Wolves winger Francisco Trincao did not have a good game during Friday night’s disappointing 1-0 loss to Newcastle United – and footage from the game will not help his case to manager Bruno Lage, who will surely be fuming with his player’s costly mistake.
Wolves failed to put pressure on Manchester United and West Ham United by moving up to sixth after their loss last night, making it two games in their last three where the Midlands outfit have failed to pick up any points, not something Lage will want to make a habit of at the tail end of the season when European football next season is still very much within reach.
What makes the loss all the more disappointing for fans and the team is that the penalty Wolves conceded which put Newcastle a goal up could have been completely avoided if the players showed a bit more class and concentration during the game.
Footage of the build-up to the goal shows just how costly an error it was from Wolves striker Trincao to give the ball away.
The clip shows Wolves on the attack as Marcal delivers the ball into the Newcastle box, before being cleared by Jonjo Shelvey and bouncing into Trincao’s path. The forward then tries to play the ball back to start the attack again but the lazy pass, combined with midfielder Luke Cundle’s slip, gives the ball to Allan Saint-Maximin, who starts the attack.
The attack culminates with Joelinton’s clinical pass to Chris Wood, who is subsequently fouled by Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa and a penalty is given.
TIF Thoughts on Trincao’s mistake…
Wolves manager Lage will undoubtedly be angry and disappointed in Trincao’s costly error as they were the team on top prior to the goal and looked only minutes away from scoring themselves. This game-changing error could be the difference between the Midlands team earning European football next season and missing out, which will not only anger the manager, but fans and teammates alike.
Since Trincao’s loan move to Wolves from Barcelona in July, the Portuguese winger has struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League, scoring and assisting only once in his 24 outings for the team. He hasn’t been awful by any means, averaging 1.3 shots, 1.7 dribbles and 0.6 key passes per game with an 80.6% pass accuracy from 16.7 attempts per 90 minutes (as per WhoScored), but he has perhaps not lived up to the expectations that were put on him after his transfer to the La Liga giants the season prior.
It is unclear what will come of Trincao’s time in the Premier League, as it has been reported Wolves will not pick up the £25m option to buy in the summer transfer market coming up. With this in mind, it seems as if the winger will return to Barcelona and could potentially look for another loan move to prove his worth.
However, with the Blaugrana’s need for money to sign Wolves’ Adama Traore, they may look to offload Trincao anywhere to make the deal happen.
Trincao has six more games to prove himself to Lage, but this recent damming footage certainly will not help his case.