Wolverhampton Wanderers - The Portuguese Project

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 1: An Introduction

So, after the failed Chelsea experiment which saw me sacked after around 6 months, I decided I wanted to have a crack at another Premier League club before venturing either abroad or to lower divisions. Now, Wolves have endured a severely disappointing campaign in real life during the 2022-23 season, with the club firmly entrenched in a relegation battle.

Instead of hiring Julen Lopetegui this time, though...

I will be stepping in to take control of the club and hopefully turn around their fortunes.

Of course, Wolves have built a reputation for their Portuguese contingent across their time in the Premier League, and I will look to continue to maintain a strong Portuguese imprint on the squad to aid the level of realism of the save.

Wolves have a decent history, but nothing particularly recent in terms of top level success. It's up to me to change that.

And, of course, the Portuguese player signings is indeed an aspect of our club vision that we should be looking to work towards. The club have some decently realistic expectations, and we'll just be looking for a mid-table finish in this season.​

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 2: Squad Overview

We don't possess the deepest squad in football, in total honesty, with several positions lacking quality depth or containing many players who are injury prone.

This is especially the case in defence...

As can be seen, we have just the two first-team goalkeepers, and should Jose Sa pick up an injury, Matija Sarkic is not exactly the ideal back-up option. And, as for the centre-back options, we have just 4, with only Max Kilman being of 3 star ability. Obviously, the rest can all improve, but we lack quality and depth in this position.

The lack of centre-backs means we will not be using a back 5 or back 3 for the moment at least. What compounds matters is that none of our full-backs can rotate into centre-back either. None of Jonny, Nelson Semedo or Rayan Ait-Nouri are particularly equipped to play in the centre of defence so we'll have to hope that Collins and Kilman manage to stay fit for the season, or at least until January where we can sign reinforcements.

It brings into even greater question this deal from Wolves' real life summer window...

The deal to loan out England international centre-back Conor Coady certainly strikes me as a bizarre one. In a window where they also sold ***** Boly to Nottingham Forest, and let Leander Dendoncker, who could play centre-back, go to Aston Villa, they also allowed arguably their best centre-back to leave on a loan deal. Certainly it has not paid dividends in real life, but hopefully we can manage without our former captain for this season.

Now, moving on to the players who are at the club, though, and the one name that comes to mind immediately when Wolves are brought up is undoubtedly this man:

Ruben Neves is a class midfielder who just looks a step above everybody else at the club. In real life, should Wolves continue their downward trajectory, I'd argue he should look for a new club, because he can definitely play for a better one. Whilst he remains here, though, he will be our key player and we will look to him for inspiration, leadership and his trademark long shots!

Now, a player who could be an X-factor for us is right-winger Adama Traore. This guy has the tools to be an extremely difficult player to handle, but he lacks decent end product all too often. If we can get the best out of him though, he certainly will contribute to our chances of success.

Up front, though, tend to be where majority of Wolves issues lie in real life...

And perhaps part of the reason for that is a reliance on a 33-year-old Diego Costa who appears to be past his best. He's still the same old Diego Costa to some extent, though, with the Spaniard being sent off against Brentford for a headbutt.

Thankfully, though, the game does not come with Sasa Kaladjzic's ACL injury which he picked up in his debut for the club.

Therefore, the Austrian, who boasts a 6'7" height and can cause problems with his height for sure. Regardless of the fact that he is not currently injured like he is in real life, he still does have a torrid injury record and it will be a difficult task to keep him healthy.

Speaking of injuries, and we do have a few of them to kick things off. The major one is, unfortunately, to young winger Chiquinho who will miss the entire season through damaged cruciate ligaments. Hopefully, when he does return, he'll still have a role to play and be able to reach his potential, because he is a bright prospect.​

 

[MrTini23]

Good luck!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Wow, when you break down the team like that to individual positions, it's actually a really poor team (Neves aside). This is going to take some work my friend!

 

[TheMaestro]

Wow, when you break down the team like that to individual positions, it's actually a really poor team (Neves aside). This is going to take some work my friend!

Exactly, the side is actually not great so it's not a complete surprise to see where they are in real life. 3 star players for the team are considered good Championship quality, which is not exactly where we want to be at. It'll be a challenge, but hopefully I can live up to the task.

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 3: A Tough Start

What I did not mention in the previous post was the start we have. We face Newcastle away, before welcoming Manchester City to the Molineux. Then after that, we have Chelsea and Tottenham, before rounding out the month with a game against Brentford.

