Wolverhampton Wanderers have confirmed the departure of Vitor Pereira as head coach following their 2-0 away lose to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Wolves currently sit bottom of the Premier League table without a win from their first eight games and look to be favourites for relegation. The club have acted fast in replacing Vitor Periera with unknown manager Josh McEwen taking the reigns must to the disappointment of Wolves fans who are concerned that an unknown manager with no experience has been handed the tough task of saving Wolves from relegation woth a number of supporters clubs already criticising the appointment. A statement from Wolves was released earlier this morning.
Wolverhampton Wanderers can confirm that Vitor Pereira has left his position as head coach by mutual consent. The club wishes to express its gratitude to Vitor for his dedication and hard work during his tenure at Molineux.
This decision comes after a period in which results have unfortunately fallen short of both the club’s and supporters’ expectations. After careful consideration, the club’s leadership felt that a change was necessary not only to address immediate challenges on the pitch, but also to lay a stronger foundation for the long-term progress and success of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
In light of this, the club is pleased to announce the appointment of Josh McEwen, as Vitor’s successor. The club believes that Josh’s fresh approach and vision can help to turn the season around, instil renewed confidence in the squad, and set a positive course for the future. Wolverhampton Wanderers are committed to supporting Josh as he takes on this role and look forward to the next chapter under his leadership.
Josh added a brief statement saying “I am delighted to have been given this opportunity to manage Wolves, it is a club that belongs in the Premier league and our whole focus is on helping improve both performance and results on the pitch to ensure the club is still in the Premier League next season. I know concerns have been raised about myself being appointed but I urge our fans to get behind the players and give me the chance to show that I can turn this season around and keep this fantastic football club where they belong.”
Hackney is a player I've read a lot about in recent times. Could be a great signing for Wolves! The same can be said about Florentino, he's a typical Wolves signing too. In fact, anyone with a Portuguese passport would be, I reckon 😄
James Ward-Prowse is a player I used to keep track of, always great to add that firepower from midfield and especially with set pieces. He did have a poor season last, as you also mention, but perhaps he can redeem himself at Wolves. Good luck with this. Interesting window so far with a lot of departures from the Molineux.
I was going to go for Lucas Paqueta after West Hams relegation but even with their relegation I didn't feel it was a realistic transfer so opted to go for Florentino who was more realistic but would still be a Marquee signing. Hackney I was going to go for in January but didn't want to do to much business then so decided to wait until the summer.
Ward Prowse is a player that can add experience but as you say his set pieces are also a good addition to the team. Keeper suits playing out from the back and is a back up at Bilbao so another I thought was realistic to bring in a good summer in some aspects
Subs: Johnstone, Kabore, Agbadou, Wolfe (On 58), Florentino (On 45), Ward-Prowse (On 68), Doyle, Arias (On 68), Larsen
Manchester United (5-2-3): Lammens, Dalot, Maguire, de Ligt, Yoro, Dorgu, Ruiz (Off 90), Mainoo, Mbuemo, Sesko, Cunha
Subs: Bayinder, Mazraoui, Ugarte, Hojlund, Heaven, Johnsen, Zirkzee, Amad (On 90), Leon
Q: Josh a superb first half from your team, obviously there were concerns for Hayden Hackney and Hugo Bueno who were both forced off but how happy are you with that win?
Josh McEwen “Hayden (Hackney) just hyper extended his knee so we will see how he is but from speaking to the physios he will probably be out for about four weeks the real concerns is Hugo (Bueno) we’ve just seen his toe there and you can see it is either badly dislocated or broken but either way the physio thinks he’s going to miss a few months now. The injuries obviously aren’t great for us on the opening day but we have a good squad which is what we wanted to build this summer. The performance in the first half was amazing Julen (Agirrezabala) was rightly named man of the match his distribution was extraordinary but the whole team worked hard for ninety minutes and obviously Tolu (Arokodare) did what he did best in scoring twice.
Q: Ruben a disappointing result, what are your thoughts in the game?
