Wolves secured what can be considered a considerable win for the club against Fulham this past Saturday with 4-1. At Craven Cottage, it was Matheus Cunha who started the rout with two goals and one assist for Joao Gomes.
The win was especially sweet for Wolves for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the team of Fulham had a good season this year with the team standing on the 7 th place in the league before the match. Further, the team had its problems with call-ups, as Wolves lost its primary defenders, Santiago Bueno and Craig Dawson, to different injuries. This led to Alfie Pond coming on as a sub Finally. Manager Gary O’Neil decided to use Mario Lemina and Toti Gomes in the defense line pulling a surprise to Matt Doherty who likely expected to start for the team.
Even if Bueno’s fitness level might have been an issue, Doherty could have been part of the first-team eleven. However, when Dawson was also ruled out, the four man wall was retained alongside Toti and Lemina. The chance to perform a tactics switch to the 3 at the back alongside Doherty was missed as he was only brought in in the later period of the match in place of Jean-Ricner Bellegarde.
This lack of game time could prove to be bad news for Doherty’s Wolves career potential. When they have recorded a total of scanty minutes over the current matches, and in the last six Premier league matches, and not at all, it becomes very clear that O’Neil is not comfortable with him on the field. Due to restricted appearances this season along with his position as more of an outside contender for a starting position the incident may prompt Doherty to consider his future at the club even though he has a contract to 2026.