EPL Matchday 1: Newcastle vs Wolves

We were beaten 2-0 away to Newcastle on the opening weekend. It was a fairly routine win for the Magpies, as we more or less were holding out and countering when possible, but we had no real chances to level it up before Isak netted his second of the game and finished the job for the home side.

And, even if it was not the worst result, it didn't make me particularly confident for our next game, up against the reigning champions...

EPL Matchday 2: Wolves vs Manchester City

But we managed to take a point and almost all three! We were denied a memorable victory by a late Julian Alvarez equaliser, but we still came away with an extremely respectable and hard earned point against Manchester City. I will most definitely take it, but City have only themselves to blame for giving away a cheap penalty and Podence robbing Stones of possession near his own penalty box.

EPL Matchday 3: Chelsea vs Wolves

And we managed another very solid result in our game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, drawing 1-1. One of the unfortunate themes of our matches so far has been conceding in the last 15 minutes of games. Ok, so technically the 74th minute is just prior to the final 15 minutes, but you get the point, and 3 of our 5 goals have been conceded at this point in matches.

We now turned our attention to the cup competitions, hoping to get the first win of my managerial tenure against Championship side Burnley...

Carabao Cup 2nd Round: Burnley vs Wolves

And we did just that, despite falling behind. This time it was our turn to strike late, with Goncalo Guedes netting right before the 90th minute to earn us progress to the next round without needing a penalty shootout. We played really well today, and yes it was against a side in a lower division, but Burnley will likely be one of those sides competing to return to the Premier League so it was a good win.

EPL Matchday 4: Wolves vs Tottenham

Well, the same old issue returns. We concede two late goals and that is enough to see Tottenham past us. They run out 2-0 winners via two late goals from Son Heung-Min. It came around our best portion of the match in terms of performance, and we even had a goal disallowed after their opener, but they hit us on the counter and clinical finishing proved the difference.

The stats confirm a close game, with the glaring difference being the amount of shots and target. We have been wasteful in a lot of our matches and that was the case again today. None of Jimenez, Costa or Kalajdzic have been very effective up top so far, with the Mexican the only one with a goal to his name.

EPL Matchday 5: Brentford vs Wolves

And then came perhaps the most important match of the month. Yes, we had not won yet, but we'd faced four sides who will all be competing for top six spots at the minimum. Up against Brentford, and we wanted to see how we'd shape up against a fellow mid-table side. Unfortunately, we ended up on the losing side, going down 1-0 to what was, in my opinion, a harsh penalty call. We had a penalty ourselves, but Ruben Neves went for an ambitious **** that fell straight to the gloves of David Raya.

Once again, the xG is there to support a decent performance, but we are just failing to take our chances.

Player of the Month

Yes, he did miss a vital penalty against Brentford, but Neves was still our best player this month. Our highest average rating was Neves' 6.85 for performances this month, quite a low number and one that we will hope to improve.

League Table

The league table does not look good early days, but I do believe it will get better. Based on what I've seen on the pitch, and the quality of opposition we've had, I'd be expecting a much improved league position over the next bunch of games.

Next month will give us a good idea of the steps we can take, as we faced Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Everton.
​

 

[CallumR]

Looking forward to this. I'll also start with Wolves and hope to find high quality players to build up a solid squad. Good Luck mate

 

[TheMaestro]

Looking forward to this. I'll also start with Wolves and hope to find high quality players to build up a solid squad. Good Luck mate

Thanks mate, good luck to you with Wolves as well.

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 4: Looking for a First Win

We were up against Aston Villa, who'd made a decent start and sat 7th in the table after the opening 5 games, yet we were still optimistic that we could get something out of the match...

EPL Matchday 6: Wolves vs Aston Villa

And with half an hour gone, we looked as good as ever for our first three points of the campaign. Ruben Neves had swiftly redeemed himself for a missed penalty in our last outing by scoring from the spot here, and two minutes later, Villa found themselves down to 10 men after a rash challenge from Douglas Luiz. Unfortunately, though, we frustratingly gave up a lead despite having a man advantage and then could not find a winner in the second half, meaning that the game finished 1-1.

The xG was there, and we had a disallowed goal once more. Incidentally, both of our disallowed goals this season have come in the 84th minute, which is a strange statistic. We can be happy with the display, but given their sending off, maybe we should have gotten our first win here.

