Jota double sinks ‘soft’ Norwich
No team in the Premier League have played more competitive matches than Wolves this season and head coach Nuno Espirito Santo’s core starting XI have been involved in most of those, yet if 44 games and counting is taking a toll you would be hard pressed to find much evidence.
Three days after thumping Espanyol 4-0 here to all but book their place in the last 16 of the Europa League, they saw off ailing Norwich City all too easily to stay squarely in contention to be in the competition again next year, with Portuguese striker Diogo Jota adding two more goals to his hat-trick against Espanyol. And all this with only one change from Thursday’s line-up.
“I thought we showed a lot of energy and it is hard to maintain those levels because I think we run more than the other teams and that requires a lot of energy,” Nuno said. “It gets harder every day but the players are fantastic, the way they respect themselves and the way that they recover.”
He praised also the work put in by his backroom team in helping to keep the players fit. “The staff often don’t have days off, but they are dedicated and we want to compete,” he said. “It is our job and everybody embraces the challenge.”
The return leg against Espanyol is just three days away.
Perhaps inevitably, Wolves were not at their sharpest, but against opponents as vulnerable as Daniel Farke’s team they did not need to be.
There has been cause for hope, if not exactly optimism, in some of Norwich’s recent performances, but they could take very little from this game. With only 11 matches remaining of the Premier League season, time is quickly running out. “The coming weeks are going to ask big questions about how we can find the points to stay in this league,” manager Farke said. On another blustery afternoon at least blessed with bright sunshine, Norwich had made the more positive start and Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patricio was twice called into early action by Teemu Pukki, looking for his first goal from open play since mid-december. Yet once Wolves came up with the opening goal after 19 minutes, Farke’s side found scant reserves of resilience and after the second on the halfhour the result already looked a foregone conclusion. The in-form Jota set the home side on their way, following up his Europa League treble with his first Premier League goal since he bagged two against Brighton and Hove Albion on Dec 8.
Good movement down the right by the home side worked the ball into the Norwich box, where Matt Doherty turned nicely to put Jota in. For once, having denied them four “goals” so far this season, the video assistant referee looked kindly on Wolves fans as a possible handball by Doherty was ruled out.
Norwich were poor defensively and Jota quickly pounced again, converting from close range after a short corner on the left ended with Romain Saiss stretching out a leg to hook the ball back from beyond the far post.
Jota might have had a first-half hat-trick had Norwich’s Max Aarons not brought him down cynically at the edge of the box.
Only a fine save by Tim Krul denied Ruben Neves from the freekick, the Norwich goalkeeper pushing his shot on to the crossbar.
Five minutes into the second half, any chance that Farke’s halftime discourse might have inspired a Norwich recovery was put ruthlessly to bed as the first meaningful Wolves attack of the second period brought their third goal.
Raul Jimenez, surging through the middle, put Jota in for another stab at the hat-trick and his strike partner almost made it, his shot beating Krul and striking the inside of the right-hand post.
No matter. The ball bounced back off the upright into the path of the waiting Jimenez, who tapped home his 21st goal of the campaign.
“I cannot accuse my players too much because they always leave their hearts on the pitch,” Farke said. “But in the important moments at both ends of the pitch we lacked physicality and sharpness.
“At times we looked a bit soft, scared even.”