Wolves fans were delighted to see Jean-Ricner Bellegarde enjoy one of his best performances for the club against Aston Villa last weekend.
The Frenchman played a starring role in Wolves’ 2-0 win over Aston Villa at Molineux, a result that lifted Vitor Pereira’s men out of the relegation zone.
Bellegarde opened the scoring for Wanderers after good play by Goncalo Guedes, Matheus Cunha and Pablo Sararbia, firing past Emi Martinez at the near post.
But Bellegarde’s whole performance was just superb.
And with Blackburn Rovers up next for Wolves, there is simply one thing that must not happen with Bellegarde.
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Vitor Pereira must not drop Bellegarde for Wolves’ FA Cup clash with Blackburn
Wolves are taking on Blackburn in the fourth round of the FA Cup at Ewood Park on Sunday, and the team Pereira picks will be very interesting.
Pereira surprised a lot of people with his last XI against Bristol City.
Many did not expect him to go as strong as he did.
The Wolves manager seems ready to take the competition very seriously, and he may be acutely aware of the way the club went out of the competition last season at the hands of Coventry City.
There will be a temptation to go strong again against Blackburn – but Pereira must not drop Bellegarde.
Joao Gomes is available again after suspension, and Andre is a favourite of the manager. Then, there is new signing Marshall Munetsi who might be in line for minutes, and Tommy Doyle will no doubt be itching to play after a lack of minutes again this season.
But Pereira can’t drop Bellegarde after his performance against Villa.
He’s someone who has struggled at times in a Wolves shirt, so to drop him after his Villa display could really break the player’s confidence.
It’s been hard for him as he’s a player who’s been shunted out wide a lot when that’s not where he’s most comfortable.
Bellegarde deserves the chance to build some form in the middle and hopefully, Pereira will see it the same way.
The Pereira comment that bode well for Bellegarde
One would think there is a more than reasonable chance that Bellegarde will indeed start against Blackburn.
After the game with Villa, Pereira admitted Bellegarde was ‘a fantastic surprise’, saying: “For me, Bellegarde was a fantastic surprise, he was excellent today.”
He clearly made a big impression on his manager.
Dave Edwards said Bellegarde has shown how valuable he can be for Wolves when playing centrally, and this really is not the time to be dropping him.
He’s in a good moment and the Blackburn game is a chance for Bellegarde to play back-to-back games in an area of the pitch he feels most comfortable in, and he shouldn’t be robbed of the opportunity.