Ruben Amorim “The better team lost the game, we dominated large periods created more chances but we weren’t clinical enough or our decision making let us down. Mbuemo decides to shoot from a tight angle, the keeper saves Wolves get the ball go up the other end and we are 1-0 down. Then from our corner Harry (Maguire) has a chance the keeper saves it then distributes the ball really fast and before you know it your 2-0 down and Wolves have created just two chances on the counter. We are disappointed we deserved to win but this is football the best team doesn't always win.”
Subs: Ramsdale, Roerslav, Edozie (On 57), Armstrong, Quarshie, Smallbone, Archer, Aribo (On 70), Bree
Q: Josh back to back man of the matchs for your new keeper, how much of an impact has he made on your team?
Josh McEwen “Julen (Agirrezabala) is a fantastic goalkeeper. Everything he has done for us so far has been perfect. Today he makes a save in two different one on one situations at crucial times once at 0-0 the other at 1-0 so he has made a massive impact. I thought we controlled large periods of the game and deserved to win the game maybe another day we score a couple more but the main thing is to win and we have won two games both 2-0 and we are really happy with our start it has been perfect.”
Q: Julian back to back losses for your side. What are your thoughts on todays game?
Julian Verstraete “We had our moments but we weren’t clinical enough when we created our openings. If you come to Molineux and have two one on ones without scoring I don’t think many teams would walk away with any points, they aren’t the sort of team you can waste them chances against but look they are a tough team and when they got their chances they put us to the sword. It is a learning curve for us its a long season but obviously we have had a poor start we need to find a way to score if we are to have any chance at staying up but we are going to panic after two games”
Subs: Vickers, Johnston, Travis (On 66), Salveson, Elder, Thompson (On 73), Agyemang, Ghareeb (On 66), Nyambe
Q: Josh not a classic performance but your through to the next round. What are your thoughts on the game?
Josh McEwen “We started a bit slow maybe because it was the first time this season a few of the players were playing but I think from twenty minutes on we absolutely dominated the game and deserved our win. It was good to give some other players a chance and I think most of them impressed and on another day we would have won comfortably, we will learn for the next round make sure we start right and hopefully we can keep progressing.”
Q: Robbie a close game but your side came out with a defeat. What did you make of the game?
Robbie Rowley “I thought we came flying out at them, the plan was to crowd the midfield and in the first half I don’t think we lost a 50-50. I said at half time boys you’ve had three or four chances and we’re still drawing we are going to have to work harder second half because of the quality on that bench I thought we did but unfortunately their quality just shone through in the end and they’ve managed to nick a goal to stop us from taking it to penalties which I thought our effort deserved but good luck to them for the rest of the competition now we focus on trying to get promoted.”
Subs: Johnstone, Kabore, Mosquera, Agbadou, Ward-Prowse (On 74), Hwang Hee Chan (On 74), Doyle (On 74), Arias, Larsen (On 74)
Q: Keith a disappointing performance from your team. What do you think went wrong today?
Keith Andrews “Bad day, we were second best. Wolves are a good team you have seen that in the first few games but I just felt we showed them to much respect once they went in front. Before their goal I thought it was a really even game but when they scored we seemed to stop pressing as hard and it allowed them to keep the ball and control the game. Obviously at 1-0 down we've had a glorious chance that their keeper has managed to keep out but to be honest we just didn’t look ourselves today and it’s disappointing because we made it easier for them by not being aggressive enough.”
Q: Josh three wins from three in the league all winning by 2-0. Has this been the perfect start?
Josh McEwen “Absolutely, the lads have been superb so far this season today we played some great football and I thought the way Florentino sat in front of the defence and protected them was outstanding. To get four wins from four in August including the Carabao cup we couldn’t be happier we go into the international break now and hopefully the team come back with no injuries and can pick up where we have left off. The whole team has contributed to this start and we want to try and keep it going as long as possible.”
