Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder understood what his team were up against when Wolverhampton Wanderers came to town.
Speaking after Wolves beat the Blades with a last-minute goal, whose constituent parts all started the match on the away bench at Bramall Lane, Wilder’s comments to reporters referenced more than once that his opposite number from the Black Country has quality in both depth and abundance.
He’s right on both counts. On this occasion, it was the depth that made the difference.
Wolves manager Peixoto is shaping a creative attacking unit
Wolves let a few opportunities pass them by but the intervention of substitutes Kieran Trippier, Tommy Doyle – inadvertently – and Raul Jimenez gave them that little bit extra when it mattered most.
Having that additional sharp edge is useful but Cesar Peixoto’s set-up before he deployed his substitutes was more indicative of Wolves’ tactical point of difference in the Championship.
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Jimenez’s age is a determining factor in Peixoto’s choice of striker; Wolves are playing between two and three times a week. Adam Armstrong moved off his moonlighting shift on the left flank to play at centre-forward and youngster Mateus Mane started in the Mexican striker’s place.
The rest of the Wolves midfield unit is becoming increasingly familiar in the second tier, both with each other in the aftermath of the sale of Joao Gomes and to observers seeing the connections that make Peixoto’s Wolves tick.
Wolves play with three attacking midfielders off a striker, and a pair of central midfielders behind them.
Mane and Armstrong approach the left-wing role differently than one another but the remaining rhomboid, the Peixoto Parallelogram, is at the heart of Wolves’ play wherever Jimenez, Armstrong or Mane slot in beside it.
22-year-old Fer Lopez operates in the middle of the three, Rodrigo Gomes outside him. Between them, they’ve been stockpiling goal contributions like they’re going out of fashion. Lopez was ticking along at a goal or assist per match prior to Wolves’ visit to South Yorkshire.
Midfielders Andre and Marshall Munetsi played together 25 times in the Premier League. Given their fortunes last season, that’s not automatically a good thing.
Working as a first-choice partnership in a team expected to win is a new test and it generally looks good on them.
Added attacking impetus from the heart of the team
But the secret sauce, the flavour-packed additional topping that keeps central defenders honest, is a result of the way Lopez and Munetsi interact.
Lopez drops into the middle of the pitch, often far enough to take the ball off Wolves’ defenders. Where other teams might use this extra man to boost their midfield numbers, Peixoto has a midfielder who will add sharpness to the shape by making the run of a forward and causing mayhem.
There aren’t many central midfielders in the Championship who’d be described as playing on the shoulder, but Munetsi does exactly that, time and time again, springing upfield thanks to the withdrawal of Lopez.
He’s available for passes in behind and also to play with Mane, Lopez and a striker at close quarters, with left-back Hugo Bueno joining in for good measure.
It meant that Japhet Tanganga and Mark McGuinness had to have their wits about them to prevent the Zimbabwean from causing problems on their side of Wilder’s back three. They managed it on Sunday, and Wolves had to find another way.
Munetsi’s trademark run produced the first Championship goal of the season, albeit Blackburn Rovers left enough space in their half at Molineux that you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for an opportunistic decision more than a planned tactic.
The Wolves boss has more ideas bubbling away as the season stretches out on the other side of the international break. Peixoto spoke after the win against Sheffield United about substitute Jordan James, the former Birmingham City midfielder on loan from Rennes, who he sees as serious competition for Munetsi in the most positive sense.
Peixoto is focused on Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie against Everton but the Wolves fans behind the goal where Jimenez tucked in the winner at Bramall Lane made it clear at full time that the win meant more than a jump back up the Championship table.
Seven days after the win in Sheffield, Molineux will host the Black Country derby against West Bromwich Albion. Forget one point turning into three. The supporters have already set their sights on a different Sunday entirely.
