Wolves boss Vitor Pereira delivers brutally honest Matheus Cunha verdict amid £62m reality

Wolverhampton Wanderers cannot rely solely on talisman Matheus Cunha to escape relegation to the Championship, head coach Vitor Pereira has admitted.

The Old Gold are five points clear of the Premier League drop zone but that gap could be eaten into if Ipswich Town beat Manchester United or Leicester City claim victory against Everton. Wolves had the opportunity to expand their safety net on Tuesday but failed to do so as Fulham claimed a 2-1 win at Molineux.

Defensive frailties and lapses of concentration ultimately cost Wanderers as Fulham scored within the first 65 seconds of both halves, but the lack of attacking threat - especially in the second half - was concerning.

Cunha had a decent night as he created the odd chance and recorded three shots on target but it was far from the Brazilian’s best performance. Cunha had scored in all three previous Premier League outings - helping secure six vital points in the process - but Wolves were unable to secure even a draw without goal involvements from their number 10.

Pereira was asked in the post-match press conference whether Wolves rely too heavily upon Cunha to get them out of difficult situations. After all, the 25-year-old has scored in all six of Wanderers’ Premier League victories this season and he’s either netted a goal or contributed an assist in two of the four draws.

“Matheus today, I felt of course we cannot build a team around a player, you understand? We should create situations, we should create dynamics to solve and to score goals without,” Pereira admitted.

The manager refused to suggest Cunha misfiring was the most influential factor in Wolves’ defeat, instead pointing out costly errors from his defenders. “In my opinion, you can’t start the first half and second half conceding goals because we need to defend well,” Pereira added.

“We committed mistakes that we cannot commit again. It means that I will start the work correcting these mistakes and trying to think about our mistakes. We need to look at ourselves, it’s not about the other team - it’s about us. Today the players they tried everything but not in the right way.”

£62m Cunha reality rings true

Wolves are likely to stay up due to the decent breadth between them and their fellow relegation battlers but - as outlined by the stunning statistics earlier in this piece - it would be a totally different story without Cunha’s presence.

Despite signing a new bumper contract at the start of February, the reality is Cunha probably won’t spend many more years with the Old Gold – and probably not even next season. Interest from elite Premier League clubs - including Arsenal and Liverpool - is rife and with a new £62.5 million release clause set to become active in July, an exit is simply inevitable.

Pereira’s side must start being more productive in front of goal through other players as well as Cunha otherwise they could be in big trouble next campaign.

In other news, Pereira has confirmed eight first-team players will be unavailable for the trip to AFC Bournemouth in the FA Cup fifth round.