Can Rob Edwards save Wolverhampton Wanderers from relegation?
During the international break, the 42-year-old controversially left Middlesbrough, currently second in the EFL Championship, to take over the reins at Molineux, returning to the club for whom he made 111 appearances as a player, but he has a massive task on his hands.
Wolves currently have just two points on the board after 11 matches, no side in Premier League history has ever survived from this position, losing four on the spin ahead of Crystal Palace’s visit to the Black Country on Saturday afternoon.
The Old Gold’s eight-year stay in the top-flight is under serious threat, so if Edwards harbours any realistic hopes of leading Wolves to a great escape, he must surely unleash a new-look forward line in attack.
Jørgen Strand Larsen's downturn in form
Last season, his first after arriving from Celta Vigo, only nine players scored more Premier League goals than Jørgen Strand Larsen’s tally of 14, an impressive figure considering Wolves finished 16th.
This saw Newcastle make multiple bids to sign the 25-year-old, the highest of which was £55m, despite the fact he had cost the Old Gold only €30m (around £26m).
Wolves rejected all of these bids, with Strand Larsen instead signing a new five-year contract, but now they desperately need him to rediscover his best form.
So far this season, the striker has just three goals to his name, bagging a Carabao Cup double against West Ham in August, while his only goal in the Premier League thus far was a penalty during the infamous 3-2 home defeat at the hands of Burnley that ultimately cost Vítor Pereira his job.
Strand Larsen did find the target last Sunday as Norway crushed Italy 4-1 at San Siro, officially confirming his country’s place at next summer’s World Cup, so will be hoping to take confidence from that back into his club form.
Nevertheless, Wolves could be doing more to get the best out of their number nine, underlined by the fact that Strand Larsen’s shots and shot on target per 90 statistics have significantly decreased this season, so could partnering him alongside a “huge talent” be the solution?
Rob Edwards must unleash Wolves' next Jimenez
Wolves only made five senior summer signings, all of whom have had varying degrees of little impact, namely Fer López, Jhon Arias, David Møller Wolfe and Jackson Tchatchoua.
The last of the additions, arriving on deadline day, was striker Tolu Arokodare, joining from Genk for £24m, and he is possibly the most exciting of the quintet, even if the Wolves faithful have seen very little from him thus far.
The 24-year-old has taken an unusual route to the Premier League, beginning his senior career at Latvian club Valmiera, scoring 22 goals in just 34 appearances, hence why Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout described him as “simply too good” for the Virslīga, currently ranked the 36th best league in Europe.
After a brief and unsuccessful stint at Köln, scoring no goals for die Geißböcke, Arokodare rediscovered his mojo at Amiens, netting 21 times across two seasons for the Ligue 2 side, earning a move to Genk, scoring on 41 occasions for the Smurfs.
Of these goals, 21 came in last season’s Jupiler Pro League, which Global Football Rankings believes to be the sixth-strongest league in the world, and the Nigerian international’s statistics make for impressive reading.
Goals
21
1st
Goals inside the box
21
1st
Headed goals
3
3rd
Expected goals
28.53
1st
Shots
158
1st
Shots per 90
4.9
1st
Shots on target
52
2nd
Big chances missed
34
1st
Assists
5
17th
Big chances created
7
32nd
Key passes
32
52nd
Shot-creating actions
77
16th
Goal-creating actions
9
13th
Aerial duels won
156
3rd
Touches in the box
217
1st
The table makes for interesting reading, emphasising the fact that Arokodare is a penalty box presence, considering all 21 of his goals came inside the area, while also ranking first for shots, shots per 90 and touches in the opposition area.
Meantime, he is also excellent in the air, scoring three headers while also ending up third for aerial duels won, behind only Daan Heymans and Aurélien Scheidler; the former joined Genk to replace Arokodare, while the latter moved to Royal Charleroi to replace the former.
The statistic though that leaps off the page most is the fact that Arokodare missed 34 Opta-defined big chances.
For comparison, the leaders in this metric across other European leagues last season were Ollie Watkins in the Premier League (27), Kylian Mbappé in La Liga (29), Serhou Guirassy in the Bundesliga (21) and Roberto Piccoli in Serie A (26), so no one came close to the Nigerian’s 34, which shows he is often in the right position, albeit is regularly an erratic finisher.
Chalkboard
Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.
Despite this, Arokodare is still highly rated, with journalist Graeme Bailey labelling him a “huge talent”, while the aforementioned Kulig notes that “physicality, heading and link-up play” are his primary assets.
This all sounds rather reminiscent of Wolves’ best striker of their current stint in the Premier League, Raúl Jiménez, who is the club’s all-time leading scorer in the competition with 40.
After bouncing around Club América, Atlético Madrid and Benfica, the Mexican really flourished at Molineux, very much considered to be one of the best centre-forwards in the division prior to suffering a horrific fractured skull in November 2020.
Arokodare certainly possesses all the raw attributes to be as good as Jiménez, so now is the time for him to prove this.
Well, Wolves supporters have been treated to a mere amuse-bouche of what their new striker could offer so far, scoring in EFL Cup ties against Everton and Chelsea, starting only once in the Premier League thus far, not doing so in any of Wolves’ last six.
So, pairing him with Strand Larsen would certainly give opposition defences something to think about, with the duo possessing similar but also complementary skillsets.
With Palace captain Marc Guéhi a doubt due to a foot injury, surely Wolves’ best hope of claiming a first win of the season is to deploy the two strikers together.
£55m spent & Hackney signs: Dream Wolves XI Edwards can build in January
This is the dream Wolves starting line-up that Rob Edwards could build in the January window.
ByDan Emery
