Liam Keen debrief: Tactical move didn't pay off for Wolves - who now face selection decisions
In what many consider the worst performance of the season, Wolves fell way below their standards.
The three goals they gave to West Ham were avoidable and were the result of several big mistakes.
Although the second-half performance was better, Wolves still struggled to impose themselves and must right those wrongs in the coming weeks.
Tactical mistakes
Gary O’Neil deserves credit for the number of times he has got it spot on tactically this season, but he also deserves criticism when it does not work.
Against West Ham, he switched to a back four, which very occasionally became a back five when Jean-Ricner Bellegarde tracked back in the hybrid role previously mastered by Rayan Ait-Nouri. To play Bellegarde and Pablo Sarabia, and not play a natural wing-back on that left side, was a big risk and one that did not pay off.
Ait-Nouri coming back from injury will likely put an end to that, but it was a bold and attacking move that left Wolves wide open.
O’Neil cannot account for some individual mistakes, but Wolves looked disjointed in their shape and uncomfortable in possession in a poor first half.
