Dave Edwards: Physicality is a problem Wolves must overcome

It was a real chance to cement themselves in the top half of the Premier League table ahead of a really tough run of games in December and January – but the chance got away from them.

If you look back at Wolves’ performances this year, the three that stand out as the worst are the Brentford defeat at home, the draw away at Leeds and this at Selhurst Park, probably the worst of the lot.

They have all come after big games and performances. The Brentford after that first win at Watford, Leeds followed the comeback against Villa and Saturday came in the wake of the Toffees victory.

It’s almost like a case of the day after the Lord Mayor’s show. It does happen in football – the big emotional release of a big result and then trying to follow that up.

Your confidence is up, so maybe you take your foot off the gas a little bit. But it was such a disappointing performance, albeit at a tough place to go against a top Palace side this season.

I just thought physically they were far superior to Wolves all over the pitch. They pressed us high and came out with the ball in all of the duels. Wolves ended up going backwards too often.

It felt we didn’t have the physicality to match Palace. We were on the back foot too often.

I’ve written about inconsistencies before. This is a huge transitional season post-Nuno and you can always expect games like this. I still think mid-table is a really good season this year.

Then Bruno Lage can work in another couple of transfer windows. January is important but next summer is huge to get his players in. They’re in a much better position than this time last year.

I do think there’s a lot of optimism, but in the short-term they need to be consistent. I don’t know if that’s a case of the manager freshening things up more – that’s hard to do after a big win and if you got left out you’d be really annoyed – but if the boss is to keep the same XI then I think he could’ve made changes a lot earlier on Saturday.

Some lads looked a bit dead on their feet, with a few days’ less preparation than Palace. He could’ve given opportunities to lads desperate to get into the team a bit earlier.

Eight or nine players would’ve been disappointed with their performances. Ruben Neves still looks like the most creative player on the pitch.

Rayan Ait-Nouri had a really good game at left wing-back. He was really positive in everything he did, but it was hard, we were forced back to defend. It was there for the manager to make changes.

For Ait-Nouri as a 20-year-old lad to come from another country and play regularly in the Premier League at the moment and perform like he has been is really impressive. I think he’s going to be a star.

Wolves have really missed Jonny, who has had a couple of awful injuries, but I’d stick with Ait-Nouri for now, he’s going to be a super talent. I really liked Ruben Vinagre but I think Rayan is going to be another level, I think he has more end product.

Alongside Max Kilman, who has been excellent and I’m delighted to see him rewarded with a new contact he thoroughly deserves, Wolves have a nice balance of youth and experience.

Under this manager Wolves have not had two bad performances on the bounce. I fully expect them to respond next time, but it’s a tough one against a superb West Ham side, then heading into games against Norwich and Burnley. You’d want two wins from three there at least ahead of playing all of the big-hitters.

It won’t be easy preparation ahead of West Ham. With players jetting away everywhere with their countries, Lage will have about two days with the team on the grass, so that will be a challenge for the head coach to overcome.

West Ham are flying and know exactly how they are playing at the moment, but for Wolves it’s really important to have this fortress Molineux, as it has been in recent years.

Results have been decent at home this year, but the Everton game finally got the atmosphere back to where it was. Hopefully the fans can bring the same energy to the West Ham game, which I’m sure they will.