Wolverhampton

John Bennett
BBC Final Score reporter

Image source, Shutterstock

On paper, the win over Watford on Saturday should fill Wolves fans with plenty of positivity after a post international-break blip in form, but, for me, it brought up the big concern about this team - they're not clinical enough.

The result should've been a lot more comfortable for the home side and the atmosphere in the second half should have been a lot less edgy and nervy. The stats say it all; 26 shots, just 1 goal.

I was impressed with their flowing football at times, with the likes of Kieran Trippier, Jordan James and substitute Mateus Mane looking dangerous and there were so many attacking opportunities.

However on countless occasions either the final shot, or more often than not, the final ball, let Wolves down.

Plus, it's not a one off; in fact it's now 10 matches on the spin for Wolves without scoring more than two goals in a game. That's something that didn't cost them against a Watford side that offered very little, but it did last Tuesday when they conceded an 86th-minute equaliser at home to Portsmouth.

Don't get me wrong, there's still plenty to be happy about from a Wolves perspective and it's to their credit that Watford were so toothless on Saturday.

To add to that, it was also a weekend when a number of rivals, just above them, and just below them, dropped points.

But in a tight promotion race, Cesar Peixoto's side have to find a way to be more clinical in front of goal, to avoid needlessly dropping points in games which they totally dominate.

Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Cesar Peixoto spoke to BBC Radio WM after his side's 1-0 victory against Watford. For a written selection of his quotes, click here.

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"We have to have more mobility," said Cesar Peixoto, pondering what Wolves could have done to overcome Portsmouth's "deep block" and avoid dropping points at home for the second Tuesday running.

"Speed up the game, attack one side, go to the other side, attack the spaces - in the first half we didn't do this."

It was all going so well last month, after Wolves had beaten Sheffield United and West Bromwich Albion on successive Sundays, demonstrating all the qualities required of a strong Championship side: grit, nerve, energy and the conviction to grasp their chance.

There were flashes of that at Burnley, after a poor start, but the spark from the Albion game has gone out. Why?

There have been injuries. Fer Lopez looked like the best player in the league before the break, but a knock while with Spain Under-21s appears to have broken his stride lately.

Raul Jimenez was sidelined before the Black Country derby, but the news that his return may be significantly later than first hoped seemed to pull a grey cloud over Molineux.

Adam Armstrong was not in apex form but the issue that has cost him two games has demonstrated how much work he was actually getting through. Kieran Trippier has not taken the field in the last two games either.

That's not nothing. "I think if you have [Trippier], if you have [Armstrong], if you have Raul or other players, more experienced players in this kind of game help us," said Peixoto after the 1-1 draw against Portsmouth.

That is undoubtedly true, but many of those who did play were able to call themselves Premier League footballers this time last year.

For all Peixoto's increasingly agitated body language from the sidelines, evidence that they have the quality or energy to earn back that status was scarce on Tuesday.

Peixoto's diagnosis matches that of many fans. In the first half against Portsmouth, he said, the players did not "take the risk I want in our game… you have to take the risk to play with courage to win the games."

Yes, but somebody has to lead on the field. Losing Jimenez and Trippier at the same time is unfortunate, but it was hardly unforeseeable that such senior players would not be in every game even if they stayed uninjured.

All is not lost, far from it. Wolves are still only five points off the top, the amount lost in the just the past two home games, but the sullen atmosphere that has plagued Molineux for the last few years is back, and Wolves need a blast from somebody – Storm Mateus? Storm Fer? Storm Jordan? – to blow it away, quick.

BBC Radio WM Football Phone-In is weeknights 6-7pm

Wolves v Watford - commentary on BBC Radio WM (DAB Black Country), Saturday 15:00 BST

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We asked for your thoughts after Wolves drew 1-1 with Portsmouth in the Championship at Molineux on Tuesday night.

Here are some of your comments:

Wolves fans

Robert: Both teams would have been better off playing rock, paper, scissors. It would have been more exciting. Lack of quality evident and without a striker Wolves will struggle to get into play-off contention. January window a long way off unfortunately.

Laura: We somehow find a way to be more frustrating with each game. There doesn't seem to be any intent to get in the opponents' faces and put them under real sustained pressure - we do it for a little bit, then just back off and surrender any momentum we've built up. The most frustrating thing though is hearing the manager just saying we're the better team - he must be watching a different game to the 30,000 of us in the stands who are fed up of seeing their team being out-fought and out-thought.

Wol: Poor first half and Cesar made changes at start of the second half which made us more of a threat going forward. We scored a good goal and should have pressed for a second to kill the game off but as always we let the opposition get back in the game. It shows our lack of attacking options when you have to bring on a centre back to play as a striker.

Paul: Terrible performance from Wolves. Very predictable side to side and a few hopeful crosses. We need a striker fast. The young lad Neave is still learning, not what Wolves need, but nothing we can do with injuries. Think we will be in the play-offs. Fosun need to get their fingers out in Jan!

Rich: 11 games in and we look as poor and as clueless as we did last season but against lesser opposition. Manager doesn't know how to defend and sets the team up with five across the front line and no midfield so we concede so many goals. Questions need to be asked because this team or manager are not good enough to be promoted.

Image source, Getty Images

Portsmouth fans

Pompey Dave: Terry Devlin to the rescue with another great strike. A decent away point keeps things going nicely with a fair bit of squad rotation. Well done Pompey.

Ray: Terrible journey, terrible weather, terrible game... but great result. Play up Pompey!

Andy: With four games in quick succession we would have lost that game last season. Good to see Pompey showing resilience.

Grant: Following from Berlin and for this Pompey supporter this is an excellent point. Almost feels like another away win. Almost...

Graham: Gutsy and kept going until the end. A point against the odds.

Brian: Not a great game but with our squad value being 10% of theirs and us having 11 of our squad injured, it is a great result.

Norman: A tough sequence of games and Pompey have done really well. Most importantly goals are coming from more than one player and scoring very late in games which is really positive all round. But why so many injuries?

Wolves boss Cesar Peixoto is hopeful that experienced players Adam Armstrong and Kieran Trippier will be fit for their game against Watford on Saturday (15:00 BST) after conceding a late 1-1 draw to Portsmouth on Tuesday.

Trippier was the latest senior player to be sidelined with an injury after striker Armstrong also missed the weekend's win against Burnley while Raul Jimenez has been ruled out until January.

"I hope Adam Armstrong is fit for Saturday," Piexoto told BBC Radio WM.

"Kieran Trippier felt something and I hope it is only a little injury. When we have injuries, we need to find solutions."

Wolves conceded an 86th-minute equaliser to Portsmouth when substitute Tommy Doyle pushed Adrian Segecic to ground to offer the visitors a free-kick, which then rebounded to Terry Devlin who struck it in the net.

It provided a second home draw for Wolves, who have only won two of their five games at Molineux this season.

"It's disappointing to get only one point," Peixoto added. "We need more victories at home.

"In the first half we have to do much more. We didn't attack the spaces. But we made two substitutes for the second half.

"We were the better team all game, but we only scored one goal, we did not get a second goal and then we defended too deep in the last few minutes."

Listen to the full interview above or on BBC Sounds here.