What did we learn from Wolves' first pre-season defeat?

Rodrigo Gomes put Wolves ahead before the Spanish visitors netted in both halves to complete a comeback.

But what did we learn from Wolves’ defeat?

Philosophy

The head coach has been working on implementing his style on Wolves and the first half in particular showed the positives to Peixoto’s aggressive approach.

Wolves pressed high and with a lot of energy and forced Sociedad into mistakes, which is exactly where the goal came from.

Peixoto could be heard on the sidelines screaming for the press, as R.Gomes chased down a loose pass from the goalkeeper to put Wolves 1-0 up.

The benefits of his style are clear, if Wolves can execute it well, which they did for large parts of the first half.

They also attempted to be quick in the transition when winning the ball and the system does have potential if they can get their recruitment right.

Against a side that won the Spanish cup last season, Wolves were competitive and performed fairly well, despite some clear flaws and conceding two frustrating goals during sloppy spells in their performance.

In this style, too, there is a reluctance to go long from the back. Between the defenders and midfielders Wolves have managed that well enough so far this pre-season, but with Dan Bentley being the only senior goalkeeper available as it stands, it is clear the club need a new number one to carry out this plan.

Attacking line

Although Wolves were fairly solid and contained Sociedad well, aside from the two unfortunate goals, there is still work to do further up the pitch.

New signing Rafiki Said is now injured, Fer Lopez has a knock he is recovering from and some World Cup players are still returning.

As a result, the forward line looks very lightweight. Young attacker Tom Edozie struggled out of position as a number nine, while Tommy Doyle was pragmatic as a number 10, but proved he is better sitting deeper.

Mateus Mane had some good moments and some frustrating ones, while R.Gomes is still settling into the system, meaning inconsistency will creep into both of their games.

It will look better once Lopez is back and Raul Jimenez returns from his holidays, but undoubtedly Wolves still need some signings across that forward line to address their current lack of creativity.

Adaptation

The midfield is quite a fascinating position for Wolves in this system, considering the current personnel.

Essentially, they play with a lone number six and a number eight next to him that goes from box to box, with a number 10 in front.

On occasion, the number eight and 10 get fairly close as Wolves aim to get numbers into the box.

That adjustable system seems to be working, with Andre looking stronger as a lone six with a more simplified game around him, in comparison to the muddled partnership that he sometimes had with Joao Gomes.

Marshall Munetsi is also continuing to have a strong pre-season as the athletic and physical number eight.

His engine is impressive and if he can leave the technical moments to those around him, then he has a place in this squad.

The squad still needs a midfield signing, however, to offer more quality options.