Wolves skipper calls on team-mates to repeat heroics and turn season
Mario Lemina insists opponents Manchester City are not ‘super human’ as he calls on Wolves to repeat last season’s heroics.
Last campaign, a 2-1 win over the champions at Molineux ignited Wolves’ season as they fought for a place in Europe.
This year, Wolves sit bottom of the Premier League with one point from seven games and are in desperate need of some inspiration.
Skipper Lemina has urged his team-mates to face the challenge of City without fear to overcome the odds.
“There’s no excuses now, we are going to put our head down and work really hard,” Lemina said.
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Wolves have a dream Kilman replacement in “quality” star who’s out on loan
The past two summers have been frustrating for Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Old Gold have lost several important players, and whilst they have gained a significant sum of money for each of those departed stars, it has certainly had a negative impact on the Midlands club.
In the summer of 2023, Wolves lost Ruben Neves to Saudi Arabia and Matheus Nunes who joined Manchester City. More recently, in the 2024 summer window, Pedro Neto joined Chelsea and, significantly, Max Kiliman left for West Ham United.
It was the latter departure, for £40m, which has had a big impact on Gary O’Neil’s side this term. Without Kilman at the heart of their defence, the Molineux outfit have been defensively shambolic.
Wolves’ defensive stats 2024/25
It has been a very disappointing campaign so far for the Old Gold, but they have been especially underwhelming at the back. Of course, that is partly due to Kilman’s departure. Not only was he club captain, but an ever-present last term as they kept five Premier League clean sheets.
This term, however, the Old Gold find themselves sitting at rock bottom of the table, conceding the most goals in the English top flight, with 21. In fact, Carlisle United, who are bottom of League Two, are the only side in the 92 who have conceded more goals, letting 23 in so far.
Concerningly for O’Neil, his side are not actually bottom when it comes to expected goals against in the Premier League this term, as per Understat. There are actually three sides ahead of them in that respect; based on the metric, Wolves have just 15.18xGA this term.
They have been equally poor when it comes to their defensive record both at Molineux, and away from home too. They have already conceded ten goals at home this term, and are a third of the way to last season’s tally of 30 already. That included a 6-2 home defeat to Chelsea. It has been a disastrous start.
