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Bristol City v Wolves - five talking points

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Wolves lost their fourth game out of five, going down 1-0 to Bristol City at Ashton Gate.

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The optimism and confidence accrued from the 2-0 derby victory over Blues soon evaporated, with inconsistency haunting Kenny Jackett's team once again.

So where do they go from here? Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers picks out five talking points.

Matt Doherty appeals for a late penalty which wasn't given, much to the displeasure of Kenny Jackett.

Well that was a big let-down, wasn't it?

On Saturday at St Andrew's Wolves were focused, they had a game plan which they executed to perfection, they were determined, positive and vibrant.

Think of the opposite adjectives from that previous sentence and you can sum up their Ashton Gate travails.

This inconsistency is totally bewildering. If you have a look at that Wolves XI, at their bench, at the players who can't even make it onto the bench, at the players out on loan pulling up trees for other clubs, they should be at a minimum challenging for the play-offs.

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Even without Nouha Dicko, Bakary Sako and Richard Stearman, that squad on paper is a lot better than 14th in the Championship.

But for this latest defeat, Wolves' fourth in five matches, so much was wrong that it's difficult to know where to start.

Wolves were steady if unspectacular in the first half, with a few decent moves down the flanks not yielding that killer final ball.

But there was a big gap behind Benik Afobe, with Jackett plumping for 4-1-4-1, and Afobe had another off-day in his isolated forward role.

Jackett drastically changed things at the break, withdrawing the anonymous Afobe and, perhaps more surprisingly, Nathan Byrne (who had picked up a knock but could have played on, the Wolves boss revealed afterwards), sending on Adam Le Fondre and Grant Holt and matching Bristol City's 3-5-2.

It didn't work.

In fact Wolves were even worse, rendering Robins keeper Frank Fielding a spectator.

Holt and Le Fondre added little, the wing-backs experiment failed miserably and Wolves produced one of their worst 45 minutes of football in recent seasons.

While the tactics were baffling at times, and 3-5-2 definitely didn't work, it was the attitude and insipid nature of his players that will have troubled Jackett most of all.

They didn't get the basics right, not for the first time this season, and you got the impression Wolves could have played 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-1-4-1, 3-5-2, 5-3-2, 4-2-4 or 0-0-10 and it wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference.

They just weren't at the races. And, unjust late penalty decision or not, how disappointing is that.

Benik Afobe - withdrawn at half time at Ashton Gate.

By his own admission he wasn't at his best against Blues. And at Ashton Gate you have to say Afobe didn't even reach the lowly levels seen at St Andrew's.

No shots for the striker, who has failed to score in his last four.

At times you feel for him. Clearly too good for the Championship in terms of his unquestionable ability, Afobe can cut a frustrated figure when those around him aren't on his wavelength.

Against Bristol City he was forced to do a lot of the dirty work, chasing lost causes and jumping for high balls against two tall defenders, with no team mates to flick them on to.

What he needed was Holt to do the dirty work for him. But Jackett had seen enough and, instead of pairing them together, withdrew Afobe at half time.

Jackett's hope will be that in doing so he's given Afobe the kick up the backside that worked when dropping Kevin McDonald earlier this season.

Something certainly needs to change because while Afobe might need some support up front, his touch is off and he lacks his usual zest and exuberance in and around the box.

Wolves need the real Afobe back.

There was little in the way of creativity from the Wolves midfield.

No one could leave the field with their head held high and say they had performed at their best.

Particularly in midfield, where a hard-working but powerless McDonald, an inhibited Coady and an anonymous Edwards didn't cover themselves in glory.

Jackett's midfield conundrum has rumbled on for months now and the only consistently workable solution has been pairing McDonald and Price.

The latter was dropped after the 4-2 defeat at Derby and hasn't been seen since. When Wolves need someone to put their foot on the ball, keep things simply and lift the tempo, he's sat on the bench.

All four midfielders have their virtues, and they're all very different players.

With Jackett sure to make changes for the Burnley game on Saturday, if only due to the fact he has played the same XI twice in four days and fatigue must be a factor, then Price must surely be in his thinking.

Dominic Iorfa was another player well below his best.

Pretty simple one this.

Can Dominic Iorfa, James Henry, Scott Golbourne, Nathan Byrne and whoever else might play on the flanks against Burnley please, please, please practice crossing the football into the penalty box?

It was infuriating to see, time and again, Wolves carefully work their way into promising positions and then, with men in the middle, completely waste theirs and everyone else's time by failing to beat the first man.

For a team whose attacking ventures lean so heavily on getting the ball out wide, beating the full back and getting the ball into the box, this wasn't good enough.

Just lift the damn thing!

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Kenny Jackett - knows he must deliver results soon.

We're starting to see the cracks in Wolves' season widen, and when the fans start publicly singing their displeasure at matches it's a very ominous sign indeed.

"You don't know what you're doing" was the chant from the away end when Matt Doherty replaced Coady in the 78th minute.

You can see what Jackett was trying to do, bringing on a player better suited to a right wing-back role in Doherty than Henry, who was then then given a licence to roam behind Le Fondre and Holt.

The frustration was that Sheyi Ojo, so often Wolves' super-sub, and Jordan Graham (who must be wondering why he was recalled from a fruitful loan spell at Oxford when he's now twice been an unused substitute) were left sat on the bench, but bringing either of them on would have meant changing the system yet again.

And the angry boos at the final whistle from the 1,200 travelling fans told their own story.

While Jackett has endured a raw deal for many of the contributory factors to Wolves' current malaise (Dicko injury, Sako departure, poor Afobe form, McDonald contract issues, questionable recruitment strategy, Stearman sale depending on who it was sanctioned by), he helped bring this defeat on with some very questionable tactical decisions.

The 3-5-2 move smacked of desperation, of a man struggling to come up with answers to the many questions that Wolves' poor form are asking of him.

After four defeats in five, and with a current league position of 14th, Jackett is undoubtedly under increasing pressure to deliver, and a number of strange tactical and personnel decisions of late really aren't helping his cause.

And this distressingly bad performance comes so soon after another, the abject 2-0 defeat to Brentford.

Yes there are 31 games to go and Wolves are only seven points off the play-offs.

But until they look like a team ready to challenge the top six, questions will be asked of the head coach.