The Tim Spiers debrief – Wolves 0 Huddersfield 2

You would call it an uncharacteristic performance and result, but it was reminiscent of the Watford game a month ago.

Bad break

That was immediately after an international break, too, and Nuno Espirito Santo made a point of highlighting the issue when he said it ‘must be something we are doing wrong and we are going to find out why’.

Thankfully the next one isn’t until February.

It wasn’t an issue last season – quite the opposite in fact, with some of Wolves’ best results of the season coming after the break (including a 2-0 win over Villa and *that* 2-1 victory at Middlesbrough.

But Wolves’ two worst performances of the campaign have been after the last two breaks.

Reasons? Nuno’s success at Wolves has been formed at the training ground, where repetition, repetition and then a bit more repetition drills into them their shape and their individual tasks, as Nuno puts it.

An increasing number of departures takes the squad out of their weekly and daily rhythm. Many of the players don’t return until Thursday and then there’s only one day of training (or two in this case) before the next match.

It’s the same for every team, of course, and it certainly doesn’t excuse what we saw yesterday – i.e. a limp and lifeless performance that was way, way down on the standards that have been set at this football club.

But the issue needs addressing, otherwise it might be a smart move to avoid the away games at Bournemouth and Burnley in February and March respectively.

Also, it's a good job Wolves only have to play Huddersfield twice this season...that's one win in 17 against the Terriers.

Midfield missing

It felt harsh pointing the finger at Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho when Wolves failed to see the game through at Arsenal two weeks ago.

But it’s becoming a recurring theme that the Portuguese duo just aren’t having a big enough influence on games.

Hark back to the 1-1 draw against Manchester City, when the pair worked perfectly in tandem to both help stifle City and set Wolves on the attack on a number of occasions.

Opposition teams have quickly worked out, though, that if you stop Neves and Moutinho, you stop Wolves.

Nuno clearly sees it – here he withdrew the anonymous Moutinho after 45 minutes. He also took him off early (62 minutes) during the defeat to Tottenham earlier this month.

Moutinho didn’t give the ball away once (according to stats website whoscored.com) but it was all pretty sedentary stuff, passing back to the centre-halves, and he and Neves were played through a few times, especially by the excellent Aaron Mooy.

The form of Neves is a concern, too.

The raking passes, the searching through-balls, the accurate shots from range...they’ve all dried up.

He cut a frustrated and emotional figure at full-time, just after his poor free-kick into the South Bank, which was the last kick of the game.

There’s talk of Manchester United, Manchester City and even Juventus being interested in the 21-year-old. Has it gone to his head? If this form continues, those clubs won’t be interested for much longer.

He’s a young player still finding his feet in the Premier League and his ability and potential is unquestionable. It’ll surely just be a blip, but it’s one he needs to shake off sooner rather than later.

Perhaps the vastly more experienced Moutinho can lead by example.

They may also need a bit of help from their boss – they were outnumbered and overrun. Time for a Plan B? Romain Saiss must surely be close to getting his long-awaited opportunity.

Striker needed

At 2-0 down, or even at half-time when Nuno made two substitutions – sending on Adama Traore and Morgan Gibbs-White who both made positive contributions – it would have been the perfect moment to send on a striker who could nick a goal.

However, the striker sat on the bench was Leo Bonatini, whose goal drought in the league is now almost at one year.

Nuno doesn’t seem to trust the Brazilian anymore and instead he utilised Traore up front. There were a couple of impressive runs from deep and obviously his pace troubled the Huddersfield defenders, but it wasn’t the most successful of experiments.

Neither was shunting Raul Jimenez out to the side to make way.

This is a situation that needs addressing in January when Wolves must surely bring in a striker to offer an alternative option to Jimenez.

The Mexican offers so much to this Wolves team but in situations like yesterday, chasing a game, a Benik Afobe-type striker would be ideal.

You’d certainly have put money on him scoring when going through on goal like Jimenez did shortly before Huddersfield’s second goal. Why he chose to cut inside is anybody’s guess.

Afobe scored six goals and helped Wolves win promotion – a successful loan.

Wolves need to repeat the trick this January.

Backwards for forwards

Just when you think Nuno has got the formula spot on for his forwards – start with Cavaleiro and Costa and then send for Jota and Traore in the second half – they go and produce a performance like that.

Cavaleiro had an absolute nightmare – nothing went right for him and he was hauled off at half-time.

Costa wasn’t much better either and you wonder if Nuno, who’ll surely change his team for the trip to Cardiff on Friday, will be tempted to bring in Traore or Jota and change things up again.

Big game

Ah yes, a Friday night trip to Cardiff.

Last season’s match was unforgettable – the two spurned penalties, Neves’s special free-kick, Nuno and Neil Warnock’s verbal jousting – and this week’s, while not a season-defining game like last season’s, has suddenly turned into a pretty big game.

The gap between Wolves and the relegation zone has been cut a little to eight points and if they were to suffer another defeat in Wales, they’ll start to get sucked towards the danger zone ahead of matches against Chelsea (home) and Newcastle (away), with lofty Bournemouth, Liverpool and Spurs to face before the end of the year.

At the moment they’re still in touch with the top half, but that won’t be the case for much longer at this rate.

Final word

Star man: Conor Coady

The boss: Wagner did a number on him

Fans: Rare boos

Magic moment: Erm...the pre-match fireworks?

In a word: Poor

Picture perfect: