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Wolves: Tim Spiers discusses Joao Moutinho’s ‘waning influence’

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Image for Wolves: Tim Spiers discusses Joao Moutinho’s ‘waning influence’

The Athletic’s Wolverhampton Wanderers correspondent Tim Spiers has recently claimed that Joao Moutinho’s influence is “waning”.

Last season, the 34-year-old midfielder featured in all 38 of Wolves’ Premier League matches in which he was the club’s fourth-best performer as he earned a 7.01/10 average rating (per WhoScored).

So far this season, though, the Portuguese middleman has earned a weak 6.39/10 average rating over seven top-flight appearances.

That average rating has made Moutinho the fifth-worst performer to feature for Wolves in the Premier League this term and the worst-rated player of those who have started a game.

During the latest episode of The Athletic’s The Molineux View podcast, Spiers discussed the £4.5m-rated man and claimed that his influence is “waning”.

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To kick off this quiz on Romain Saiss, what squad number does the defensive midfielder currently wear for the Old Gold?

He said: “[Moutinho’s] influence is waning and we’ve discussed in the last couple of podcasts, the influence of [Leander] Dendoncker, on the other hand, and how he’s undroppable at the moment and indispensable; and how great [Ruben] Neves was against Crystal Palace, so at the moment, [he’s] third-choice.

“When it came to making substitutions [on Sunday], the first was [Adama] Traore for [Daniel] Podence, which felt like an obvious one. The second was Marcal for [Rayan] Ait-Nouri, again – that felt like an obvious one to me as well.

“The third one was a bit weird, but [Nuno Espirito Santo] obviously felt he wanted to get Fabio Silva on. There were more balls coming into the box at this point and they were trying to do more on set-pieces, so he wanted Fabio Silva on the field instead of Moutinho.

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“If you look at each substitution individually, it sort of made sense at that moment in time, so maybe we shouldn’t look too much into it, but it’s just another sign of the waning influence of Joao Moutinho.”

TIF Thoughts on what Tim Spiers said about Joao Moutinho…

As can be seen in what the Wolves correspondent had to say, he believes that Moutinho not being substituted on in the 1-0 defeat against Leicester City is indicative of his “waning influence”.

Do you agree that Joao Moutinho's influence in games is "waning"?

Yes, it's sad but true

Yes, it's sad but true

No, he's as good as ever

No, he's as good as ever

During the 2019/20 season, the Portuguese middleman was Wolves’ most accurate passer with a passing accuracy of 85.5% and their most dangerous passer with 2.0 key passes per game.

However, this season, he has made an average of 1.0 key passes per top-flight game and has a better passing accuracy with 88.3% but he is only Wolves’ sixth-best passer at this stage in the season.

So, it is clear to see why the journalist believes that Moutinho’s influence for the Old Gold is “waning”.

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