Mid-table mediocrity for Wolves and Baggies
While the Saddlers finish nearer the bottom of the pile
Season 2021-22 Part One
SUMMING up this season … there was a 10th place finish for Wolves in the Premier League, and Albion also claimed 10th place in the Championship, while Walsall had to settle for a 16th-place finish in League Two.
So overall it wasn’t a good campaign for any of our three major clubs!
After a moderate start, Wolves, under new manager Bruno Lage, like his predecessor Nuno Espirito Santo a Portuguese, actually rose to seventh in the table during the first half of the season, but they had a poor ending, losing nine of their last 14 games, and in the end the team’s overall performances were summed up in the press and by reporters alike as ‘poor, inconsistent and rather average.’
Their full League stats were: played 38, won 15, drew 6, lost 17; goals scored 38, goals conceded 43, points tally 51.
They finished 16 points clear of the relegation-zone and a massive
Wolves had a poor ending, losing nine of their last fourteen games
42 behind champions Manchester City. Wolves’ best win was 4-0 at home to Watford in early March, while their heaviest defeat was a 5-1 home mauling by the champions in game 36. Mexican striker Raul Jimenez topscored with just six goals, one a penalty, in a 3-1 home win over
Southampton.
Considering the awful injury he had suffered the previous season, in a clash of heads with
Arsenal’s David Luiz at the Emirates, it was a huge achievement to be back on the pitch so soon. In the immediate aftermath of his injury there were doubts not only about his ever playing again, but about his very survivial.
Albion’s full record was played 46, won 18, drew 13, lost 15, goals for 52, goals conceded 45, points gained 67…eight short of a play-off spot.
Their biggest wins were three at 4-0 – over Sheffield United (at the Hawthorns), Cardif City (away) and versus Barnsley (home), while their heaviest loss also had a 4-0 scoreline, when losing away at