The Wolverhampton Wanderers fanbase was left with more frustration yet again on Wednesday night against AFC Bournemouth.

Gary O’Neil faced his old side, but unfortunately, the Cherries walked away with a controversial 1-0 victory.

The visitors scored the only goal of the game just after the half-hour mark, and the rest of the match saw the Wanderers dominate the ball and struggle to create, hence their 63% possession and xG of just 0.56.

However, the hosts did have the ball in the back of the net at one point thanks to Hwang Hee-chan, which was then rather bizarrely ruled out for a minimal incident off the ball – while Max Kilman also saw a later effort disallowed for offside.

That said, regardless of that prior decision, Wolves simply weren’t good enough on Wednesday, with one player struggling even more than Pablo Sarabia.

Pablo Sarabia’s stats vs Bournemouth

With Pedro Neto injured and Matheus Cunha on the bench, almost all of the creative responsibility fell on the shoulders of Sarabia yesterday.

However, the former Paris Saint-Germain star struggled to have any positive impact on the game whatsoever over his 64 minutes on the pitch.

The 31-year-old’s biggest problem was just how wasteful he was when in possession, having a pass accuracy of 83%, losing the ball 17 times, and completing just one of his six crosses.

His combined xG and xA of 0.08 show how he was unable to put his stamp on the game, and Sarabia also failed to win ten of his 14 individual battles, which enabled the Cherries to counter frequently.

For all the winger's woes, he arguably wasn't the worst on the field among the home ranks…

Tommy Doyle’s statistics vs Bournemouth

There’s no two ways about it: on the whole this season, Tommy Doyle has impressed for Wolves since joining on loan from Manchester City.

The 22-year-old has featured 24 times in the Premier League this season, and yesterday’s match was his 11th start of the campaign, and unfortunately, potentially his worst.

Doyle started in a midfield three alongside Mario Lemina and Joao Gomes, but he was unable to impact the game, hence his substitution in the 55th minute.

Birmingham World were also not impressed by the midfielder, handing him a 5/10 rating for his performance, stating that he 'lacked urgency with his passing', while journalist Nathan Judah described his game as a “horror show.”

Minutes

55

Accurate passes

25/27

Passes into final third

2

Dispossessed

3

Tackles

1

Duels won

1/4

As you can see, the statistics certainly prove that he was far from influential, as he pretty much did nothing throughout the entire 55 minutes that he was on the field.

With Wolves having 59% of possession in the first half, Doyle had plenty of opportunities to get on the ball and express his technical qualities, however, he did the complete opposite.

The number 20 made just two passes into the final third, while his high pass accuracy highlights that he was simply too safe on the ball, which wasn’t necessarily required when a goal down.

Doyle also lacked intensity and showed signs of being completely off the pace of the game, being dispossessed on three occasions and making just one defensive action, which was a tackle.

Furthermore, he was bullied by the Bournemouth midfield, winning just 25% of his duels, which meant that Wolves’ were unable to sustain any form of momentum.

The fact he was substituted early proves just how poor he truly was, but in fairness to the midfielder, this type of performance was definitely an anomaly.

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