Express & Star

Sheffield Wednesday 0 Wolves 1 – Five talking points

Wolves extended their unbeaten run to eight matches with a 1-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday.

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Ruben Neves scored the only goal of the game at Hillsborough with a precise first half finish.

Nuno Espirito Santo's team were far from at their best but a solid defensive rearguard saw them through.

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

History boys

Nuno's shtick since taking over has been about forgetting Wolves' past and concentrating only on the present (sounds simple but this hasn't always been the case at Molineux).

Well his team are starting to create some history of their own now.

After falling short of creating a couple of records of late (six consecutive wins was three below the club record and Leo Bonatini was one short of matching a post-war record of scoring in six consecutive league games) they finally cracked the much vaunted 'win four away games without conceding a goal' record, a rather curious statistic that some guy who's fun at parties researched last week.

It's the first time in Wolves' 140-year history that this has occurred and the rate Nuno's team are going you can expect a few (more prestigious) records to fall this season.

Indeed, they're currently on track to break the league points record (which stands at 106, accumulated by Reading in 2005/06) with 51 points from 22 matches.

While that's a tough ask, given that the second half of the season when teams have already played Wolves once and will come armed with better game plans, Wolves are well on course for promotion and won't need to accrue as many points, history suggests, from Christmas onwards to go up. You could argue they need 40 points (13 wins and a draw from 24 matches) in all probability to finish in the top two.

As for the here and now, they kept their 12th clean sheet in 22 matches, became the quickest team to reach 50 points since, well, Wolves did it in 2008 and reached the same number of victories (16) as they mustered in the whole of 2016/17 (they've already beaten the win totals of their 2015/16 and 2012/13 Championship campaigns – 14).

They also continued a remarkable recent record at Hillsborough, making it nine wins, nine draws and just one defeat from their past 19 visits.

Class above

That they did so was thanks to a match-winning goal that was befitting of a grander stage.

Ruben Neves thinks a bit differently to most other players in this league, further evidenced by his alluring 34th minute caressing of the ball into the bottom corner, a moment they should indefinitely show on repeat in the Tate.

It was eye of the needle, precision personified stuff that he makes look easy but in reality is anything but.

Perhaps surprisingly it was only his second strike of the season (his other was a blockbuster 30-yarder at Hull, so they're worth waiting for) and he's no assists to his name yet.

It's his passing, vision, movement, technique and control, both of the ball and Wolves' tempo, that already makes Neves one of the best midfielders seen in WV1 in quite a few years but the Portuguese maestro will want to improve those numbers.

Impenetrable

Wolves are continuously being dubbed the 'Manchester City of the Championship' but regular watches of Nuno's team know that's a lazy comparison based on league position and spending power.

City are the most exciting attacking team in Europe but Wolves' main strength, for all their creativity and flair through the likes of Diogo Jota and Ivan Cavaleiro, is their rock solid defence which kept a third clean sheet in a row here.

The foundations of their wonderful opening five months of the campaign have been built on organisation and team work and, while it is possible to nullify Wolves' attack (as Sunderland showed last week) teams are finding it extremely difficult to penetrate their granite-like defence.

Of the three teams to beat them, Cardiff's physical approach was too much, Sheffield United were aided by Conor Coady's early red card after which a switch to four at the back didn't work and then QPR took advantage of a couple of individual errors.

Otherwise Wolves have proved impenetrable. And since the introduction of Ryan Bennett and the imperious Willy Boly to the back line at Norwich away at the end of October Wolves have only grown stronger at the back, conceding just two goals in eight games.

Indeed, Bennett has spent 1,115 minutes on a football pitch in a Wolves shirt...and in that time they've conceded a total of three goals. That's a goal every 370 minutes, or roughly one every four matches.

It's not just the back three. Wolves defend from the front and while they lacked a creative spark Cavaleiro, Jota and Leo Bonatini all put the proverbial shift in.

It all meant John Ruddy had only one save to make – taking his total saves to two in three matches.

Jaded?

While it seems churlish to nitpick away at a team that's won seven and drawn one of its past eight games, there are certainly improvements to be made.

After demolition jobs against Leeds (4-1) and Bolton (5-1) Wolves have only scored twice in their past three.

Going forward, as against Blues and Sunderland, they lacked their usual zip and vitality. Their passes were often too short or long, touches were heavy, final balls were generally off the mark.

Jota looked jaded, perhaps mentally as much as physically, and it must be tempting for Nuno to unleash Helder Costa against the Tractor Boys on Saturday.

Costa produced a bright cameo from the bench and it's surely now time to give him a start after nine substitute appearances in a row in the league.

Bright Enobakhare has been used sparingly of late but is other option, while Ben Marshall and perhaps even Morgan Gibbs-White, who was named in a first team squad for the first time under Nuno, could come into play over Christmas.

Tough run

Sheffield Wednesday offered more in an attacking sense than Sunderland and Blues before them but the Owls were clearly low on confidence after a run of five without a win and playing in front of an impatient and frustrated home crowd that was ready to turn.

However while the past three fixtures have been kinder on paper, the same can't be said of Ipswich (h), Millwall (a) and Bristol City (a) before the end of the year.

Wolves will certainly need more from their front three if they're to come through that mini run unscathed, particularly from those two tricky away matches.

If they do so, then it would appear there's little that can stop Nuno's team. They're answering every question that comes their way – the squad has very few weaknesses, there are good players not even in the matchday 18 and there's the promise of more additions to come in January.

While the manner of their recent victories hasn't been as convincing, it's only the wins themselves that matter and Wolves' ability to do just that really is something to behold.

The juggernaut just keeps on going.