Impressive start to the new season. But you finished the last one quite well, so maybe it shouldn't be too much of a surprise. Three wins, three clean sheets, Arokodare joint top scorer and Esse joint top provider. Things really couldn't have got any better so far. It will be interesting to see if you just go from win to win from now on, or if you stumble a bit along the way. Which difficulty level are you using?
I play on Ultimate, some guys seem easy other games seem easier although I think the start if you analyse the games United were better then us Southampton had massive chances Brentford we were superb. Arokodare is crucial we struggle when he doesn't play it seems I'm very unsure on Larsen. Esse surprises me in a good way he seems to perform at a high level despite his rating not being the highest
Subs: Malagon, Milenkovic, Anderson, Igor Jesus, Morato, Baleba, Kalimuendo, Hudson-Odoi, Cunha
Q: Josh another man of the match and another clean sheet for Julen Agirrezabala. How important has he been to your teams early success this season?
Josh McEwen “I run out of words for this guy, not just as a keeper but as a person as a leader he commands his defence and he has been unbelievable since he came in. I thought the first half we played very well he had nothing to do but in the second half Nottingham Forest really put the pressure on us and he made four world class saves and then at the end Hwang (Hee Chan) has again come off the bench and has scored a superb goal to wrap up the three points.”
Q: Sean quite remarkably you have come out of that game with no points. What are your thoughts on that game?
Sean Dyche “I can’t believe we haven’t scored honestly we have absolutely dominated them in that second half and it was like they had a brick wall in goal for them it was unbelievable some of the saves he was making. I don’t know what I can say to my lads honestly not only have we not won but we’ve lost 2-0. The first half was pretty even not a lot of chances created but we were unlucky that we went in 1-0 down second half we battled and we played some great football but their keeper was outstanding and then against the run of play they’ve gone down the other end and nicked another one. If you didn’t watch the game you’d have thought it was a routine win for them when it was anything but.”
Subs: Johnstone, Kabore, Agbadou, Hackney (On 82), Gomes, George (On 82), Doyle (On 82), Esse, Larsen
Q: Antonio a bad day at the office. How much do you think you missed David Raya?
Antonio Conte “I think we miss him a little bit but I don’t think it is fair to only blame Kepa for this defeat, he made some great saves in the game and it could have been worse without him. Today was terrible I can only say sorry to our fans, we knew it would be a tough game Wolves played little bit different to normal they went very direct but that isn’t an excuse for our performance we should have adapted to how direct they were and we couldn’t cope with it.”
Q: Josh what a result for your team a hat trick for Hwang Hee Chan and your fans were singing we’re top of the league how pleased are you with that result?
Josh McEwen “Wow what a performance from the lads today, Hwang (Hee Chan) three goals and two assists absolutely unreal although you can’t really call his assist for Florentino what a strike into the top corner that was but I thought he was amazing he has deserved this chance with Ty (George) playing so well he has bided his time come off the bench made an impact remained patient and today he stats and he plays like prime Messi it truly was a special performance. Our fans deserve this they had a tough season last season but now we have started well.”
Wolves (4-3-3): Johnstone, Kabore, Mosquera, Agbadou, Wolfe, Gomes, Hackney (Off 77), Doyle, Esse (Off 77), Larsen, George
Subs: Agirrezabala, Garcia, Krejci, Goes, Florentino (On 77), Toth, Ward-Prowse, Arias (On 77), Arokodare
Subs: Faulkner, Nixon, Middleton (On 84), Ankrah, Maxwell, Gotts (On 55), Bray, Sbarra (On 84), Grehan
Q: Josh a ruthless performance what are your thoughts on the game
Josh McEwen “I am fuming with Strand (Larsen) and Tyrique (George) I’m going home with a headache now for the weekend. No in all seriousness absolutely unreal especially from them two four goals and three assists is sensational and Ty seeing Hwang (Hee Chan) score a hat trick he responded with one of his own it is the sort of competition that keeps me awake at night and I love it. We’ve got a good squad here I’ve said it all season not just a good eleven players the whole team we have created is amazing and I couldn’t be happier right now.”
