Johnny Phillips: Is Joao Moutinho the best we have ever seen at Wolves?

For a couple of generations that team has been everywhere else. Sometimes it even turns up at Molineux. For kids of the 1980s it was generally Liverpool or Everton.

The type of football that was such a good watch on television. Bewildered opposition cut apart with those angles and the seemingly telepathic off-the ball runs. The fleet of foot in possession and the ability to see off weaker opposition with disdain. Liverpool did that a lot. Manchester United picked up the mantle in the 1990s.

It was not just the champions, though. The first time I remember that team with the really gifted players turning up at Molineux was during Graham Taylor’s time at the club.

First Division Wolves were giving it a go in the 1994/95 season when Nottingham Forest arrived for a third round League Cup tie. Forest were second in the Premier League at the time, and would eventually finish third.

They only just edged a five-goal thriller with a late deflected free-kick from Stuart Pearce. But it was the level of quality that Wolves could not call on that stood out. Stan Collymore and Brian Roy up front made it all look so effortless. Plenty better teams have come and gone since then. Chelsea’s visit early on in the first Premier League season under Dave Jones resonates as a particularly galling experience for the home fans.

Gifted players running amok as Claudio Ranieri’s side ran out 5-0 winners. There is a sense of envy about all this. Wolves supporters have always been proud of their players, and so many of them have been worthy of respect. But there has always been a thought, at the back of the mind, about what it must be like to watch a really gifted team every week.

Wolves have traditionally – any time since the 1970s, that is, which is long enough – been the huff-and-puff team in the top flight. Give one hundred per cent, catch them on an off day, and there might just be a result to be had.

And there have been plenty of those days. The really enjoyable wins against the odds. Kenny Miller running at the heart of the Manchester United defence to score the winner against Sir Alex Ferguson’s side in 2004.

At Anfield over Christmas time in 2010, when Stephen Ward poked the ball past Pepe Reina to upset Liverpool. Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City seen off in style at Molineux earlier that season with a Dave Edwards winner. Or George Elokobi sending Nemanja Vidic flying as he headed home for another memorable win over United. But they never stood out in the purist’s sense. Hard-fought, well-earned, leave it all out there performances.

But, deep down, we all knew that the really gifted players were in the other team. Paul Scholes, Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, David Silva. Wolves fans have been watching that team all their life. And then on Tuesday night, as West Ham toiled to make any impression, it was apparent to everyone in the ground that it was now the team with the wolf head on their shirts that was really gifted.

Ruben Neves lying deep, spraying those passes. Diogo Jota running at defenders. Raul Jimenez in behind or coming short, pulling the opposition out of shape all the time.

And then one player in particular. Has there been a more accomplished talent in Wolves colours than Joao Moutinho?

Nobody in the Wolves team is more pleasing on the eye. Nothing is clumsy, no ball ever bobbles up off him, no miskicks or slices.

His feet have their very own obsessive compulsive disorder with a football. Nothing is ever misplaced or untidy.

The respect he has for his own standards and surroundings is already rubbing off on those around him. More than one young team-mate has spoken of how important the 32-year-old is to the club.

In an interview with Sky earlier this season, Morgan Gibbs-White revealed: “The professionalism of Moutinho is improving me as a player. I’m learning every single day in training, not just on the pitch but off it as well.”

But Moutinho’s keenness to absorb the qualities from the youth around him in this squad is also to be admired. Earlier this season, when we spoke at Compton, there was no hint that the learning process was a one way street.

He may well be a living legend in the eyes of some – only Ronaldo and Luis Figo have more caps for Portugal – but there is a good reason why he has remained at the top for so long.

“You need to be open to learn because if you think you know everything, you’re going to stop,” he commented. To see his talents in sync with so many around him is what makes this Wolves team click.

This is not to get carried away. Wolves will not be winning titles any time soon, and there are still plenty of teams with more talent in the ranks.

But how joyous it is to turn up at Molineux to watch Premier League football and not really care about the names on the opposition team sheet?

That is not the game any more. It is about the anticipation of seeing the really gifted players in home colours.

There are lots of them, who have shone at different times this season.

But always Moutinho, the embodiment of just how far Wolves have come.