EPL Matchday 7: Wolves vs Nottingham Forest

But, thankfully, in our next outing, we did get our first win of the season. We managed to beat Nottingham Forest 3-1 at home, and we were unlucky to not keep a clean sheet in stoppage time. It was not a major concern, though, because we were hugely relieved to have gotten the collective weight of not winning of our backs, and hopefully now we can win with increasing regularity.

EPL Matchday 8: Everton vs Wolves

We picked up a solid enough point in our final game of the month, drawing 1-1 with Everton away from home. We have, at some point, led in five of our eight matches so far this season, so perhaps it is a slight worry that we have won just the one match so far.

It was arguably our worst performance given the quality of the opponent, but, in that sense, it is a positive that we were able to take a point when we weren't at our best.

Player of the Month

It was down to Neves or Traore this month as both were good, but I will give it to Ruben Neves once more because he continues to be uber consistent and immediately rebounded from last month's crucial penalty miss by stepping up this month and leading us to 5 points from 3 games.

League Table

We are out of the relegation zone and have been quite solid throughout. Our defence has been good, although we are yet to keep a clean sheet. Next month is a packed October which includes important fixtures against Leeds, Fulham and Bournemouth and tough ones against Liverpool and Arsenal.​

 

[CallumR]

Things and luck will turn sooner or later. Itcwill be massive to stay alive until the january window and strenghten the squad especially with a new Center Back and maybe a Striker. I had thexsame issues like you when i start the save yesterday so i know what you are facing at molineux. best of luck for the upcoming fixtures

 

[TheMaestro]

Things and luck will turn sooner or later. Itcwill be massive to stay alive until the january window and strenghten the squad especially with a new Center Back and maybe a Striker. I had thexsame issues like you when i start the save yesterday so i know what you are facing at molineux. best of luck for the upcoming fixtures

Definitely, January will be crucial for this team. As you mentioned, both reinforcements at centre-back and striker are necessary. The team has a good midfield with Neves, Moutinho and Nunes, but they lack depth beyond that. I find it extremely difficult to bring on substitutes for midfielders in games, not many on the bench can play the position.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

What's your budget for January? Are you likely to be able to bring in the reinforcements that you need?

 

[TheMaestro]

What's your budget for January? Are you likely to be able to bring in the reinforcements that you need?

We have a miniscule budget, unfortunately. It currently sits at around 2 million, and the board have no plans to increase that come January. However, I will be looking to move certain players on, such as Hwang Hee Chan and Diego Costa. A lot of our players have interest from bigger clubs as well, so if offers come in during January, I may not be able to say no. It'll be a difficult but interesting window.

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 5: Struggles Continue

EPL Matchday 9: Wolves vs Leeds

We had a match last month against Aston Villa where we failed to capitalise on an extra man and laboured to a draw. This time, we found ourselves with a man down after Jonny was sent off with the score at 0-0, but we managed to stay solid at the back and look dangerous on the counter, resulting in a second half winner from Raul Jimenez to give us another win!

EPL Matchday 10: Fulham vs Wolves

However, we followed that with an awful result against Fulham, conceding 2 goals in the opening 7 minutes. The game was over as soon as it had begun, and our four match unbeaten run comes to an abrupt end.

EPL Matchday 11: Wolves vs Arsenal

I did not expect to get anything from this game, and the team lived up to my expectations. To be fair, our first half was solid, but again, it was a seven minute spell that eliminated us from contention in this one.

EPL Matchday 12: West Ham vs Wolves

Three losses in a row and all of a sudden things are getting a little concerning. The losses we had earlier in the season were a little bit more excusable given the opposition, but even though West Ham are a decent side, I would've liked to take at least a point. It was nice to see us score another goal, I guess, because we don't score a lot.

It meant that the Bournemouth game up next was extremely crucial...

EPL Matchday 13: Wolves vs Bournemouth

However, despite being at home and 1-0 up, we fell to a frustrating draw against them. It was poor of us to concede so soon after going in front, and it cost us all three points, as despite dominating the game, we failed to take advantage of our chances.

EPL Matchday 14: Liverpool vs Wolves

We get comfortably beaten at Anfield, but honestly, I cannot blame the team. We actually put in a decent performance, having some chances, and, although Liverpool deserved the win, we should have had at least a goal.

Shortly after the game and...

The board wanted to have a meeting with me about my future with the club. Thankfully, I managed to get another month in the role, but I know that my job is on the line for the next few weeks if I fail to get good results.

