Former Molineux full-back Andy Thompson has questioned one Wolves player after the 2-1 win over Luton Town.
Gary O’Neil watched his side take three big points against the Hatters on Saturday to end a six-game winless run in the Premier League.
Hwang Hee-chan opened the scoring for Wolves, with Toti Gomes doubling the lead in the second-half. Carlton Morris got one back late on for Luton.
Luton applied some pressure, but Wolves held out for the win and the chance of a top-half finish is very much on. European football may just be slightly beyond Wolves, although O’Neil and the players won’t stop believing.
The closing stages against Luton were perhaps a bit more tense than they needed to be, and Andy Thompson was critical of Nelson Semedo for spurning a really good chance for Wolves…
Andy Thompson says Nelson Semedo has ‘got to do better’ with Wolves chance against Luton
All the at really matters at this stage of the season is getting points on the board.
Wolves had been on a poor run, and it was important to beat Luton to get back on track.
It would have been very disappointing to drop points at the end and one man who may be more relieved than most is Semedo, who had a very good chance for Wolves.
Matt Doherty played the ball down the line, and the Portuguese was then in acres of space. He carried the ball into the Luton area and instead of shooting across goal, Semedo cut inside on his weaker left foot.
The aim was to get clear of the defender, but his chop inside wasn’t clean enough and his shot was easily saved by Thomas Kaminski.
That would have been 3-0 Wolves and game over, and Thompson was surprised to see him overcomplicate the chance. He said (via Wolves official): “You’ve got to kill the game off. You don’t want to leave it up to chance to allow the other team to get themselves into it. One versus one, you’re in the central position, he’s bearing down on goal, so I don’t understand why he didn’t hit it with his right foot.
“He’s tried to roll his foot over the top of it and hit it with his left foot, but he ended up scuffing it with his left foot and it’s trickled into the goalkeeper. That’s where you’ve got to be clinical, you’ve got to kill games off. He’s got to do better. He knows what’s at stake and by getting that goal, it puts it all to bed and it’s all done. It makes life a lot easier for your team. We said they’d probably get a goal and all of a sudden it’s nervous.”
Semedo still needs to improve in the final third
This is not the first time Thompson has been critical of Semedo in the final third. Back in December, after Wolves had lost 3-0 to West Ham United, Thompson said that Wolves were guilty of trying to score the perfect goal, and pointed to Semedo’s decision to square the ball, rather than shoot himself.
The 30-year-old has had a fantastic season overall and has improved immensely from when he first came to the club.
But the £80,000-a-week star can still be much better in the final third.
He’s scored just three goals and made five assists in 145 appearances for Wanderers and frankly, those are some pretty disappointing numbers for the positions he takes up as a wing-back.
It’s really the only thing he needs to improve now in order to become the best possible version of himself.
