Comment: Don't panic, Wolves!

At this rate you may also find a dictionary definition which leans heavily on the week of February 24-March 3 from Wolves' 2017/18 campaign, writes Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers.

While Nuno Espirito Santo is grateful for there being no midweek game – so he can rally his troops on the training pitch – it will feel like a long week before Reading at home on Saturday for their jittery supporters.

The post-Fulham meltdown has been classic Wolves.

You don't have to be of a gold and black persuasion to know that Wolves fans can be a bit highly-strung at the best of times, probably owing to the club's rollercoaster history which has included the extreme variations of being one of the best football teams on the planet on the one hand and consecutive relegations to the Fourth Division on the other, while also losing to Chorley and almost ceasing to exist for good measure (these extremes occurred just 30 years apart).

Is the nervousness justified?

Wolves' three-game winless streak is their worst of the season (how many teams would love to be able to say that?) and they've seen their lead to second place slashed from 13 points (ahead of Derby) on February 10 to six points (ahead of Cardiff) on February 25.

The three results, in their individual context, are hardly disastrous.

A point away at Preston (who'd suffered one defeat in 15 at that point) was a good one, an impressive Norwich side played well to earn their draw at Molineux with the penultimate kick of the game and in Fulham a Ruben Neves-less Wolves faced one of the form teams in the country and undoubtedly suffered a hangover from that last-gasp sucker punch three days earlier.

While Wolves' mere three-game run is their worst, Cardiff are on their longest unbeaten run of the season (eight matches) and have won their past four without conceding a goal.

Common sense suggests that, given Wolves' form over their previous 31 matches, the team's poor run won't last. And while Cardiff and Neil Warnock may keep on winning, it's the gap to third that remains all-important and it stands at a very healthy 10 points.

In every 'lower division' across Europe's big five footballing nations (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France) only leaders Reims in the French second division have a bigger gap (15 points) to a non-automatic promotion place than Wolves do to third-placed Villa.

It's all about perspective. If Wolves had been marginally ahead before surging to a 10-point lead to third in the past couple of weeks the emotions would be entirely different, so the mindset of the players is crucial here.

And the very last thing that the players should do is panic.

Comparisons with the Devon Loch-style collapse of 2002 when Wolves blew an 11-point lead have been an obvious one to make and former midfielder Alex Rae, who played 38 times that season, said recently that pressure and egos were factors.

"We ran out of steam and the pressure probably played a part as well," he said.

"There were a lot of egos in that dressing room, they’d invested a lot of money and we certainly thought we would go up that year."

Mindset, it's all about mindset.

"Believe you me, those players will now be looking at the league table," Derby coach Kevin Phillips said in his Express & Star column yesterday.

"And all of a sudden those players have gone from being comfortable to thinking 'blimey, we need to win this game'.

"As soon as you have that thought process, you are putting pressure on yourself."

The key in all this is Nuno. Wolves' head coach has shown himself to be adept in man management and his attention to detail is fastidious.

A young squad will need guidance and reassurance from their boss, most importantly of what they were doing so well earlier in the campaign when sweeping all before them.

Let's not beat around the bush here. The Wolves team of 2017/18 plays better football than the majority of fans of a certain vintage can ever remember witnessing at Molineux. Even ardent Villa fans have remarked this is the best Wolves team they've ever seen.

Therefore a three-game blip becoming a prolonged stutter remains unlikely.

Talking of guidance and reassurance, look at the impact the week in Marbella had. Wolves jetted off to Spain with their tails between their legs after a cumbersome defeat to Nottingham Forest and returned six days later refreshed and refocused after a bonding-heavy excursion. Yep, there's the importance of that mindset again.

There are certainly technical details to amend, though. Chances aren't being created with the regularity they have been and, most pertinently, defensive errors have crept in.

Matt Doherty, Ryan Bennett, Alfred N'Diaye and Conor Coady could all be faulted for Fulham's opening goal on Saturday in what was Wolves' third uncharacteristically poor defensive display in four matches.

When their firepower lessened just before Christmas Wolves got through thanks to their defensive rigidity, with 1-0 wins against Blues, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich. They need that back...and with Danny Batth, Kortney Hause and Roderick Miranda all waiting impatiently in the wings, perhaps a freshening up of the back line wouldn't be the worst idea.

Morgan Gibbs-White has done more than enough to justify a chance in the starting XI and his vibrancy and positivity could be just what Wolves need in midfield.

Up front...at Fulham Leo Bonatini looked a shadow of the player who scored 12 goals in his first 20 league games (and has netted none in his last 14). Fatigue seems to have caught up with Diogo Jota, while Helder Costa struggled to make an impact but has been much improved lately.

Step forward Benik Afobe. The striker is absolutely desperate for his big chance from the start after five substitute appearances...while he doesn't quite suit the way Wolves have played for almost all of the campaign, a slight change of tack in their approach with Afobe playing off the last man and Gibbs-White breaking forward from midfield could reap rewards and make them less predictable.

Tweaks, amendments and a few little changes here and there are all that's required.

Results from the next two matches will be important. Reading at home and Leeds away present a good opportunity to get back on track ahead of that match at Villa on March 10. If Wolves go to Villa Park with their lead to third significantly cut, it becomes a needlessly monumental encounter, so six points before then would certainly be extremely handy.

And the fans have a role to play too. Dave Edwards and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson will be telling Jaap Stam exactly how an edgy Molineux atmosphere can play into Reading's hands...positivity from the stands would help Wolves. 'Together we are stronger' goes the Nuno mantra.

Anyone at Wolves from Jeff Shi down and the tea-lady up would have gladly taken this glorious position in November, let alone at the start of the season or 12 months ago (when they were losing at home to Blues amid a five-game losing streak).

Twelve games left. Reading at home on Saturday. Hold your nerve, Wolves.