Wolves reporter Liam Keen has expressed his concern over the performance of Daniel Podence during their defeat in the FA Cup.
Wolves’ chances of silverware were ended this past weekend as they were knocked out of the FA Cup at Molineux by fellow Premier League side Norwich City in a 1-0 defeat.
The defeat means that all Wolves have left to fight for is a place in European competition for next season, and whilst they have put themselves in a decent position to do so, currently sitting 8th in the Premier League table, more performances like the one at the weekend won’t do them much good in their battle.
One player on the day who wasn’t up to scratch, at least according to Keen, was Portuguese attacker Podence.
Keen expressed his views after the game on a video for the Express and Star’s YouTube channel, with particular focus on one incident that could have got Bruno Lage’s men back into the game.
He said: “Podence in particular – who has been very, very good for a couple of months now – was very, very poor today for my money.
“In the second half, Wolves came out with a bit more intent, a bit more tempo in their game… Podence got into areas, had that one chance that was unlucky, hit the post. [He] had another opportunity where he just – pull the trigger and he probably scores; delays it, gets dispossessed.”
TIF Thoughts on Liam Keen’s comments about Daniel Podence for Wolves…
Is Daniel Podence going to be a star player for the Old Gold?
Yes, he has the attributes
No, he's not good enough
26-year-old Podence was actually Wolves’ best player on the pitch on the day according to WhoScored with a score of 7.11/10, but when you only get one shot away as an attacking player, there are always going to be questions asked when it comes to your performance on the day, as Keen has done.
Hitting the back of the net has certainly been a problem for Podence since he has joined the club, only managing to bag eight in his time at Molineux so far. Perhaps that is why he wasn’t able to take that chance when it was presented to him and he just isn’t that confident in front of goal to finish the chances that he gets.
And Podence’s issues are just a smaller example of the problems that Wolves have been showing this season when it comes to finding the back of the net, with Wolves currently owning the third-worst attack in the league, with just 19 goals to their name in 21 games.
So hopefully both Podence and Wolves as a whole can sort their problems out soon, or they might not be successful in their chase for a spot in Europe.
In other news: ‘Could be on the cards’ – Tim Spiers drops hugely exciting claim at Wolves