Q: Tommy an extraordinary game. Your team have obviously taken a beating how are you feeling?
Tommy Grady “I firstly want to apologise to our fans because that out that was not good enough. I know we were playing a Premier League team but you can’t go to a Premier League ground and concede nine goals it just isn’t good enough. We had a plan for the game and the main part was to keep it tight when your 4-0 down at half time you have to have some pride I said that to them the lads then went and shipped another five I don’t care about the two we scored it was stupid to be so open against them and they well and truly punished us it isn’t fair on our fans.”
Subs: Kinsky, Dragusin, Kulusevski (On 76), Tel, Vuskovic, Maddison, Richarlison (On 55), Bergvall (On 64), Takai
Q: Josh a first defeat of the season ending your perfect run. What are your thoughts on the game?
Josh McEwen “We are disappointed because we don’t feel we deserved to lose the game. We are not happy with the way the game was officiated and we will write to the fa because it was a game where if we tackled hard they would get a freekick but when they did the same to us the referee waved the game off I spoke with the ref at the end and he said he wanted to let the game flow but I said you were only letting it flow one way so he booked me which if you look at the game I think was fair but we don’t blame this on the loss we had chances to score and we just didn’t take enough of them.”
Q: Mikel you keep your 100% record against Josh McEwen intact. What are your thoughts on todays game
Mikel Arteta “I thought we were superb today, we went a goal down but the character we showed to bounce back we have seen other teams crumble in them situations but we bounced back deserved to equalise then scored another goal soon after before scoring a blatent penalty before half time. Second half they put a bit of pressure on us but we defended well and I thought we deserved to win the game.”
Subs: Johnstone, Kabore, Mosquera, Agbadou (On 75), Hwang Hee Chan (On 75), Gomes, Ward-Prowse (On 75), Arias (On 75), Larsen
Q: Fabian tough day at the office, how do you think the game went?
Fabian Hurzeler “I think if you sit and analyse the game it was a closer game then the scoreline suggests. We had that spell in the first half where we pressed the self destruct button. The plan was to press them and try and force mistakes which is where our goal came from but you have to keep your shape whilst doing that and in that ten minute spell we just left ourselves to open and Wolves punished us for that. It is hard if you press to hard they’ll do what they did to us in that spell, if you don’t press they’ll pass side to side it is hard to find that perfect ground but for a majority of that game I thought we held our own.”
Q: Josh a good win to bounce back from your loss. Ladoslav Krejci made a horrible mistake for their goal and you subbed him off was that the reason he went off?
Josh McEwen “Yes it was, we have high standards and he switched off and cost us a goal we had to take action against it. Ladoslav has been superb this season and we won’t slaughter him over that mistake but you must know aswell that this club will net accept that sort of error and for that reason we made the change. We were disappointed to lose last week and I thought the team started superbly in bouncing back and showing the character we wanted from them.”
Subs: Johstone, Kabore, Mosquera, Agbadou, Hwang Hee Chan (On 71), Hackney (On 62), Toth (On 62), Arias (On 62), Larsen
Manchester City (4-3-3): Donnarumma, Lewis, Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol (Off 62), Kimmich, Reijnders (Off 57), Rodri, Foden, Haaland, Doku (Off 54)
Subs: Trafford, Ait-Nouri (On 62), Silva (On 57), Marmoush (On 54), Stones, Savinho, Mubamba, Kovacic, Ake
Q: Josh a tough game against Manchester City. Joao Gomes looked very unhappy to be coming off have you spoken to him about his reaction yet?
Josh McEwen “Yeah we’ve had a little conversation but what was said is between us two. I thought it was a very tough contest we rode our luck at times but we also forced their keeper into some top saves obviously at the end when the ball drops to Haaland we were expecting the net to bulge it was a poor and uncharacteristic mistake from Julen (Agirrezabala) but luckily he’s hit the bar and we’ve come away with what I think is a deserved point.”
