Nuno Espirito Santo has lamented the set-up of the Wolverhampton Wanderers wall which allowed Jacob Murphy to net a last-gasp equaliser for Newcastle United. But their inability to kill off a Newcastle team which created very little of their own cost them in the end.
Nuno Espirito Santo said “If it goes over the wall then we have to deal with that, but it cannot go that side of the goal. We made a mistake with the set-up of the wall and we conceded. We were patient. We played well with the ball, moved them and were able to break them many times. All the game we were in control, managing well and always being very organised. We had good spells of possession and good moments in the second half. It was a good goal but it’s disappointing because we made a mistake in the final moments of the game that punishes us a lot.”
It looked as though Raul Jimenez’s stunning strike was going to give Wolves a third successive 1-0 win but Murphy squeezed a free-kick past Rui Patricio in the 89th minute to steal a point. Wolves missed other chances before Jimenez opened the scoring with Pedro Neto and Daniel Podence going close. Patricio will be disappointed with the goal having got a hand to Murphy’s strike, but Nuno’s main gripe afterwards was with those in the wall. For the second game in a row summer signing Vitinha was omitted from the 18-man squad. The Portuguese midfielder travelled to the ground with the team but didn’t make the cut.
Nuno suggested post-match that it was purely a selection decision rather than an injury to the 20-year-old.
Nuno Espirito Santo said “Joao (Moutinho) played last game, he played very well., and today we decided to start with Ruben (Neves). I think it’s good for us that we have two quality players to choose from.”
