Wolves blog: Effective changes are needed

Wolves' inconsistent form throughout the season so far has taken a further decline in recent weeks with four losses in the last five games...writes Wolves blogger Tom Tracey

As the season enters November, a familiarly poor month for Jackett and his team based on his other two seasons in charge, one of the criticisms levelled at him is his lack of ability to make influential substitutions during a match.

Chasing an equaliser against Bristol City on Tuesday night, Jackett removed Afobe and Byrne at half time and swapped them with Holt and Le Fondre. This caused the team to be just as, if not more ineffective and Jackett's final change was to bring on Matt Doherty, a right back, rather than a more attacking player.

Whilst the intention was to allow James Henry to push further on, more direct attacking players such as Ojo or the recalled Graham would surely have been stronger candidates to affect the result.

Despite using all three substitutes, no impact was made on Bristol City's goal and therefore on the game itself.

This has been a common theme throughout the season so far, as the club have salvaged just five points from losing positions. Once Wolves go a goal down, it always looks unlikely that they will come back, whatever they try.

Wolves' bench has rarely looked threatening this season, with a lack of depth exposed by having young newcomers such as Enobakhare and Deslandes being the only replacements for the forwards and defenders respectively.

The difference between Wolves and the stronger clubs in the league is startling. Middlesbrough came to Molineux with Downing and Adomah on the bench.

Derby beat QPR at home on Tuesday night with Bent on their bench whilst even fellow mid-table QPR had Leroy Fer and Junior Hoilett on their bench.

In the 15 league games that have passed, Jackett has made 39 substitutions. Six defenders have been brought on, eleven attackers and 22 midfielders or wingers.

Matt Doherty benefitted from all six of the substitutions used to bring on a defender. Adam Le Fondre has also been brought on six times whilst Wolves' only real super-sub, Sheyi Ojo, has come off the bench nine times.

Of the 39 substitutions, seven of them have contributed directly to a goal either through assists or scoring. If up to 33 of these total substitutions are designed to have a positive attacking effect, this is quite a low return.

Nathan Byrne came on and squared it to Kevin McDonald who scored an injury time equaliser against Preston. Against Charlton, substitutes Ojo and Le Fondre linked up to score a late winner.

In the convincing 3-0 victory over Fulham, Ojo came on after a goalless first half and laid claim to scoring the first two goals but had to settle with just the one goal and the assist as the ball went in off Le Fondre.

Ojo also set up Le Fondre for the consolation goal against Derby, heading it back across the box. His goal against Birmingham City wrapped up the three points and ensured there would be no late drama.

Coming from the bench, Ojo has had a hand in five of Wolves' total 20 goals this season, meaning that he is Wolves' main threat to bring on later in the game. When starting, he has not yet shown that same level of quality.

With this in mind, surely Ojo would have been worth at least fifteen minutes against Bristol City, as he has a knack of affecting games late on when other players are tiring.

With the need to arrest the current slide becoming more pressing with every loss, Wolves could do with taking a leaf out of Leicester City's book and ensure that they can turn around losing positions more frequently and not fizzle out. Effective substitutes such as Ojo can go a long way to helping this.

Jackett must start to instil more determination into the team – going a goal down should not be the nailing off the coffin in a match. Similarly, he must make the correct decisions in changing the game effectively by unleashing the correct player at the correct time.