Q: Gregorio quite an outstanding game. How have you not won it at the end?
Gregorio Gimenez ”I don’t know to be honest with you it isn’t the sort of chance you expect Haaland not to score but it wasn’t his day today he had a couple of chances that he didn’t get on target. These things happen we came to a tough game and we have a point but in reality we should have three but I know Erling and now we expect a strong reaction from him and I’m sure the next game he will score a goal or two and this miss will be forgotten about.”
Subs: Johnstone, Kabore, Mosquera, Agbadou, George (On 63), Doyle, Ward-Prowse (On 63), Esse, Larsen (On 24)
Q: Eddie a superb win for your team, How pleased are you with that result?
Eddie Howe “There a tough team but I thought the way we played was outstanding. To limit them to so few chances and dominate the way we did is something no team has done to them this season, the lads put in such a shift and I think we have shown that after a mixed start we are still very much in the hunt for Champions League qualification and now we just have to find this level on a consistent basis.”
Q: Josh you left Joao Gomes out completely after his reaction to being subbed last week is that a decision you regret now? You then lost Arokodare early to injury is there any update on that?
Josh McEwen “No I don’t regret it, he will be back in the squad against Fulham and he has apologised to the fans and his team mates its over hes back in the squad next game but he knows his reaction isn’t what we expect. Tolu was a huge miss he has injured his knee the same injury Hayden (Hackney) had at the start of the season so will likely miss a month. I thought we weren’t at our best today we created some huge chances but couldn’t convert them and obviously Newcastle have scored from a set play but their second goal I have to say it was such a well worked goal and the ball by Guimaraes sometimes you just say fair enough that was a world class goal.”
Subs: Agirrezabala, Garcia, Goes, Krejci, George, Doyle, Toth, Esse, Hackney
Q: Marco out of the Carabao cup now, you seemed to have a lot of possession but were unable to get that crucial goal?
Marco Silva “We kept the ball well and moved it well at times but in the final third we weren’t good enough. We are disappointed to lose because we wanted a good run in the cup and we thought we had a good chance to progress with a home tie but Wolves were very clinical on the counter in the first half and in the second half they were very defensively sound to make it hard for us to create many chances.”
Q: Josh with Arokodare out for a month how important was it that Larsen got a goal today to boost his confidence?
Josh McEwen “Jacob (Larsen) has scored a lot of goals already we are confident in him but obviously with Tolu (Arokodare) out for a month it was important for him to score against a Premier League team and I’m sure it will give him a confidence boost heading into a good run of games for him. The team today with the changes made they performed so well especially in the first half and we are happy that we are still in this competition because it is a chance to win a trophy.”
Q: Josh not your sides best performance, but do you feel it was an efficient performance?
Josh McEwen “I don’t think you saw us at our best but we deserved to win the game. Defensively we have been so strong this season and today again we were solid especially in the second half. The first half the game was open both teams had chances but we created more clear cut opportunities obviously Romain (esse) scored a wonderful goal and then Jacob (Larsen) got a crucial goal to give us some breathing space. We didn't hold the ball aswell as we have in other games though that is the only negative I think today but we won and we have a week to rest before our next game.”
Q: Andoni not the result you wanted but are you pleased with your sides performance?
Andoni Iraola “I thought we deserved a point at least today, Semenyo had a one on one chance in the first half at 0-0 but Julen (Agirrezabala) is fantastic in these situations we have seen this season already and he made a great save but then obviously they score twice in ten minutes and you have a mountain to climb but we can take some comfort from our performance because we caused them a lot of problems in the first half.”
Great form continues. Best attack in the league and the best defence as well. Wow, that 6-2 against Arsenal really was something. If only you'd scored two more, it would have reminded me of something 😄
For some reason I'm glad to see Hwang Hee Chan doing well. Whenever I've seen him play, he's always given a positive impression. He's like a Heung-Min Son from WISH or TEMU, or whatever these discount-sites are called these days. He seems like a really likeable player, so it's good to see him thrive in this Wolves team of yours.
