Online Reporter
Liam Keen, Shropshire Star
AMONG a number of issues plaguing Wolves earlier in the season, their lack of physicality was a problem.
Some players that have those attributes were not performing, others were struggling with injury, while changes in the squad saw experienced players such as Mario Lemina and Craig Dawson depart.
Wolves addressed this problem in the winter transfer window and Emmanuel Agbadou and Marshall Munetsi in particular have made a big impact on this team.
Agbadou has been a revelation in defence. His athleticism, leadership and aggression has made him a key figure at centre-back.
Agbadou’s influence has rightly been praised and held in high regard.
Munetsi’s impact, however, has gone more under the radar and the deadline day addition has even come under some criticism from certain sections of the fan base.
He missed some big chances as a makeshift number nine in his first few games and then moved to one of the number 10 roles.
Munetsi definitely has improvements to make with some of his quality on the ball, but he has helped Jorgen Strand Larsen thrive by getting closer to the striker and occupying defenders. He also tirelessly makes runs into the box and offers a threat.
His one goal and one assist in 12 Premier League games can certainly be improved upon, but he has been a constant throughout the 90 minutes for a reason and Vitor Pereira welcomes his contribution.
To the naked eye, Munetsi’s physical attributes have helped toughen Wolves up and get them over the line in their relegation battle. He is also often the last one charging down defenders when Wolves have been holding onto slim leads late in fixtures. But the running statistics back up what the eye can see and Munetsi is off the charts compared to his team-mates.
Taking into account players that have played more than 500 Premier League minutes this season, the high speed running statistics and sprinting figures make for interesting reading.
Looking at the table for high speed running, which is anything from 20-25 kilometres per hour, Munetsi tops it and blows the competition out of the water.
The Zimbabwean international averages 962.1 metres per game − his closest competitor is Joao Gomes with 662.4 − a difference of just under 300 metres.
The sprinting table, for anything above 25 kilometres per hour, also sees Munetsi come top, although the gap to second is much smaller.
Munetsi records an average of 275.4 metres per game, while Matheus Cunha is just behind him with 248.
The reason these figures are far more important than the total distance covered during games is because they specifically relate to high intensity actions, which goes some way to proving how impactful Munetsi has been for Wolves and how key he is in Pereira’s system.
When looking at the top speed Munetsi is much further down the table in 16th with 31.4 kilometres per hour, but his engine has certainly helped what was a struggling Wolves team.
As previously stated, Agbadou’s importance cannot be forgotten and it is fascinating to note that he is first for top speed out of the players that have played more than 500 minutes.
The Ivorian has clocked in a speed of 36.2 kilometres per hour, followed by Jean-Ricner Bellegarde on 35.1, Rayan Ait-Nouri on 35, Nelson Semedo on 34.9 and Toti Gomes on 34.8.
Four of the top five are defenders and two of them are centre-backs − ahead of star forward Matheus Cunha in sixth − proving the importance of Wolves’ athletic back three in the top flight.
The impressive midfield two of J.Gomes and Andre have also perfected their partnership.
J.Gomes comes second to Munetsi in the high speed running figures, highlighting his work done in the centre, while Andre is 14th.
The summer signing is even further down the table when looking at the sprinting numbers as he comes 17th with an average of 74.6 metres per game, while Munetsi has more than three times that figure.
That does not downplay the role Andre has because he has been superb of late, but instead highlights how impressive he has been at sitting just in front of the defence and being conservative with his energy before making crucial tackles at the right time.
Despite the last two results, Pereira has his Wolves team following a specific and effective game plan and without Munetsi it would be much harder to implement.
