Wolverhampton Wanderers U23 coach James Collins was full of praise for the “excellent” Austin Samuels after his clinical brace in yesterday’s 4-0 Premier League 2 thrashing of Newcastle United, speaking to the club’s official website.
Talk about predatory instinct.
After putting Wolves a goal up with an impressive turn and finish, Samuels doubled his tally early in the second half with the sort of close-range tap-in the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Gerd Muller and Pippo Inzaghi would have been proud of.
Samuels reacted brilliantly to divert a wayward shot into the bottom corner, showcasing the kind of penalty-box prowess Wolves have been missing – at least at senior level – throughout most of the 2020/21 campaign.
“They’re the goals you have to get as a forward and (Samuels) loves getting goals. He works so hard on his finishing, almost too hard at times,” Collins says of the 20-year-old, who doubled his season’s tally inside half an hour against Newcastle.
“When he misses one, he practises more and more because that’s the only way he knows. Sometimes I think that can almost get in his head a little bit. But he’s had a really good week working at it so I’m delighted for him to get those goals because I felt he’s really deserved it.
“The first one is always important in these games so for him to get the first one in the way he did I thought was excellent. Then he got a poacher’s goal for the second, which I think if you get five or six of them each season, it will be great for his tally.”
Not content with scoring twice, Samuels also showcased his tremendous work ethic late on, pressuring the Newcastle goalkeeper into a horrible error as Owen Hesketh smashed in a fourth.
With Raul Jimenez still unavailable and Willian Jose looking about as confident as a spotty teenager at a school disco, Nuno Espirito Santo could do worse than give Samuels a chance before the end of the season.
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