Adam Armstrong was among the debutants in Wolves' recent loss to Chelsea.placeholder image
Adam Armstrong was among the debutants in Wolves' recent loss to Chelsea. | Wolves via Getty Images
Rob Edwards has praised two Wolves stars for their character despite the team’s defeat to Chelsea
Wolves fell to their 19th Premier League defeat of the season on Saturday when they were beaten 3-1 at home to Champions League hopefuls Chelsea in a fairly one-sided contest.
It marked the Old Gold’s third defeat in a row and leaves 18 points away from safety with the prospect of relegation to the Championship looking like a formality.
Cole Palmer won the vast majority of the plaudits with his first hat-trick of the season as he climbed into the top eight of Chelsea’s all-time leading goalscorers. He tucked away two penalties and also capitalized on an opportunity to score when Marc Cucurella found him in space with a fine cross.
All of Palmer’s goals were scored in the first 38 minutes during a contest that had the makings of a real thrashing. However, Wolves boss Rob Edwards was pleased with aspects of his team's response in the second half, with two players in particular coming in for praise.
Rob Edwards praises Wolves’s second half response
The game got away from the moment Chelsea opened the scoring and quickly became a case of damage limitation.
Discussing the first half, Edwards told the club website: “My hand is feeling the effects of thumping a door with a bit of anger. We started really positively, and it was a real promising start, and then after a couple of ludicrous mistakes, against a top team with brilliant players, it’s going to be a really difficult day for us. At 2-0 down, with the energy and looking at the lads on the pitch, it looked a little bit like when we first came in for a period of time. It looked a bit disjointed for a period, they got their tails up, and obviously they got the third.”
However, things did settle down slightly after the interval, with Edwards taking the post-match interview as an opportunity to praise his team’s character in a difficult afternoon.
“I thought the players reacted very, very well, once we were able to get them in at half-time and organise things. Then we know it's really difficult to win the game of football, or to get something from it, but it was about trying to win the half, sticking to the things that we want them to do on a tactics board, but also then showing some passion and make sure we fight, and we did that. It wasn't a team that went under in the end, because if it had of, it would have been embarrassing today.”
Wolves boss praises new signings
Wolves managed to reduce the deficit in the second half when Tolu Arokodare turned the ball in for close range after an assist from debutant Adam Armstrong.
It means Armstrong now has as many assists as Jorgen Strand Larsen managed in the first six months of the season before his blockbuster exit to Crystal Palace.
“I thought they were real positives today. I thought they played really well and made a very good first impression in front of the home supporters, which was good, and obviously in tough conditions as well, actual weather conditions, and in the way the game went as well. They stood up to things and showed a lot of character, the things that we'd asked of them, which we know they've got, but also both played very well.”
Wolves desperately need points on the board if they are to avoid becoming the worst team in Premier League history after Derby County’s 11-point campaign in 2007/08.
They have a potentially winnable game against Nottingham Forest coming up at the City Ground, and will hope to replicate what Leeds United did to them in a 3-1 win on Friday evening.
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