Wolves have now conceded a staggering 19 games from set pieces this season, eight more than any other team in the league.
Added to that, the balance is way off when it comes to attempting to win games, conceding far more on average than they are scoring, which doesn’t make for a good prognosis.
Things have to change dramatically and rapidly if the season is to be salvaged.