Vítor Pereira’s Wolves reign gets off to flying start against brittle Leicester
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It took less than 45 minutes of his Wolves tenure for the supporters to sing Vítor Pereira’s name as he witnessed his new side thrash Leicester. The Portuguese will, however, want to take note of his opposite number, Ruud van Nistelrooy, who has gone from triumph in his first game in charge to being booed off in fewer than three weeks.
![[Gonçalo Guedes scores Wolves’ first goal in the 3-0 win at Leicester.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/225eb2e1f3c4dcbb1c2d9c6b5165595d4b7a3162/312_262_4266_2560/master/4266.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The atmosphere at Wolves has been dark in recent weeks. Mario Lemina lost the captaincy after an altercation with West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen, Matheus Cunha was charged by the Football Association for taking out his anger last weekend on spectacles belonging to a member of Ipswich staff and Gary O’Neil paid for only securing nine points from 16 games with his job but that was forgotten at the King Power Stadium.
There was greater cohesion for Wolves at Leicester but they were aided by a confused and brittle defence. The goals from Gonçalo Guedes, Rodrigo Gomes and Cunha were all avoidable. The Leicester owner, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, threw soft fox toys and scarves out to fans before kick-off but his defence were even more generous, removing plenty of the festive spirit from those in blue.
It’s been Pereira’s dream to manage in the Premier League, coming close on a number of occasions over the past 15 years but he’s been required to hope between 13 clubs and seven countries before landing in Wolverhampton. His first team selection indicated one of the reasons he was appointed; there were eight native Portuguese speakers in his first Wolves starting XI.
