Wolves have really struggled defensively at times this season.
As things currently stand, only Southampton have conceded more goals than Wolves in the Premier League season.
Most of the 52 goals Wolves have conceded in the league were shipped on Gary O’Neil’s watch though, with Vitor Pereira having come in and improved the backline to a degree.
Emmanuel Agbadou has had a great impact so far since coming in from Reims.
And Wanderers are in the market for another new centre-back at the moment, although Kevin Danso won’t be signing for Wolves after Tottenham hijacked the move.
Against Aston Villa on Saturday, the backline was actually really strong.
And one man who really impressed was Toti Gomes.
The statistic that shows Toti Gomes and Vitor Pereira are a match made in heaven
One man who really benefits from Wolves playing with a back three is Toti Gomes.
In Gary O’Neil’s first season at Wolves, he started on the bench because the manager was using a back four. But once he changed to a three, Toti was back in the team and he thrived. And it was the same story earlier this season.
Although he did play the first few games, Toti dropped out of the team, but then came back in again to feature on the left of a three.
But since Pereira came in, Toti’s impact for Wolves has been clear.
Toti recently came back from injury for Wolves having missed four games. He returned to the bench against Arsenal but was an unused substitute.
Wolves have now kept three clean sheets under Pereira, and there is one common denominator of those three shut-outs – Toti.
He is the only Wolves player to have a 100% clean sheet and win record under Pereira so far, suggesting he has now become a vital cog in the machine.
On top of this, for the three games he’s played against Leicester City, Manchester United and Aston Villa, Toti has had impressive match ratings of 8.1. 8.0 and 7.5 from Fotmob respectively.
Wolves are a better team when Toti plays
A lot of Wolves fans believe that playing with three at the back and wing-backs is the best system.
It’s one that brought so much success for Nuno Espirito Santo, and despite efforts to move away from it, managers have always reverted back to it.
Wolves are better in it, and arguably more solid when Toti plays, as he perfectly understands that position on the left. He becomes a left-back when Wolves have the ball, and a centre-back when the opposition have it.
Against Villa, £900,000 (via Nathan Judah) signing Toti was colossal, finishing with eight defensive actions. He also used the ball positively, a charged forward to break the lines a couple of times. He was also involved in the opening goal by Jean-Ricner Bellegarde.
Toti’s return also helps Abgadou, who looks more comfortable in the middle.