Wolves have been told not to judge one of Gary O’Neil’s stars too quickly, with statistics giving a valuable insight into just how well he has performed at Molineux.
It’s been a difficult time for Wolves of late, who have seen their form take a dip due to current injuries that have plagued the squad.
Gary O’Neil has seen his front line in particular left agonisingly short due to the simultaneous injuries to Pedro Neto, Hwang Hee-chan and Matheus Cunha, with the Brazilian only just returning to action.
That being said, the work of the Old Gold to weather the issues within their small squad was discredited last week, as the Midlands club’s efforts to find a way back into their fixture with West Ham were disregarded by VAR.
When Max Kilman thought he’d secured a point-winning equaliser at the death in the contest at Molineux, VAR ruled the goal out for a controversial reason, chalking the goal off for an offside decision that didn’t involve the goalscorer.
O’Neil was rightly perplexed at the decision that ultimately left his side without anything to take from the fixture however, the actions of the officials weren’t the only thing that received criticism after the game.
Wolves star Jose Sa was criticised for what he did against West Ham
The winning goal in Wolves’ defeat to West Ham came from James Ward-Prowse, who steered the winner in directly from a corner just over five minutes from time.
Naturally, Jose Sa was criticised for his inability to prevent the goal as the Englishman curled the ball from a freakish angle to settle the direction of the points.
In his post-match player ratings, journalist Liam Keen handed the Wolves shot-stopper a 5/10 rating, admitting that the £6.8m keeper ‘had to do better’, via Express and Star.
“The goalkeeper will have prepared for the threat of Ward-Prowse and although it was a somewhat freakish goal, Sa has to do better and be more commanding in his area.”
While the critique is fair, an interesting defence of Sa has been raised by journalist Steve Madeley, who identified just how good the Portugal international has been since arriving in the Premier League.
The numbers that show Jose Sa is one of the best in the Premier League
In a detailed column for The Athletic, Madeley explained how Sa is ‘one of the Premier League’s best’, with numbers that prove the 31-year-old is the highest-performing keeper behind only Liverpool star, Alisson Becker.
As highlighted in the graphic below generated by Opta and provided by The Athletic, only the Brazilian has prevented more goals than Sa since making his Premier League debut in 2021.
Criticism from Sa fluctuates as he produces moments of magic and moments of costly frailty, as seen against West Ham last week.
That being said, the Old Gold have a stellar shot-stopper in the Portuguese ace as portrayed by the numbers, which tell the story of just how strong an addition he’s been at Molineux.