Speaking recently on The Molineux View podcast, Tim Spiers raved about Joao Moutinho’s performance for Wolverhampton Wanderers against Southampton.
Since joining Wolves from AS Monaco in what was a £5.04 million deal back in 2018, Moutinho has gone on to feature 109 times for the club, scoring two goals and providing 21 assists along the way.
So far this season, the £4.5 million-rated 34-year-old has made eight Premier League appearances for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, over which he has averaged a WhoScored match rating of 6.54 – ranking him as the club’s 14th-best performer in the league.
However, in Wolves’ recent 1-1 draw with Southampton, the Portugal international performed admirably, earning his highest WhoScored match rating of the season so far, which led to Spiers, speaking on The Molineux View podcast, praising the midfielder.
He said: “He was my man of the match. To go from not being involved at all at Leicester – the first league game he’s missed during his Wolves career; the first time he hasn’t started or come off the bench in any Wolves game since he signed from Monaco a couple of years ago, and people [were] writing him off and saying, ‘is he fading out now?’; ‘has last season had cost him with all the games that he played?’.
“Then he’s come in [against Southampton] and I thought he was the driving force behind Wolves’ comeback. He raised the tempo, he was winning the ball high up the field – which is such an important part of his game and makes such a difference – and his set-pieces were excellent – particularly his free kicks, created a couple of chances from those – one for [Raul] Jimenez, who really should have done a lot better.
“So I thought he was great [on Monday]. He didn’t look tired or lethargic like he has been when he’s played in recent weeks, so that’s a massive positive.”
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TIF Thoughts on Tim Spiers’ comments regarding Joao Moutinho…
From Spiers’ comments, it is clear that the journalist was thoroughly impressed with Moutinho’s performance against Southampton, and, we have to say, after looking at the 34-year-old’s statistics from the fixture, we can understand why.
Over the course of the 90 minutes, Moutinho made three tackles and two interceptions, as well as completing three key passes, three long balls, one through ball and two crosses – all of which culminated to give him a WhoScored match rating of 7.54/10 – ranking him as the third-best player on the pitch in the fixture.
As such, despite his advanced years, it would seem that Moutinho still has a great deal to offer for Espirito Santo’s side.