After fearing a relegation battle early in the 2022-23 season, the arrival of Julen Lopetegui in November steadied the ship and helped Wolves comfortably secure safety in the Premier League.
The Wanderers were bottom of the Premier League when Julen Lopetegui was appointed. He won nine of his 22 league games in charge and Wolves finished the campaign in 13th position. They are only the fourth team in the Premier League era to stay up after being 20th on Christmas Day and secured their top-flight status with three games to spare.
However, after a hugely inconsistent season, Lopetegui will want to make improvements to his side to fight for a top-half finish next term. On that note, here are three areas the Wolves boss should improve on in the 2023-24 campaign.
1. Injection of goals
Wolves were the lowest scorers in the division (31) and that should be enough to ring the alarm bells for Lopetegui ahead of the new season.
Summer signing Sasa Kalajdzic got off to a nightmare start at Wolves as he suffered an ACL tear on his debut, ruling the striker out for the season. Diego Costa couldn’t ruffle many feathers on his return to the Premier League, while January signing Matheus Cunha didn’t work out at all at Molineux.
If Wolves are to improve and challenge for a top-half finish, they desperately need to add a prolific goalscorer to the ranks.
- Away form
Wolves were among the teams with the worst away from in the Premier League. They only mustered two wins and managed to draw five in 19 away fixtures, which is an abysmal record.
Lopetegui’s side could only score 12 goals on their travels while conceding an eye-popping 38 goals. In their last five away fixtures of the 2022-23 season, they lost four and drew one. Wolves’ last away win came in February when they beat Southampton 2-1.
Overall, the Wanderers’ record on the road is more than a little worrying, and if Lopetegui fails to address the woes next season, they may get embroiled in a relegation dogfight again.
- Fix defensive problems
After highlighting Wolves’ away-day blues, which led to heavy losses and plenty of points being dropped, it is time to shed light on their defensive frailties.
With 58 goals conceded, Wolves had the sixth-worst defensive record in the Premier League. They were defensively resolute at home, conceding just 20 goals. The problems were away from home where the Wanderers’ defence rarely could catch a breath. And when it came to keeping clean sheets, the Black County outfit managed only 11 times in 38 games.
Nathan Collins, Max Kilman, Toti, Hugo Bueno, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Nelson Semedo were chief components of the Wolves’ rearguard that was consistently breached. Individual errors, concentrations lapse and inability to defend set-pieces are alarming issues Lopetegui must address while adding a couple of quality defenders to his squad.
