Wolves 2 Barnsley 1 – Five talking points

The substitute made a huge impact in his 10-minute cameo, setting up Bright Enobakhare's opener before clinching a last-gasp win in injury time.

It was far from a vintage performance but Wolves extended their unbeaten run to seven games in all competitions and stayed second in the table on goal difference.

So what did we learn from the game? Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers picks out five talking points.

Functional

Look up 'functional' in the dictionary and it reads 'designed to be practical and useful, rather than attractive'.

After a week in which Wolves failed to reproduce the easy-on-the-eye football that defined their opening month of the season – but still somehow managed to win all three matches – there surely can't be a more apt way to describe their recent performances.

Nuno Espirito Santo criticised his team's game management after the contrived to draw 3-3 with Bristol City despite producing arguably some of their most exciting football this season.

It's gone the other way now – but the boss will now look to combine the two facets.

Wolves can't continue to trundle through games as they did here. Better teams – and Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Wednesday looks a decent example – will punish them.

They began the campaign by dominating possession and shot statistics both home and away, reaching a high of 79 per cent of the ball against Yeovil in the Carabao Cup.

Some of the sublime football on display was, by all accounts (including supporters who've been watching them for 60 years) the best witnessed by a Wolves team in a good long while.

That's all changed in the past week. They registered 44, 52 and 50 per cent possession against Nottingham Forest, Bristol Rovers and Barnsley. The wondrous passing game has subsided and they're controlling far less of the game – but still coming up with the goods when it matters most.

Another tick in the box for Nuno.

Neves

One of the main reasons their performances have been down a notch has been the form of Ruben Neves, who had his quietest Wolves game here.

In pre-season and for the opening couple of weeks a misplaced Neves pass was as rare as a three-legged dodo but against Barnsley he regularly gave the ball away and had little impact in the opposition half.

The eye-watering price tag isn't his fault but right now Neves doesn't look like a £15m player.

And when he's not on it, it seems Wolves aren't either. A number of factors should be taken into consideration such as his young age (20), the fact his partner has just had a baby, he's settling in a new country, adapting to the league and getting used to the number of games played in the Championship.

He spent the last international break with Portugal Under-21s and may do so again after next week's trip to Burton...so it's a relentless start to the season.

But still, Wolves will need more from Neves. Jack Price and N'Diaye are on standby.

Complacency?

Wolves were insipid, dispassionate, flat and – it looked to me – complacent in the first half. As well as Neves, Diogo Jota had an off-day and Wolves lacked inspiration and creativity.

A half time rollocking from Nuno didn't have the desired immediate impact and a better side than Barnsley would have left Molineux with all three points.

On the flip side the team's battling qualities are to be admired.

In the Championship bear pit, or indeed in any league, winning is all that matters. And in what will be a 50-game season for Nuno's team, there will be more occasions than not where they can't produce that attractive free-flowing passing game. There's far more than one way to win a match.

Wolves relied on Jota's magic at Forest, Will Norris' superhero antics versus Rovers and here it was N'Diaye who produced a remarkable 10-minute substitute cameo to provide an assist and a goal.

It was a crazy, preposterous end to a match that had barely flickered with excitement or entertainment for the best part of 70 minutes.

It may seem churlish to criticise a team that's just won three on the spin but Wolves have set such high standards for themselves in the opening weeks.

Their character and determination got them through this one. Wolves will need more than that if the top two spot that is now their very clear target is to be theirs come May.

Super subs

N'Diaye's match-winning contribution off the bench was a manager's dream and he may have played his way into a starting spot at Bramall Lane – but all three subs made a big difference here.

Barry Douglas added solidity, defensive nous and a better end product than Ruben Vinagre who was taken off at the break for not containing the dangerous Adam Hammill.

Bright Enobakhare scored his second goal in a week – ending a two-year drought in some style – with a gorgeously well-guided left-footed volley.

N'Diaye set that up with a perfect cross and was then in the right place at the right time to turn home Leo Bonatini's pass (second time in two games he's teed up a late winner) to send Molineux potty.

But how about the players who didn't even make it off the bench? Will Norris, man of the match a few days earlier, Jack Price who's proved himself time and again at this level, Ben Marshall who was arguably Wolves' best player in the final three months of last season and then the man himself Helder Costa, back after a five-month absence.

Not to mention Michal Zyro, Kortney Hause, Morgan Gibbs-White, Connor Ronan and Sylvain Deslandes who dropped out of the squad from Tuesday night. Then Willy Boly and Ryan Bennett should be back from injury lay-offs soon and Phil Ofosu-Ayeh is due to return in the new year.

That's a deep, deep squad with competition for places in every position, which can only benefit the team over the course of a long season.

Bumper crowd

It was great to see Molineux almost full for a run-of-the-mill Saturday afternoon game against Barnsley.

A ticket offer helped but a year ago they'd have only got 21/22,000 for a visit of a team like the Tykes whatever the price.

Barnsley's fans were put in the upper North Bank quadrant and surely this is something Wolves should look to do on a regular basis.

If memory serves this was always the intention when the North Bank was rebuilt, but for whatever reason it hasn't happened. A Steve Bull lower tier packed with away fans means the away team have support at either end of the pitch – putting them out of the way at the top of the Stan Cullis is surely preferable from a Wolves point of view?

Nuno made an interesting comment after the game in his post-match interviews with both Wolves and the press, calling for supporters to back his team for the full 90 minutes.

"Thank you to our fans for the support, we thank for that but it also has to be for 90 minutes," he said. "Let's go everybody supporting the team even when the team is down, we need you to back up the team."

The atmosphere wasn't at its noisiest on Saturday and most fans agreed with Nuno's sentiment on social media yesterday.

It's the opposite approach to predecessor Kenny Jackett who regularly spoke about the need for the team to set the tone and give the fans something to cheer – after all, they're the ones paying to watch and to be entertained.

Foreign bosses such as Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola have mentioned how English supporters are more reactive rather than proactive when it comes to making noise, which often isn't the case on the continent.

Jeff Shi and Laurie Dalrymple have also spoken of trying to get fans to Molineux earlier in a bid to improve the atmosphere.

It's an interesting debate but either way there's no doubting the bond between the team and the fanbase is stronger than it was last season. And as always, if the team are playing well and winning the noise will be louder.