Welcome to the Vitor Pereira Show: A song of ice and fire

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Somehow, Vitor Pereira, who arrived at Molineux as a virtual unknown in December, has managed to muster the steely composure to transform Wolves’ leaky defence while presenting himself as a loose cannon on the touchline.

And supporters are loving it.

In his opening answer of his press conference following an important 1-0 victory over West Ham United on Tuesday, the 56-year-old Portuguese smiled as he raised and lowered his hands alternately to signify the pulsating emotions that had characterised a tense evening in the West Midlands.

Half an hour earlier, Pereira and his coaching staff had been leaping around with their backs to the pitch, urging more noise from the Billy Wright Stand as his team closed out a priceless win.

Before that, both Pereira and assistant Luis Miguel became so invested in the action that both received yellow cards that will keep them from the touchline for Saturday’s trip to Ipswich Town.

West Ham manager Graham Potter — a man less prone to public displays of emotion — was even annoyed by being made to wait for his post-match handshake as Pereira was enveloped by his backroom team in an outbreak of jubilation.

Was it a little over the top for the tastes of more reserved operators like Potter? Probably.

Pereira celebrates the victory over West Ham (David Rogers/Getty Images)

Goodness knows what Neil Warnock, nemesis of previous Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo would have made of it but it is possible that the Yorkshireman would still be chasing Pereira across the Molineux pitch now.

“I was sometimes out of control, other times calm, thinking, and trying to help the team,” said Pereira. “This is me — emotional and very proud of my team.”

From an unpromising beginning — Pereira landed his long-awaited chance in the Premier League after Wolves failed to land Potter, David Moyes or anyone else with greater ‘big league’ experience and reached a point where they could no longer delay sacking Gary O’Neil — Pereira has achieved near cult status among the fanbase.

He has done it with a combination of everyman charm, featuring trips to local pubs for pies and pints, clever PR soundbites and that open show of passion on the touchline, but most importantly by subduing his volatile tendencies and finding the calmness and precision to cure the key problems he inherited.

Another goal for either side in Tuesday’s match would have taken the total goals in Wolves’ Premier League games this season to 100 after just 30 games.

That would have been the club’s earliest century in a season since 1985-86, when they hit the mark in the 27th game of a third-tier campaign en-route to relegation, and the earliest in the top flight since 1967-68, when they got there in the 26th game, eventually finishing 17th in a 22-team league.

One goal or more at Ipswich would bring up the quickest century since 2011-12, when they finished bottom of the Premier League, and much of it will be down to the situation Pereira inherited.

When O’Neil was sacked in mid-December, Wolves had conceded 40 goals in 16 league games with a goal difference of -16.

Since Pereira took charge, 18 goals have been conceded in 14 games with a -1 goal difference.

The expected goal difference — calculated by subtracting a team’s expected goals against from their expected goals for — under O’Neil was -0.67 per game compared to -0.3 under Pereira.

For a man who, by his own admission, struggles to find emotional balance, Pereira has gone a considerable way towards restoring a tactical one by sacrificing a little of the attacking freedom O’Neil created in exchange for more defensive control.

“Football is about the balances between the attack and defence and the moments of transition” Pereira said.

“It means that when we have the ball, we must be ready to react in the moment that we lose it and when we are defending we need to have the intention to counter-attack.”

It is an easy theory to summarise but a difficult one to instill into a team devoid of confidence as Wolves were after O’Neil, who after doing so much positive work last season, was crushed by the weight of his team’s defensive frailties at the start of this one.

When the crisis hit, O’Neil lacked the experience or simplicity of message to manage it. Pereira has put right what needed correcting while giving supporters a leader to admire.

With survival almost secured, new challenges await Pereira both throughout the summer — transfer windows under Fosun have not been straightforward of late — and next season and only by overcoming them will he prove himself as a long-term answer to the club’s needs.

Fourteen league games is too soon to be declaring him an unqualified success.

But in three and a half months, with an engaging blend of hot and cold, Pereira has put Wolves 12 points clear of the bottom three.

(Top photo: David Rogers/Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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