Nuno Espirito Santo said that Wolverhampton Wanderers struggled to deal with Aston Villa pair Morgan Sanson and John McGinn during Saturday’s Premier League stalemate, while speaking to the club’s official website.
Considering that both clubs were without their most potent attacking weapons, it was perhaps no surprise that this latest Midlands derby was lacking in the ‘end product’ department.
Ollie Watkins came closer than anyone else in claret and blue, rattling the crossbar with a long-range thunderbolt, while Wolves’ best chances fell to centre-backs Conor Coady and Romain Saiss during a disappointing 0-0 draw.
The visitors struggled to impose themselves consistently at the home of their near neighbours either, with Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves losing the midfield battle against an industrious McGinn and the £14 million January signing Sanson, who showcased glimpses of talent on his full debut.
“Credit to Villa because they push long balls and the movement from their midfielders, McGinn and Sanson, were always trying to break our lines, and we didn’t adjust to that, and that gave Villa the dominance of the game,” Nuno said, ruing a poor first-half from his Wolves side.
Even the usually-electrifying Adama Troare struggled to exert any real influence.
The Spain international was expected to cause major problems down the left-hand side but lost his battle with 33-year-old full-back Ahmed Elmohamady.
“Any time Adama had the ball, Villa were putting two or three players on him, it’s not easy. But the expectations are high because he’s very talented,” Nuno added.
“We needed more from him, but we needed more from all the players. That was the message at half-time, we needed more energy, more aggressivity in a good way.
“We were losing duels and the Villa players were anticipating (the danger).”
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