Fourteen years it's been. Them lot at Molineux. I get it. Some of us don't wanna see them besmirching our territory. But that feeling of victory is simply unmatched. It's worth the risk, it's worth the tension and the nerves. And it's worth the overarching benefit that I think the team (club?) will feel over the rest of this season.
The first international break is usually a fair enough opportunity to take stock. The transfer window has closed, teams are starting to take shape and there's the breathing room of a couple of weeks to fully analyse where things sit. That the BCD was the final game before it was quite an emphatic full stop to this mini-season of 7+3 games under Cesar Peixoto.
It was a rollercoaster of a summer let's be fair. If you said at the final whistle of the Burnley game, we'd be three points off top of the table with a new Portuguese manager in situ plus Raul Jimenez and Kieran Trippier through the door, many would have snapped your hand off. If you'd said the same with Rob Edwards in situ, I've no doubt many would have still snapped your hand off. If you'd said that a large portion of the players that ended last season contracted to the club formed the current squad, you'd have probably raised a few eyebrows. But such is the way things have gone, we've flipped and flopped from delight to fury in equal measure. The ending of the transfer window can be perceived in many ways, but I'm sure we'd all agree that the distraction it causes whilst games are being played aren't helpful to anyone. The fact we were receiving our annual London Stadium shellacking whilst the window was being closed on deals is a total farce, frankly.
But now the dust has settled on what has been a frantic period, things are looking rosy. Let me be clear: I have strong reservations about the long-term future of the football club with Fosun in situ, not alleviated in any way by the decisions made this summer. I have concerns about the ability of the individuals currently in situ to satisfy the prospect of us re-establishing ourselves in the Premier League. I have concerns about the make up of the squad going into a prospective promotion and the work that would need to be done to further enhance it. But two things can be true: we're also well set to get back to the Premier League at the first attempt.
There have been tumultuous moments as we've kicked off the season. We've ridden our luck, whilst suffering with it in equal measure. The way the first league game went raised a number of question marks over players and coaching staff. Over the course of the fixtures since, we're beginning to see what they're learning about the Championship, the team, the players and the club. This is the mark of good coaching: see issue, fix issue, deliver more. Take a group of players who wanted to be anywhere but Molineux and make it somewhere to enjoy your football again. The culmination of that was Sunday’s victory, in many ways the perfect game to solidify the work they've been doing.
I struggle to recall the last time I saw a Wolves team control a game from minute 1 to 90. That we did so in in the midst of a general feeling of angst and anxiety from many fans is testament to the management team and the players. Those on the pitch always set the tone, especially in circumstances such as those surrounding this game. Those feelings were heightened when Toti Gomes was introduced to the starting XI to replace the MIA Ladislav Krejci. By the end of the ninety minutes, this specific situation encapsulated exactly what we do and don't need at the football club at this moment. Kieran Trippier's inclusion was timely and oh so welcome (bear in mind this is a marquee signing making only their second start for the club).
The one thing we've all been concerned about is control of games. We seem to have been comfortable in the chaos, or at least not overly bothered if there is an element of chaos. On the face of it, we are perhaps more mistrusting of this as fans than we should be. Following the conclusion of the BCD, we've conceded 0.43 Open Play xG against per 90 minutes played this season in the league. Yes, it's only seven games, but this is the reality of how we've handled things defensively. Things have 'looked' worse than this and we've certainly suffered some rotten luck with world class finishing (including one into our own net) and deflections that have skewed the perception somewhat. But all told, the team has prevented the opposition from attacking our goal with regularity. Aside from West Ham, our goalkeepers haven't been overworked at any point. This has now crystallised into consecutive clean sheets, with changes in the back line for both games and an assuredness defensively that I'm sure the management team have been inching towards attaining. Within this have emerged new reasons for optimism in the form of players.
Nasser Djiga - who I intend to write more about soon - has emerged as the best centre back at the club, despite not even starting the season in the team at all. His position feels totally solidified even in the event Yerson Mosquera returns to full fitness after the international break. Fer Lopez - whose most ardent fans would admit wasn't ready for the challenge of Premier League football - can lay claim to being the best player in the division and is leading the way on our own goalscoring chart. He's turned allowing the ball to run across your body into an art form. Others have continued to show that they exist in a space beyond the Championship in moments, as opposed to fully-fledged performances but this is the thing: we haven’t hit our straps yet.
I still don’t think we’ve seen our optimal starting XI on the pitch. Kieran Trippier has only started twice. Raul Jimenez hasn’t truly shown his class. Jean Ricner-Bellegarde, Rafiki Saïd, Bertrand Traore and Boubacar Traore have had next to no influence on our league position/points tally to date. We have the best collection of midfielders in the division by a distance. We have the best bench in the division by a distance.
Do we have one of the best managers? I think it still remains to be seen. An element of chaos has engulfed the team at times which has certainly contributed to some of the more anxious moments and we’re yet to see the best of any of our forward players aside from Fer Lopez if you considered them individually. There are levels to go there. But the fact we’ve still been prolific, that the green shoots of a high pressing system are beginning to emerge and that the most accomplished performance of the season to date was the last one, things are looking up.
Don’t underestimate the power of the late win against Sheffield United: that was a tough game and they made us work hard for it. Relationships are forged in those moments, much like they were on Sunday. The saving grace is the core of the group doesn’t feel as fragile as it once did, now bolstered by the presence of John Ruddy, Trippier and Jimenez. The situation surrounding Krejci is the kind of thing that can derail squad harmony, but given Toti’s status as captain - symbolic for us, but genuinely important to his teammates - will mean his performance against The Sh*t would have been enjoyed and welcomed by his peers. He might be many things, but a bad teammate is definitely not one of them.
Most of all though, I'm looking forward to getting back to Molineux. This pesky international break is not ideal, but it would have been far worse had we not ended it on such a high. Are these lot starting to feel like 'Our Team' and 'Our Club'? Not yet, there's a way to go on that front. But the very simple idea we may no longer be trudging through town, dragging ourselves out of the pubs and having second thoughts as we go through the turnstiles is something we perhaps shouldn't take for granted. It's been a while.