Express & Star

Wolves 5 Bolton 1 – player ratings

Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers rates the players after a 5-1 thrashing of Bolton.

Published

John Ruddy

Good handling, good catching, good saves and a great assist for the fifth goal when he showed awareness to release Jota. 8/10

Ryan Bennett

A regulation game in which he was doing nothing wrong until he played a daft pass to Neves that led to Bolton's goal. Otherwise he did fine but that definitely goes down as a rare error from Bennett. 6/10

Conor Coady

Talking of rare errors, Coady almost gifted Bolton an opening goal inside a minute when he got caught napping in his own box. No problems after that – in fact he was imperious at times and his distribution got Wolves moving on many occasions. 7/10

Willy Boly

Scored his second Wolves goal – and like his first it was a close range header from a Barry Douglas corner. You get the impression Boly finds Championship football a bit easy at times – the way he ambles out of defence and picks a pass is reminiscent of a languid ball-playing midfielder, not a rugged centre half. This laissez faire nature means he's prone to giving the ball away, as he did a few times here. But going the other way he's so hard to beat. 7/10

Matt Doherty

He and Cavaleiro can link up to great effect down that right flank but here the Irishman just let Cavaleiro do his thing. Enjoyed a good battle against young Bolton left back Antonee Robinson. As always with Doherty his work rate was exceptional. Has put in a long string of consistent performances in what's becoming a fine season. 7/10

Ruben Neves

Always in control, always knows who's around him and how to find space both for himself and his team mates. And how about *that* pass for Bonatini's goal? Delicious. Sadly though he picked up his fifth booking of the season and is suspended for Blues away next Monday. 8/10

Romain Saiss

Saiss is McCartney to Neves' Lennon – more conventional and straight-laced, but gets the job done and pulls the whole thing together with minimal fuss. 7/10

Barry Douglas

Seven assists and two goals is an output that most attacking midfielders in the division would be pleased with. Becoming a maestro on set pieces – he delivered the corner for Boly's opener and then a couple of minutes later sent a free kick onto the defender's head for what should have been a second. 7/10

Ivan Cavaleiro

The one thing Cavaleiro has lacked at Wolves has been consistency – on his day he's unstoppable but that day has only come around every three or four games. Well this is three performances in a row now that he's seriously turned on the juice. Helder Costa's return to fitness won't be a coincidence – Cav knows he has to perform to keep his place and he's doing exactly that. Two goals took his tally to four in three matches and he could have had a couple more. Oozed confidence. Bolton's defenders resembled the Chuckle Brothers trying to catch a wild ostrich. 9/10

Leo Bonatini

In the right place at the right time to nod his 11th of the season, from just his 19th league appearance. To contrast that with Wolves' striker woes over the past couple of seasons, since January 2016 six strikers – Nouha Dicko, Adam Le Fondre, Bjorn Sigurdarsson, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Paul Gladon and Joe Mason – netted 13 goals in 138 league appearances between them. 7/10

Diogo Jota

Wolves' magic man. Great turn of pace before linking the ball over Ben Alnwick for the second goal and then raced clear of the Bolton defender to net the fifth. Just the nine goals in 19 for him. It's frightening how good this guy could be – and indeed already is. Just 20 years old. 8/10

Substitutes

Helder Costa (for Bonatini, 72)

Only played 44 minutes in this past week over three substitute appearances but produced two assists and a goal and signalled he's back in business. Good awareness to find Cavaleiro for the fourth goal. Pushing his case for a starting place but Jota and Cavaleiro are undroppable at the moment. His time will come over the course of a long season. 7/10

Alfred N'Diaye (for Cavaleiro, 85)

No impact in five minutes with the game already well in the bag. N/A

Ruben Vinagre (for Douglas, 88)

As above. N/A

Subs not used: Norris, Batth, Price, Enobakhare.