Wolves appear to be heading towards Premier League safety – and Toti Gomes has certainly played his part in the team’s recent improvements.
Wolves beat Southampton 2-1 on Saturday at St. Mary’s Stadium to open up a nine-point gap between themselves and the relegation zone.
Alan Shearer emphatically stated the relegation battle is now over and that Wolves will survive, and the picture is certainly looking good.
But Vitor Pereira was keen not to get carried away after the win over Southampton, and then urged the players to keep focused and see the job through.
It’s been a pretty decent past couple of months for Wolves, and the appointment of Pereira has proven to be successful.
A number of players have really improved under him since he came in at Molineux.
And one man who falls into that category is Toti Gomes – who can be forgiven for feeling slightly frustrated after one recent announcement.
Toti Gomes deserved a Portugal call-up amid great form for Wolves
Toti didn’t have a particularly good start to the 2024/25 season for Wolves.
He was playing in a back four at first alongside Yerson Mosquera, and just did not look comfortable at all.
Indeed, Troy Deeney branded Toti a ‘car crash’ after the opening-day defeat to Arsenal.
But Toti improved once Wolves switched to a back three, allowing him to slot in on the left side – a position he’s been very accustomed to since he came to the club.
And since Pereira came to Wolves, Toti has been absolutely key.
Pereira has now overseen 13 Premier League games. Toti has featured in eight of those games, with Wolves picking up 16 points. Wolves kept a clean sheet in four of those eight games Toti played.
In the five games that Toti did not play (he was on the bench for the Arsenal game but didn’t come on), Wolves picked up just one point.
So there has been an argument to say Toti has potentially been Pereira’s most important player.
This makes it very hard to understand why Toti was recently overlooked for a call-up to the Portugal national team for the current international break.
Roberto Martinez selected Jose Sa and Nelson Semedo from Wolves, but did not choose Toti.
Toti – who has two caps for his country – could certainly be forgiven for being slightly annoyed at not getting called up, given how brilliant he’s been.
But given his humble nature, there’s no doubt he’ll just take it in his stride and get his head down on the training pitches back at Compton Park.
What Vitor Pereira has said about Toti Gomes
It is a genuine shame that Martinez didn’t see fit to call Toti up for Portugal’s Nations League games with Denmark.
Arguably, he has been in the best form he’s been in all season, and has been a major reason Wolves have been picking up more points in the Premier League.
But at least Toti’s quality is not lost on Pereira, who clearly values him very highly and feels he’s vital to this system.
Indeed, Pereira talked up Toti and the balance he brings, saying: “It’s the left foot, which is important for us.
“It’s important to play on the left side with a left foot because it’s different.
“If you play with the right foot on the opposite side as a defender, you have problems because the balance is different.
“When you face a player with the opposite foot, it is worse because sometimes he can go to the line, he can come inside and it’s difficult.
“It means that with Toti close to Rayan, we have the cover every time and this is important for us.”
It’s been reported previously that Toti is a player Martinez actually really likes. But seemingly, something stopped him from picking him this time, which is a real shame.
That said, at least from a Wolves perspective, £900,000 signing Toti (Nathan Judah) can now recuperate ready for the last matches of the season.