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'Players throwing up in toilets' highlights Julen Lopetegui's huge Wolves task

Alex Dicken gives his verdict on Wolves after Julen Lopetegui's dugout debut against Gillingham last night

Wolves head coach Julen Lopetegui
Wolves head coach Julen Lopetegui

The unveiling of an enormous flag on the South Bank moments before kick-off signalled the dawn of a new era at Wolverhampton Wanderers.


‘Julen is a Wolf’ it said ahead of Lopetegui’s first official game in charge of Wolves, six weeks after he was introduced to Molineux before the Premier League game against Arsenal. Once the football got going it was pretty much more of the same for Wolves, who struggled to break down dogged League Two opposition.


Aside from a couple of Ruben Neves long shots, one of which struck the woodwork in first half stoppage time, and a gilt-edged Joe Hodge miss, Gillingham managed to keep Wolves at arm’s length in the opening period. It wasn’t the comfortable evening Lopetegui and his new fanbase had hoped for.


READ: Lopetegui addresses reports Wolves are close to signing Matheus Cunha

READ: Wolves player ratings vs Gillingham as Jimenez and Ait-Nouri save the day

But it was probably the evening Lopetegui expected. Gillingham rarely troubled Wolves in the first half, but the hosts weren’t brimming with ideas to open up the team currently rock bottom of the EFL.

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Lopetegui cut a frustrated figure at times in the first half. The former Spain and Real Madrid manager looked absolutely bewildered when his team participated in an ugly game of head tennis midway through it. Lopetegui is a world away from Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta and tiki-taka now.

The second half wasn’t exactly an improvement but Wolves did edge past Gillingham thanks to Lopetegui’s substitutes. Raul Jimenez (pen) and Rayan Ait-Nouri scored from the bench, while fellow subs Matheus Nunes and Hwang Hee-chan had big impacts.

Gillingham - who have scored just six goals in 20 League Two matches this term - are no great shakes though. Wolves will face much sterner tests in the Premier League, starting on Boxing Day at Everton, and the fact they struggled so much against a Gillingham side depleted by a virus is worrying.


“It ruled out four players this morning and we have got two players throwing up in the toilets at the moment,” Gillingham boss Neil Harris said of the virus which ruined his team’s preparation for their big night at Molineux.

Throw that into the mix and it doesn’t reflect well on Wolves. Nevertheless, Wolves are three games from a Wembley cup final. The real stuff starts on Monday though and Lopetegui has his work cut out.

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