"With hindsight, it was never ever going to be a very quick fix," said Rob Edwards, deftly walking the line between honesty and diplomacy. For some time at the start, Wolves were content to watch Newcastle shuffle about in front of them, moving the ball from one side of the field to the other and back. Having established that they could largely handle this, save for a few crosses Nick Woltemade failed to convert while fending off hassle from Santiago Bueno, Wolves dared to push forward a little more often.
"With hindsight, it was never ever going to be a very quick fix," said Rob Edwards, deftly walking the line between honesty and diplomacy.
Whether it really did require hindsight to establish that is now irrelevant, because at Molineux on Sunday it was again possible - and pleasurable - to feel the sense of a team moving, albeit slowly, forward.
That was literally true on the field on Sunday. For some time at the start, Wolves were content to watch Newcastle shuffle about in front of them, moving the ball from one side of the field to the other and back.
Having established that they could largely handle this, save for a few crosses Nick Woltemade failed to convert while fending off hassle from Santiago Bueno, Wolves dared to push forward a little more often.
This was progress, even in the light of better performances, mostly away from home, over the last month. Yes, Wolves won well against a limp West Ham and overwhelmed Shrewsbury, but now they were comfortable, if not particularly fluent, against a Champions League side - at home.
At the bottom of their curve, Wolves were a pitiable sight in front of their own fans, seemingly fearful of doing almost anything as their supporters raged at the club, the players, the league, everyone. Playing anywhere else, away from all that, must have been a little easier. Now, there is less flight, more fight.
"They're willing to put their bodies on the line, block and head it and tackle and run hard," said Edwards. "Maybe these are some of the things that, because of a lack of confidence and belief, you don't quite get for whatever reason. But they're human, not magnets on a tactics board or robots."
Even at their worst, it was unfair to say that Wolves weren't trying hard. But as in any workplace, it must be easier to focus your efforts if you have confidence and belief in what you're doing. Maybe that's the difference.
"I know they're Premier League footballers," Edwards went on, "they'll get paid well and all that, but the fact is they're human beings. You can feel bad and lack confidence and that can certainly affect performance. At the moment, we're starting to feel better about ourselves, and performances are improving."
The toxic cycle - bad performance creating bad atmosphere leading to worse performance - is now in reverse.
A bond between the fans and the team, if not yet the whole club, has begun to renew. Perhaps that's all there will be to take from the rest of this Premier League season. But it's not nothing.
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Category: General Sports
