MX23RW : Tuesday, December 17 16:32:38| >> :120:9063:9063:

Nuno Espirito Santo confident Wolves will find their shooting boots

Only Burnley, Fulham, West Brom and Sheffield United have scored fewer goals than Wolves in the league.

Nuno Espirito Santo has backed goal-shy Wolves to rediscover their scoring touch.

They go to Southampton on Sunday as one of the lowest scorers in the Premier League.

Only the bottom four have netted fewer than Wolves, who have just 23 goals in 23 games.

They have failed to score in four of their last five matches – including Thursday's 2-0 FA Cup defeat to the Saints.

Raul Jimenez remains their joint-top scorer alongside Pedro Neto with four despite not playing since fracturing his skull in November but Nuno believes the problems go deeper than his forwards.

"It is a lot of things, not only the strikers," he said.

"It is the lines of the balls, the consistency of our possession. It is about having possession higher up the pitch, not always coming to the last line to rotate the ball.

"We didn't have many problems before. We have faced tough, tough situations and we have been able to bounce back, like we will do this time again.

"We have very high standards. We know our players are good players and competitive players. We have to keep them at the high standard of performances.

"You are asking me now what can we do to get the best out of them? We are a good team. We have to solve all the situations because it is not just that we are not scoring, we are also conceding very poor goals.

"You have to play to the whistle. Why did we stop?"

Wolves have the chance of immediate revenge against the Saints after their fifth-round defeat at Molineux following second-half goals from Danny Ings and Stuart Armstrong.

Nuno rested several key players, including skipper Conor Coady, who are likely to return at St Mary's although Willy Boly, Daniel Podence and Marcal remain out as Wolves search for just a second win in 11 top-flight games.

"Consistency is one of the most difficult things to achieve in football. You want to achieve consistency," said Nuno, with Wolves 14th.

"When you do well, you want to consistently achieve these performances. We have not been consistent.

"What we need to do first is perform better in each game, then we can search for the consistency in our game."

ID:434909: cacheID:434909:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:4098:
Written by
P A
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl pictured in February 2021
Read Next:
Ralph Hasenhuttl: 'We are aiming to win the FA Cup'
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool15113131131836
2Chelsea16104237191834
3Arsenal1686229151430
4Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest168442119228
5Manchester CityMan City168352823527
6Bournemouth167452421325
7Aston Villa167452425-125
8Fulham166642422224
9Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton166642625124
10Tottenham HotspurSpurs1672736191723
11Brentford167273230223
12Newcastle UnitedNewcastle166552321223
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd166462119222
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham165472129-819
15Crystal Palace163761721-416
16Everton153661421-715
17Leicester CityLeicester163582134-1314
18Ipswich TownIpswich162681628-1212
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1623112440-169
20Southampton1612131136-255


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!