Brighton performance compounded news about Wolves star Max Kilman

Wolves put in their worst performance of the season against Brighton according to Bruno Lage.

It is difficult to argue against that, especially when it was crucial for Wolves to perform to keep their European football hopes alive.

Wolves needed three points if they were to finish any higher than eighth come the end of the season.

Realistically, that will now not happen, with the club still needing to play Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool in three of the last four games.

It was alarming to see how shaky the defence was on Saturday.

Bruno Lage named the trio of Willy Boly, Conor Coady and Romain Saiss for the second successive game.

But they were all over the place, with Saiss in particular struggling.

It was as vulnerable as Wolves had looked at the back all season, and Brighton could easily have won by a bigger margin in the end.

Leading up to the game, Lage had ruled Max Kilman out after the defender picked up an injury in training.

He had already missed the game with Burnley.

According to Lage, Kilman is unlikely to play again this season as a result of his ankle issue.

Given how abysmal Wolves were against the Seagulls, Kilman being unavailable for the final games is worrying to think about.

He has had some iffy showings over the last couple of months.

But by and large, he has been exceptional this term and undoubtedly been the best defender.

Max Kilman injury absence looks set to sting Wolves

Maybe his level had dipped slightly in recent weeks, but Kilman is still going to be a huge miss for Wolves in these remaining matches.

Saiss is in poor form right now, and Boly is also showing some signs of rust.

Wolves are going to have a lot of defending to do, you would think, in the games against Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool.

And that is a scary thought given the poor form of the backline at the moment.

Perhaps it could be time for Lage to consider handing Toti Gomes a chance with Kilman unavailable.