Wolves played their fourth pre-season friendly last night against RC Lens, and lost 3-1.
Vitor Pereira is still yet to oversee a victory in pre-season, and the latest outing was cause for concern.
Wolves did start the game well last night at the Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium, after kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes.
Wolves pressed high, and were lively, especially down the flanks.
Fer Lopez continued to make an impression, with the Spaniard showing some nice touches and creativity.
After the break, Wolves came out for the second half showing intent, but failed to really create anything and then, Wesley Said put Lens ahead, with Hugo Bueno allowing a cross to come in from his side. Deiver Machado then doubled their lead.
Goncalo Guedes, who is supposedly set to join Real Sociedad, then pulled one back for Lens, before the French club immediately restored their two-goal lead, Machado beating his man to finish from close range.
There were again some positive aspects in the performance, but one glaring issue was on show towards the end of the game.
Wolves depth issue exposed as Munetsi and Chirewa finish Lens game as midfield pairing
Currently, there are just under three weeks to go until the start of the new season.
And Wolves have brought in just two new players – Lopez and Jhon Arias – but offloaded 10 senior stars.
Two of the players that have gone are Tommy Doyle and Boubacar Traore.
So in the second half yesterday against Lens, Pereira rotated Andre and Joao Gomes, his two best players, with Marshall Munetsi and Tawanda Chirewa.
The Zimbabwe internationals finished the game as the centre midfield pairing after coming on in the 60th minute, which is cause for concern.
The drop off in quality in from Andre and Gomes to those two players is considerable. Especially to Chirewa, who was out on loan to League One Huddersfield Town last season.
Chirewa only made 13 appearances for the Terriers, making just eight starts.
This game against Lens was one Pereira clearly took seriously, given he fielded the strongest starting XI he could.
He surely would not have played Chirewa in this game – or given him as long as half an hour – if he had greater depth.
It is not a slight on him – he is where he is on his football journey. But seeing him and Munetsi as a pairing in a pre-season game this close to the new season is cause for concern.
Wolves’ current squad depth is alarming
While it is still only pre-season and results still don’t matter all that much, there is no doubt that Wolves’ current situation is concerning.
The squad is considerably weaker than it was last season, and to see Munetsi and Chirewa as the midfield pairing finishing yesterday’s game was far from ideal.
Realistically, Chirewa isn’t going to be kept around in the first-team, and Munetsi has been criticised by fans for lacking on-the-ball influence for Wolves.
But it isn’t just in midfield that Wolves lack depth – it’s all over.
New wing-backs are needed, with Nelson Semedo having announced his exit from Wolves and Rayan Ait-Nouri sold weeks ago. A new striker and possibly another wide player and number 10 are also required.
The newly formed Wolves leadership team has its work cut out now, with that first Premier League game against Manchester City at Molineux looming. Pereira surely can’t be happy with the current state of play.