Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Rob Edwards spoke to the media following his side’s 1-1 draw at Hill Dickinson Stadium
Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Rob Edwards admits Everton surprised him with their lack of aggression in their dramatic 1-1 draw at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Despite Michael Keane firing the hosts ahead on 17 minutes with his third goal of the season, the visitors equalised on 69 minutes through Matheus Mane. The Blues centre-back then went from hero to villain when he was shown the red card for supposed violent conduct on 83 minutes after VAR official Chris Kavanagh spotted him tugging Tolu Arokodare’s hair in an aerial duel.
Everton then suffered another sending off on 90 minutes when Jack Grealish picked up a second yellow card in the space of just three minutes for sarcastically applauding referee Thomas Kirk, leaving David Moyes’ men to hang on with just nine players throughout nine minutes of stoppage time to secure a point against the Premier League’s bottom club.
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Edwards said: “We always thought that moment was coming. Even though we weren’t at our best or with loads of zip, we were getting behind Everton.
“Everton were not as aggressive as I thought they’d have been. We’d planned for them to be a lot more aggressive in their pressing and we felt we might be able to then find some of the spaces that we’d seen against West Ham the other day, but we didn’t.
“So, it was a bit more of keeping the back four intact a lot more (for Everton) and almost a 4-5-1, especially once they’d gone 1-0 up. That’s why we had to try and change it at half-time, and create an overload in the middle and just adjust things a little bit but we felt we could get back in it, there’s no doubt about it, even though we were a bit sluggish.”
The 43-year-old, who quit Middlesbrough after just five months in charge to take the reins at Molineux on November 12 last year, felt his side were not at the levels of their previous couple of matches having drawn 1-1 at Manchester United and then beaten West Ham United 3-0 for their first win of the season at the 20th attempt.
He said: “I was a little bit frustrated with our start. The staff sensed it in the warm-up, we looked a little bit flat, so I tried to get into them before the game.
“I thought we started a bit flat and at half-time we just needed to inject a bit of life into us. I don’t think we were particularly playing poorly, but we weren’t seeing the same zip that we’ve seen over the last few games, we weren’t getting in behind them enough or carrying enough of a threat.
“I think we were playing in front of them and they were happy for us to do that. We made a little bit of a change, a tweak and I thought it had a bit of an effect because we started to get a bit more control and look a bit dangerous.
“Once we went to a four and brought Jorgey (Strand Larsen) on as well, he had an instant impact (an assist) and it was a brilliant goal. With how the game ended, with Everton being down to nine men, it’s frustrating that we didn’t capitalise more.
“I felt we played into their hands a little bit once they went down to nine men. I think we were over-keen to try and either work the perfect cross and not put it in the right positions, or we put it in from a bit too deep and didn’t work them enough.
“You’ve got a lot of experienced Everton defenders that are happy defending the box. They can block and buy a bit of time and are happy with balls coming in from certain areas.
“We probably played into their hands by not working them from side to side enough. We tried to give them a clue by putting Pedro Lima on towards the end because it’s going wide and crosses that shift them but we didn’t quite do that well enough.”
Edwards thought Wolves were going to nick it at the end though when Hugo Bueno let fly but the Spanish defender was denied by a spectacular stop by England number one Jordan Pickford, who tipped his effort over the bar. He said: “It’s a brilliant save. I just thought as soon as it left Hugo’s foot, it was in. But that’s what Jordan Pickford can do.
“I thought the second half performance was good. They were 1-0 up and you’ve got to remember it’s Everton at home, it’s a really difficult place for us to come.
“I thought we were playing pretty well, we just didn’t have the same cut and thrust that we’ve had in a couple of the other games. To take something from it after being 1-0 down, it’s three games in a row now that we’ve taken points and there’s been a good chunk of games that we’ve had good performances and consistent performances.
“We probably just looked a bit jaded because it’s been a very busy schedule for the lads. We’ve been asking a lot of them, and the young 18-year-old (Matheus Mane) and Jhon Arias looked tired in the first half.
“Credit to the lads in the end, we’ve got to take a lot of positives from it because maybe when we’ve not been at our best, and we’ve been better in the last couple of games, we still took something from it.”
One thing Edwards, who acknowledges he faces a tall order to avoid a second Premier League relegation as a manager after going down with Luton Town was less clear about was Keane’s sending off.
When asked if he felt the act constituted violent conduct, he said: “I’m going to do my best Arsene Wenger impression now. I half saw it when I looked up, and the fans were booing and I thought: ‘What are they booing at?’
“I sort of just saw the end bits. I can’t say I’ve seen it on a laptop I’m afraid, there’s a few people saying it’s soft, but I haven’t seen it.”