We are top scorers thanks to Arsenal that game was crazy Hwang normally doesn't do aswell when he starts but against Arsenal he was outstanding and the team are showing a higher level then I expected. There are some games where we aren't better but we still find a way to win the keeper we signed Julen Agirrezabala has been superb and kept us in a few games
Subs: Johnstone, Kabore, Mosquera, Agbadou, Hwang Hee Chan (On 66), Doyle, Ward-Prowse (On 66), Arias (On 66), Hackney (On 66)
Q: Marco a disappointing performance and result today. What do you think went wrong?
Marco Silva “I don’t think the performance was that bad, we created opportunities but we weren’t efficient enough and when you aren’t efficient against this team you can be punished as we were. There wasn’t a lot in the game the scoreline flatters them a lot they scored a goal and then hit us on the counter twice when we needed to overload to try and get back into the game but we lose and we have to now bounce back.”
Q: Josh how good were your subs today specifically Hwang Hee Chan scoring another two goals?
Josh McEwen “I thought all the players played well today, Fulham have got off to a great start and to come here and score three goals shows the quality we have throughout the team. Hwang coming off the bench we know how much quality he has but also Tyrique (George) created a lot of chances Romain (Esse) had a huge chance in the first half thanks to him we have so much competition throughout the team that we rotate the midfield and frontline a lot but coming off the bench is just as important as starting the game and today all the subs made a massive difference with their energy and directness.”
Subs: Johnstone, Garcia, Bueno (On 76), Agbadou, George (On 69), Doyle (On 69), Ward-Prowse (On 69), Arias (On 69), Hackney
Ipswich Town (4-2-3-1): Andrew, Johnson, Greaves, O’Shea, Davis, Matusiwa, Taylor (Off 81), Egeli (Off 76), Philogene, Humphreys (On 69), Abraham
Subs: Muric, Baggott, Clarke (Off 69), Hirst, Townsend, Nunez (On 81), Al Hamadi, Ogbene (On 76), Furlong
Q: Josh not the routine win many expected. What are your thoughts on the game?
Josh McEwen “I thought that Ipswich came and they set up superbly to be honest with you and made things really hard for us but again we have shown our strength in depth and two subs have come off the bench to combine for the goal. Arias is so dangerous his pace and directness and the cut back for the goal he made it easy for Tommy (Doyle) and we’ve managed to get all three points when it was looking like being one of them afternoons.”
Q: Brian your team battled hard today how much does it hurt conceding with just ten minutes left?
Brian **bleep**an “We worked so hard and to concede so late hurts but we are frustrated with the officiating today I don’t understand how Wolves still had eleven men. Tammy (Abraham) Is through on goal and Kabore brings him down and the referee only gives a yellow card it is a shocking decision that has cost us points. We are a team fighting to survive in this league and a point away at Molineux would do wonders for our confidence and we feel like we have been robbed of it.”
Subs: Johnstone, Kabore, Bueno, Agbadou, Hwang Hee Chan (On 69), Gomes (On 69), Hackney (On 69), Esse, Arokodare (On 61)
Q: Patrick a totally dominate display from your team how was it only 1-0?
Patrick Veira “Because they have a fantastic goalkeeper. We created so many chances we flew out the blocks at them and on anothr day I think we could have scored four or five we were that good. Wolves are a good team so even when we were creating the chances there was that worry they could break on us but it never looked like materialising because of how good we’ve played today both going forwards and defensively.”
Q: Josh a poor result and then to see Larsen stretchered off how disappointing an afternoon has it been?
Josh McEwen “It wasn’t a good afternoon for us. Jacob (Larsen) breaking his elbow and obviously the performance was no where near the level that we expect. Chelsea are a good team and we know how good they are at Stamford Bridge and we just weren’t at our usual level today we were well beaten and are luck that Julen (Agirrezabala) was in such good form to keep us in the game.”
