Joining Mikey Burrows was co-commentator and Wolves Hall of Fame full-back Andy Thompson, was former goalkeeper Matt Murray as they analysed the 2-1 win over the Toffees, which saw Wolves extend their unbeaten Premier League run to five matches.
The trio also spoke about the impact of Jose Sa in the Wolves goal and a second-half which showed there are still plenty of areas for Bruno Lage’s men to improve on.
On Jose Sa’s season so far
Murray said: “I’ve been really impressed with Sa. I liked what he had done for Olympiacos, and thought he did really well for them, and it was interesting to see how he came in and stepped into Rui Patricio’s shoes.
“In the first couple of seasons, Rui had been absolutely outstanding, he’s went to Roma, but Sa’s come in and has been excellent. Any little mistake he’s made has been a positive one. He’s come off his line to sweep up, he dominates his area well and he’s made some really big saves in big moments.
“He’s very good with his feet and is very composed, and Wolves want to have more possession and play with a higher line, and he’s that dominant goalkeeper. I’ve been really impressed and by all accounts from the lads, he’s a proper top guy, a real character and good in the dressing room.”
V A M O S 🙌 pic.twitter.com/avhp6ItfTz
— Wolves (@Wolves) November 2, 2021
On Jimenez’s 50th in old gold
Thompson said: “It’s what he deserves. The Wolves players chased everything down in the first-half and the Everton players didn’t know what to do.
“It just shows you how alert he is, he’s got onto the loose backpass, and he’s got the ability to finish it the way he did with a little dink over the keeper to score that second goal. It was great play from him. You can see what it means to the fans here; they want their number nine to score.”
Murray added: “It was a great finish, but just to see him scoring back at Molineux is brilliant. Listen to the noise. The goal will mean so much to him after what he’s been through. But the energy, the press, the awareness, and how cool was he with that finish.
“He’s so calm. He’s as cool as the other side of the pillow. It’s horrible as a goalkeeper because if you look where he’s dinked it, you can’t get anything to it. It’s just over his shoulder and rolls in.”
On a stunning first-half performance
Thompson said: “You talk about performances, and that first-half probably had everything. It had goals in there, they had possession and they played some really good stuff.
“The second-half was a little bit shaky, conceded that one goal, weren’t able to keep the clean sheet, but they battled against it. I know things didn’t go right in the second-half, but Everton threw everything at them.
“They’ve got to learn from this. They’ve got to learn to maintain what they did in the first-half, because in that 45 minutes, they were untouchable. But if you keep inviting teams onto you, they’re going to cause you problems.”
5️⃣0️⃣ @Raul_Jimenez9 🇲🇽🐺 pic.twitter.com/nhVU3ke6H1
— Wolves (@Wolves) November 1, 2021
On a nervy second-half
Murray said: “It was clear why Bruno Lage made the changes ahead of the game, he wanted Neves in there for that control and the Wolves fans were singing Ruben Neves’ name, and Trincao playing instead of Traore, getting in those pockets.
“But it was obvious Everton were getting back into the game, doing their stuff, and Wolves just struggled with it. What looked like a comfortable night, with how they played in the first-half, the second-half, they weren’t able to get the same control.
“Credit Everton for that, but was there something Wolves could have done to counter that? But in the end, it’s 13 points out of the last 15 – that’s an unbelievable return. There were some hairy moments when Sa got caught and recovered, I thought the save he made from Gordon was excellent, but all in all, a fantastic night’s result and a really good game.”
On areas still to improve
Murray said: “Even if you’re not going to score three, four or five, could it be 2-0 and it be comfortable and gone?
“In the first-half, the only little glimpses Everton got were from Wolves mistakes, but Bruno would have looked at that first-half performance and would have gone, ‘That’s nearly as good as what I can get.’
“But in the second-half, Everton made the change, they brought Fabian Delph on, put the extra body in midfield, pressed Wolves higher up the pitch, and then they weren’t as controlled in possession. I feel the players have to manage that on the pitch, but also, I’m not convinced the substitutions were right.
“However, they got the win, and the most important thing was the three points.”
You can watch Matchday Live Extra 30 minutes before every Wolves kick-off this season, on Twitter and on Wolves TV, before heading over to the Wolves App following full-time for all the post-match reaction.