Player of the Month

Adama Traore had a solid enough month, creating danger down the right-wing throughout, however, with no goals nor assists, he still lacks the end product. In fairness, though, he has provided and set-up some decent chances, but our strikers have been extremely wasteful.

League Table

We find ourselves in the relegation zone after fourteen games. It does not look good, but hopefully, with less fixture congestion, we can get some better results and soon, or else I'll be out of a job.​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Good luck mate. Here's hoping next month is a good one for you!

 

[Sam91]

Really don't get what the board want from you considering just how bad that team is barring Neves!! Hope you can turn things around

 

[TheMaestro]

Good luck mate. Here's hoping next month is a good one for you!

Hope so too, it wouldn't be ideal to start off FM23 with me being sacked after just 6 months at both Chelsea and Wolves.

 

[TheMaestro]

Really don't get what the board want from you considering just how bad that team is barring Neves!! Hope you can turn things around

Agree, I don't think the squad is really good enough to be in the upper mid table area to be honest, and our lack of depth also costs us when injuries pop up.

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 6: Can I Save My Job?

It was just the two league games this month, against Leicester and Manchester United. We also faced United in the next round of the Carabao Cup.

EPL Matchday 15: Leicester vs Wolves

Vital. We came into this having won none of our away league fixtures, and, when it mattered most, we came out on top in a tight clash with Leicester at the King Power. Sasa Kalajdzic, who has been a total flop so far, could not have picked a better moment to finally get his first goal in a Wolves shirt, scoring what proved to be a crucial winner in the second half.

Carabao Cup 3rd Round: Manchester United vs Wolves

I'm not upset to be out of the Carabao Cup. Yes, my job is under pressure, but the board don't care a lot about this competition. One thing we don't need right now is a lot of fixtures because what happened to us in October when that was the case. We just don't have the depth to be able to rotate effectively at the moment. That being said, two late goals from Raul Jimenez in this one made the scoreline look a little closer than it was.

EPL Matchday 16: Wolves vs Manchester United

We lost again to United, however, in the league. But I will say that we gave it our best shot, and deserved at least a point from the game. I was really proud of the effort levels we showed in this match, and we ran United close throughout. Unlucky not to take something from this game today, but positive signs for sure.

We edged United out in terms of xG and possession, so it is unfortunate that we couldn't get anything from this match.

Player of the Month

The Player of the Month award is always a tough one to give out here at Wolves, simply because we never have anyone that is truly standout in terms of performance. However, I'm going to give it to Pedro Neto, who, despite coming off the bench in these matches, provided a bright spark in all of them and was excellent in both games against United.

League Table

The win against Leicester, who are bottom, is enough to see us out of the relegation zone, and perhaps will be enough for my job to be considered safe heading into the World Cup break.​

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 7: Can We Turn it Around?

With just two games before the January transfer window, we were hoping to potentially climb the table with games against Crystal Palace against Brighton.

However, before that, we had the positive news that our youth take would be an excellent one, especially in the areas of attacking midfielders and strikers. Something to look forward to, if I make it until then.

To less exciting news though, and midfielder Joao Moutinho is out for two months. Well, we were already extremely light in midfield, so this certainly does not help us, and it meant that midfielder Joe Hodge was called up from the Under 21s to provide some depth at least.

EPL Matchday 17: Crystal Palace vs Wolves

I don't know what I was expecting, to be honest. It had been so long, though, since we last played, that I was hoping for a little more from the team. We put in an extremely flat performance today and did not deserve anything from the game. To be fair, Palace are enjoying a really good season this campaign, but I still would've liked to have seen better.

EPL Matchday 18: Wolves vs Brighton

We earn a point, at least, courtesy of a brilliant goal from Daniel Podence. There is not a whole lot to say about this match, in truth, except that both sides failed to look particularly impressive and a draw is probably a fair result.

Player of the Month

I'm glad I can finally give this award to a defender, and Max Kilman was solid in both games, but really performed against Brighton. Our centre-backs have struggled all year round to form partnerships with each other, so it was good to see some improvement in that department this month.

League Table

We were still hovering just above the relegation zone, albeit level on points with Leeds. Leicester have started picking up a couple wins as well, meaning we sit just three points from the bottom.

I cannot stress how important January will be. The problem is, it could make our squad worse, because I imagine our better players, namely Neves, Traore or Jimenez, will not be too keen to stick around, and I probably can't justify holding them here against their will. We'll do our best, and hopefully come out of the month with an improved squad.
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