Written by : Jonathan Lee

Another somewhat painful watch albeit against a decent Wolves outfit, but three efforts on goal in 90 minutes simply isn’t good enough …

Martin 6.5 – not much he could do about either of the goals, generally tidy otherwise and a couple of decent saves, clearly our No 1 now until Fab’s return;

Fredericks 5.5 – his pace as ever helped him tidy up a couple of dangerous situations but rarely got forward, distribution was inconsistent and got woefully caught out of position for Wolves’ opening goal;

Ogbonna 7 – another decent performance from a seemingly rejuvenated player who not that long ago had been something of a laughing stock, steady in the air and strong in the tackle;

Balbuena 6 – although got his head on quite a few balls was caught out of position for the clinching Wolves goal and gave away too many long clearances straight back to the opposition;

Cresswell 6 – generally did ok against a lively Traore although was forced to scythe him down late on, wasted a good opening on the edge of the box second half;

Rice 6.5 – after an opening 20 minutes in which he regularly gave the ball away (under little pressure) he grew into the game and began to display his customary performance, although tired in the latter stages;

Noble 5 – two games in five days seemed a step too much, regularly gave up possession second half, and generally laboured up until the time he was subbed;

Snodgrass 3.5 – another for whom two games in short time probably didn’t suit, not the usual energy in midfield, awful early corners hitting the first man, clumsy fouls, all topped off by an awful effort when put through in the box only to fluff his lines, immediately subbed after that;

Anderson 6 – for once not subbed by MP, and although he grew into the game second half playing in the centre of the park (and for a 15 minute period probably dominated that area) much of his passing seemed to be sideways or forward to nobody;

Fornals 7 – one of the better players on display, unlucky with a first half curling effort and always looked like he might do something, his sublime through ball to Snodgrass deserved a goal;

Haller 3 – a shadow of the player we saw early on in the season and at Frankfurt last season, seemed largely disinterested and made no inroads into the Wolves back line;

Subs:

Yarmolenko 2 (62 mins) – another who has lost his mojo, never looked like troubling the home defence, and lost possession cheaply to provide an unintended assist for Wolves second;

Holland 4.5 (71 mins) – a debut for the young man and not afraid to ask for the ball, but got bullied off it a couple of times and never really had the chance to showcase his talents, other games will surely follow for him;

Ajeti 2 (80 mins) – was he actually on the pitch? Did he actually touch the ball? Enough said.