Wolves player ratings & report vs Brighton: Four score 3/10 but two earn 8s in humbling defeat - photo gallery

Wolverhampton Wanderers’ long-awaited return to Molineux was a dismal one as Brighton & Hove Albion ran riot to make it two defeats out of two for Gary O’Neil’s side. Commanded by their blistering pace and laser-quick-thinking on the counter-attack, Roberto De Zerbi’s side went 4-0 up within 55 minutes and Wolves could only score a consolation, failing to recover from their lacklustre defensive display. Brighton, buoyed by a second successive 4-1 victory, march on to go top of the Premier League. The Old Gold, meanwhile, slump to rock bottom.

Blue skies blessed Molineux ahead of kick-off but it was far from a beaming start for the hosts as it took Brighton just a quarter of an hour to break the deadlock. Kaoru Mitoma, who had warned Nelson Semedo and Craig Dawson with his pace plenty of times in the opening stages, darted through the right side of Wanderers’ defence with ease and slotted the ball into the bottom corner with finesse. It was a terrific solo goal from the Japan international but Wolves simply had to do better defensively; a gaping hole made it far too easy for Mitoma to dribble beyond.

Before all of that unfolded, Gary O’Neil’s side thought they’d taken a very early lead when Fabio Silva reacted quickest to a deflected Mario Lemina through ball and slotted a low effort beyond Jason Steele, but the flag was raised for a clear offside. That mishap kind of set the tone for the Old Gold as tensions rose over sloppy giveaways of possession. A minor scuffle between Matheus Nunes and Billy Gilmour didn’t help as Wolves’ heads became unsettled from merely a slight push on the back of their Portuguese number 27.

Wanderers crafted their first big opportunity to equalise just before the 30-minute mark as Silva ran onto a Lemina pass and was one-on-one with Steele. The striker fluffed his lines as Brighton’s goalkeeper positioned himself well to save with his feet. Everyone in the stadium thought the striker was offside again but the flag stayed down and he really should’ve hit the back of the net. Yet another big opening was missed just before the interval as Silva broke away down and sent Ait-Nouri through beyond Milner. The full-back traveled three-quarters of the length of the pitch to make the run but lacked composure at the vital moment as he fired high and wide.

Wolves went into the half-time break with lots of optimism after a strong end to the first period but they were caught sleeping – majorly – as Brighton made it 2-0 within just 56 seconds. Danny Welbeck made it through on goal too easily and, although Jose Sa did well to make an initial save, it wasn’t enough as Mitoma was in the right place at the right time. The winger showed great composure to cut the ball back to Pervis Estupinan, returning the favour for a first-half assist and gifting the Ecuadorian full-back an easy finish.

Almost as quickly as it became two to the good, it was then three and four for the visitors. Wolves, with an incredibly high line, simply couldn’t deal with the Seagulls on the counter-attack. For 3-0, Billy Gilmour played a simple ball over the top to Julio Enciso and the Paraguayan put it across the area with the outside of his boot for Solly March to finish first-time. Then, for 4-0, it was a near-identical goal but on the right flank instead, as Enciso delivered another low cross for March, who placed it into the bottom corner.

The Old Gold eventually regained their bearings around the 60-minute mark as they went back to the basics somewhat with a few lofted crosses towards the far post. The change of approach paid off almost immediately as Hwang Hee-chan reduced the deficit, scoring with a glancing header into the far corner to make it 1-4. From that point on, O’Neil’s men managed to assert some control and created the odd half-chance but it was too little too late as the fate of the game had already been decided.