Wolves v Brentford - five talking points

Wolves suffered their fifth defeat of the season as Brentford left Molineux with a 2-0 victory.

Chances were at a premium for Kenny Jackett's team who were booed off at half and full time.

Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers picks out five talking points from a depressing night at Molineux.

Jackett was confident in his assertion that we'd see a reaction from the 4-2 defeat at Derby on Sunday, in which Wolves were outclassed for the first time this season.

He's not going to say anything but, of course, and his willingness to make Molineux a fortress, another pre-match comment, goes without saying too.

But those words looked extremely hollow as Wolves produced what may have been their worst home performance since Jackett took charge in 2013.

The ease with which Brentford passed their way into and around the Wolves third of the field was alarming.

Wolves started the match with all the conviction of Jeremy Corbyn singing the national anthem. They were going through the motions and it was no surprise when Brentford took the lead.

Not even a half time rollocking from their boss could stir Wolves into action - they were insipid, disjointed and feeble in their attacking ventures.

A mild improvement yielded a chance or two, before Brentford put everyone out of their misery with their deserved second goal late on.

All in all it was a very un-Wolves-like performance, certainly the Wolves we've come to know under Jackett, in which effort, passion, commitment and desire have previously been a given.

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It was certainly a surprise to see Jack Price's name among the substitutes, with Jackett making two changes from the Derby defeat.

While Price wasn't at his best at the iPro, he was by no means on his own in underperforming against an excellent Derby side, and to see him and Jed Wallace jettisoned as the main fall guys was curious.

Conor Coady and Sheyi Ojo were drafted in - and neither made a big impression.

Coady's first started in six matches saw him pick up where he left off before that red card against Brighton, i.e. struggling to reach the heights of those man of the match displays at the start of the season.

Ojo, in a recurring theme, was disappointing after earning his place with a bright showing from the bench in the previous fixture.

Jackett's tinkering has been a feature of Wolves' inconsistency over the past two and a bit months.

And that tinkering is a source of increasing frustration for Wolves supporters, whose patience is wearing thinner at matters on and off the field at their beloved club.

Afobe's talents go to waste

It's been bad enough seeing Afobe play so deep he's almost become a central midfielder (or a defender, as seen when he raced back to quell a Brentford attack in the first half), but farming him out to the right flank was an unsuccessful experiment that did Jackett no favours.

Afobe is Wolves' most talented player. And to get the best out of him, Jackett must return him to his natural position.

If that means having to sacrifice Adam Le Fondre and playing Jed Wallace or David Edwards in the number 10 role, then so be it.

Wolves have struggled for balance and consistency all season long and selecting players out of position will only contribute to that.

Another oddity was the use of Rajiv van La Parra - a player deemed surplus to requirements just a few weeks ago - ahead of Nathan Byrne and Jed Wallace, both of whom Wolves paid money for in the summer.

Byrne has started just once since moving from Swindon, for the 3-0 win at Fulham when despite a decent showing he was hauled off at half time.

Van La Parra actually made a decent impact in a bright 37-minute appearance. The Dutchman was positive and direct in his play, cutting inside from the left to play a part in creating Wolves' two best chances of the match, and sending a decent effort over the bar late on.

But it still baffles to see him preferred to Byrne, when in late August it was assumed Byrne had been purchased to replace him.

Byrne wasn't even used as an attacking right back when Dominic Iorfa departed through injury, with Matt Doherty (whose feeble attempt to jog back to the penalty area after letting a flick-on bounce past him for Brentford's second goal was a low-light of the evening) sent on instead.

With Wolves producing next to no creativity in their past two matches, it's surely time to see what Byrne can do.

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Kortney Hause struggled against Marco Djuricin. As did Danny Batth. And the distribution of both centre halves was desperately poor.

But Jackett couldn't replace either player for Saturday's visit of Middlesbrough even if he wanted to.

That's because Wolves, owing to Dominic Iorfa's suspension after picking up his fifth booking of the season, only have four senior defenders available.

They also have just two senior strikers in Afobe and Le Fondre.

For a club of Wolves' wealth, and a club with aspirations of being in the Premier League this time next year, to have four defenders and two strikers available is, frankly, appalling.

It also means that if players are underperforming they won't be dropped, because there's no one to replace them.

We saw just a few weeks ago how Kevin McDonald reacted to being left out of the team when he produced successive man of the match performances on his return.

A lack of competition in defence and attack is hurting Wolves, and adding to the increasing pressure that Jackett is finding himself under.