Dave Edwards: Wolves now look up for the fight under Julen Lopetegui

It was an excellent display by Wolves down at St Mary’s, especially after the adversity of the first half.

There was a different element to the head coach’s tactics and such a resilience to stay in the game. Barring a frantic 10 minutes or so before the break, they pretty much got it spot-on.

Southampton were always going to start quickly given the situation they were in under the now-departed Nathan Jones. He wanted to go back to his high-energy football, with some new signings involved.

Wolves handled themselves reasonably well in the opening stages. Then came Mario Lemina’s first booking – an early caution will always hamper his style of game, and the referee Jarred Gillett lost control a little. Speaking to people in the club and listening to Ruben Neves, I don’t think there was a lot wrong at all.

Out of that bad luck we got to see what this Wolves team is all about. A team in that second half that did the ugly side of the game, worked hard, closed down space.

But, above all, this squad of players has the best technical ability of any Wolves team, probably ever – that means even with 10 men they can keep the ball.

I felt watching on there in commentary that the longer the game went on they were biding their time, managing themselves, riding a storm. Naturally Saints started to drop deeper and Wolves were brilliant in taking advantage.

All of the subs were excellent. It reminded me of a boxing analogy, they let the hosts punch themselves out and Wolves were primed and ready in the last 20 minutes.

I don’t think this would have happened before Lopetegui. He’s built this self-belief and confidence very quickly. They trust him in everything they do.

When the teamsheets arrived in the press room before the game we saw the strength in depth in the squad, it’s incredible now.

There are so many options to change it – Pedro Neto back, eventual match-winner Joao Gomez, then you add in Raul Jimenez, Diego Costa, Adama Traore – and that’s missing Hwang and Podence.

Gomez came on at 1-0 down with a lot to do on his debut. He made an immediate impact in covering ground, hassling opponents. Wolves had lost that bite without Lemina.

And everything he did was on the front foot, he tried to progress his team with whatever he did. As for his moment, the goal, the best thing was the composure after the initial block, the extra second to guide his strike into the corner.

His only mistake and slight inexperience was darting off to celebrate in front of the wrong set of fans! I’d have been in the away end.

Playing alongside Ruben Neves will only help him develop. Neves was terrific again and epitomises everything Wolves do. He was so humble when we spoke afterwards.

The in-game changes, which Lopetegui does an awful lot of – can make the difference.

Traore and Hugo Bueno were smart switches and worked, there’s not a lot between Bueno and Rayan Ait-Nouri. It’s almost like the head coach anticipated what would happen. No panic or desperation – another sporting analogy it made me think of was a 1,500m runner, jostling for position because you know you’ll finish strong.