Cardiff City came from behind to record an impressive 2-1 win over Wolves who have now lost five of their last six league games.
Warnock exacts revenge over Nuno
These two sides ruled supreme in the Championship last season, and it led to some feisty encounters between the two. Cardiff won the first game, but the second tie in April was an unforgettable one. Wolves were leading the game late on, and Cardiff missed two penalties in stoppage time to hand Nuno the win. The altercation between Warnock and Nuno after the match was a heated one as the Cardiff boss had some ‘kind’ words for his Portuguese counterpart.
But Warnock turned the tables around in their first Premier League duel, as Cardiff were impressive in their win. His tactics pushed Wolves back into their own half and they were unable to slip into their free-flowing football. The three points were massive for Cardiff, and the win must have been a sweet one for Warnock given his history with Nuno. They say ‘revenge is a dish best served cold’, and boy was it chilly in Cardiff.
Wolves’ season has taken a wrong turn
Usually promoted sides start out slowly in the Premier League, but it seemed as though no one had told Wolves that. At a point, they were 7th in the league having lost just one game. Their brand of football was looking seriously impressive, and a top half finish was looking like a strong possibility.
But that was not to be. Nuno’s side has been on a downward slide lately, and their last win came in the first week of October. Since then, they have lost five of their last six league games. The last two losses came against Cardiff and Huddersfield, which looked easy games on paper prior to kickoff. Wolves currently sit in 12th place, and a good run in December would do them a world of good.
Nuno unable to navigate past high and intense pressing
Last week Huddersfield surprised and dominated Wolves as they cruised to a 2-0 win. The Terriers pressed high up the pitch, and successfully smothered the Portuguese midfield duo of Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho. As a result, Wolves could not get into their groove and failed to impose any kind of attacking threat.
Cardiff attempted to do the same, and they did it effectively as well. The wing-backs Matt Doherty and Ruben Vinagre were kept in their own half and failed to offer any attacking industry. Nuno has been unable to make any changes to navigate past this approach, and if he doesn’t figure out a way, playing against Wolves will begin to seem like an easy task.
Cardiff finally finding their feet in the league
Prior to the recent win against Brighton, Cardiff were languishing on just 5 points from their opening 10 league games. Their attack and defence both were both poor, and many were thinking that relegation was on the cards.
But Sol Bamba did them a solid by a late winner against Brighton, and that result has seemed to kick things off. They put in a solid performance at Goodison Park last week in a narrow defeat, and their second-half showing against Wolves was unlike any other performance this season. The Bluebirds will be hoping that this momentum will be carried into the busy festive period.
Bamba and Ecuele Manga contain Wolves’ pacy forwards
Helder Costa and Adama Traore were deployed as the wide attackers against Cardiff, and both players are fast, tricky and armed with a bag of skills. They came up against Bruno Ecuele Manga and Sol Bamba respectively, and this duo came out on top in an impressive manner.
Traore is one of the fastest – if not the fastest – players in the league, and Bamba certainly had a task on his hands. If he gets from the first challenge, Traore cannot be caught, but Bamba did not let the former happen often. He defended intelligently and kept the Spaniard under the wraps. Ecuele Manga did a similar job on the right, as Costa found it hard to get a rhythm going. The Wolves wingers were not afforded any space, and their attack struggled as a result.
