OPINION
It’s fair to say that there was a whiff of good fortune about Wolverhampton Wanderers’ 2-1 victory over Newcastle United on Sunday.
Matt Doherty struck at the death to secure all three points for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, after Ayoze Perez had cancelled out Diogo Jota’s opener. However, the win came despite a major blunder from the Wolves manager.
Starting Adama Traore through the middle in a front three was a baffling decision from the former Porto boss and it resulted in his team looking toothless for much of the encounter.
Traore simply doesn’t have the technical ability to operate in the centre. He is a natural wideman, where he has room to utilise his one stand-out quality: his pace. When he’s playing through the middle he’s not afforded the space to unleash his devastating speed, resulting in him appearing hugely ineffectual.
The Spaniard couldn’t get anything going against the Magpies and the more you watched him operate like Bambi on ice in his central striker role, the harder it seemed to envision Wolves securing all three points.
The introduction of substitutes Raul Jimenez and Morgan Gibbs-White helped turn the tide and limit the impact of Nuno’s Traore mistake, however.
The former Middlesbrough man’s struggles did serve to remind some fans of the importance of Jimenez. The Mexican international is something of a polarising figure at Molineux, where some punters fail to appreciate what he brings to the team because he’s not what you’d call a prolific goalscorer.
He’s certainly not Harry Kane but the 27-year-old contributes massively to Wolves’ attacking output, and that was evident in his absence on Sunday.
Without the Mexican to hold the ball up and link play between midfield and attack the visitors looked devoid of ideas for long periods at St James’ Park.
It’s now clear that this Wolves side struggle to function offensively when the Benfica loanee isn’t on the pitch. He is the hub that powers Nuno’s attack and without him things just don’t click going forward.
Nuno must admit his mistake and learn from it ahead of Saturday’s tricky home tie with Bournemouth. If Jimenez is resigned to the bench again, it’s hard to see Wolves breaking down the Cherries.