Wolves extended their unbeaten Premier League run to three matches following a stirring fightback to claim a point away at Brentford on Monday evening.
Despite struggling in the opening 40 minutes against the Bees who took a two-goal lead, Adam Armstrong’s first goal for the Old Gold halved the deficit before the break, before Tolu Arokodare’s header got his side back on level terms. Wolves could have won it in an impressive second half display, with both goalscorers also hitting the woodwork.
After the final whistle, former Wolves full-backs Andy Thompson and Lee Naylor discussed why Wolves were much better in the second half than the first, Armstrong and Arokodare’s goals and missed chances and the performances of Angel Gomes and Hugo Bueno.
Difference in the halves
Naylor: “From the first half, it looked like there was only one team who were going to win the game, and I thought it was going to be us from our second half performance. To play the way we did in the first half was disappointing. We didn’t control any parts of the game at all. We maybe had five minutes at the start of the game when we had the chance to cross the ball into the box a few times, but we didn’t have anyone up there to have an effect on it. But after that, it was all Brentford. It just seemed like we were second the everything and had no chance in that first half, and then we found ourselves two-nil down.”
Armstrong’s goal turning the game
Naylor: “It’s a great bit of movement by him, that pull away, because Bellegarde’s waiting for a defender to engage, so he’s carrying the ball and Armstrong pulls off his defender, shoots across the front of him and the pass has to be perfect for that to happen, and it was. But his touch was perfect and his finish was brilliant. Absolutely delightful. Everything about that move was brilliant and top class, and it changed our momentum.”
Thompson: “It did turn the tide. All of a sudden, it put Brentford on the back foot. Before that, we were never in the game and Brentford were controlling everything and caused us all sorts of problems. We were getting caught with the defending, and their second goal was just a straight ball over the top, which just showed you how bad we were in that first half. We got ourselves back into it with Adam Armstrong just before half time, and what a first touch which gave him the opportunity. He made it look easy, but that first touch was a great touch to open things up for him, and that gave us a chance and we took that in the second half. Angel Gomes came on with Mane going off, and I just felt we looked stronger in that area of the pitch. Then we brought Tolu on and he got himself a goal from another great ball in from Joao Gomes. But Wolves will be disappointed in the end with the ones that hit the crossbar and the post, we had 61% possession in the second half, and we had most of the chances, so that just shows the turnaround from the first half to the second half, but we’ve just got to start games better. We can’t give teams a headstart because the second half showed just what we can do.”
Battling back at the Gtech 👏
— Wolves (@Wolves) March 16, 2026
Thank you for your incredible support in the capital this evening. pic.twitter.com/pdytlJSsGo
Importance of good crosses
Thompson: “Brentford had been making those crosses all game, and Nelson almost scored from a similar goal towards the end from that kind of ball, and it’s so difficult to defend against. If you know where that ball’s coming in, the attackers can be on the front foot and the defenders are stepping back, if you time it right then you get a chance at goal, and that’s exactly what we did for Tolu’s goal. The ball came back to Joao Gomes and he hit it into a great area, but if players know the ball is going into certain areas, then they can attack. The problem we usually have, is that we take an extra touch, we delay the cross and it puts strikers off from timing their runs, and they can’t adjust it. With that ball coming back and setting it in the right area, it gives the attackers an advantage on the defenders, and that’s exactly what happened with the second goal.”
Naylor: “Thommo’s spot on. That ball from Joao is brilliant. As a coach, you ask your players to just put it in an area which is going to cause problems, and that’s exactly what Joao does. Then it gives the opportunities for your strikers to go in on goal because the defenders are already coming out.”
Hitting the woodwork
Thompson: “When you’re teaching kids how to head a ball as an attacker, you always teach them to head it down, because if you head it down, you have a better chance of getting it on target. And for Tolu’s chance, it was a great ball in, he got a free header, but you’ve got to be heading it down. He’s got to be scoring that, for me. It’s a free header from a great ball in, it’s got the right amount of pace on it, the right amount of height, and you’ve got to be scoring it, and I’ll say the same thing about Armstrong’s one that hit the post, he’s got to be scoring that. When the ball comes to him, he’s the one in front before the defender and any sort of decent contact, because he’s got the whole of the goal to aim at, but he’s just miss hit the shot. If you want the ball to go to anyone in the box for the opportunity to score, it’ll be him.”
Naylor: “That’s what he’s good at, that’s what he feeds off, those sorts of low crosses, and for him to have that sort of contact, he’ll be reliving that all the way back up.”
With each other until the end 👊 pic.twitter.com/3fO3iasOPS
— Wolves (@Wolves) March 16, 2026
Gomes and Bueno’s displays
Thompson: “I thought it was a good change, because Mane was struggling to be effective in the first half, but I thought when Gomes came on, he showed some neat touches, he kept the ball moving, he’s got good positional sense as well. There was a ball that came into him which he flicked it round the corner to put it into the run of his teammate and those are the things that keep the momentum of the play going, and with the possession that we had in the second half, he was one of those players who keeps and retains the ball, which is important. I thought he did really well in the second half and that’s because it was his kind of game. I thought Bueno also did well down the left hand side, always offering something, although it was difficult for him out there at times with the amount of people who went out to help him, but Gomes was very good in the second half.”
Naylor: “He’s a player who makes the opposition think. What I mean by that, is that he puts himself in positions where the opposition go, ‘I’m a bit worried about that’. He drags people out of position, and that’s what he did. We set out conventionally, but he gave us a different dimension to our formation, where Brentford couldn’t really get into him or get hold of him and it changed the path of the game. But Bueno as well, in the first half I didn’t think he was really himself, and found himself on the back foot for a lot of the half, but going forward in the second, he made himself available every time and he showed good pace, showed his willingness to get forward and he put good quality into the box. One or two moments I felt he could have got it in earlier, but nine times out of 10, he puts it into good areas.”
Thompson and Naylor were talking to Mikey Burrows on Wolves’ official post-match podcast, Matchday Live Extra, which is available to listen to now on all podcast providers.
