Wolves 4-2 Spurs: Chaos at the Molineux as We Gift Wrap Safety

If you were hoping for a quiet Saturday and a routine win away at Wolves, you clearly haven’t been paying attention to the 2024-25 edition of Tottenham Hotspur. Instead, what we got was a chaotic 4-2 defeat, a dash of existential angst for Ange Postecoglou, and Wolves practically hugging Premier League safety as we obligingly handed it to them with a bow on top.

Postecoglou rang the changes—six in total—from the side that drew 1-1 with Frankfurt midweek in the Europa League quarter-final first leg. Understandable, perhaps, with the return leg looming large, but the gamble backfired in true Spursy fashion.

Wolves didn’t even wait for us to warm up. Just two minutes in, Rayan Ait-Nouri capitalised on a fluffed Vicario punch, hammering home from the edge of the area. Not ideal, but classic Spurs – why start a match well when you can dig yourself a hole and try to climb out of it for 90 minutes?

And then came the pièce de résistance of first-half farce: Vicario nudges a Munetsi header onto Djed Spence’s back, and in it went. A goal so comical it should’ve come with a laugh track. If it weren’t so painful, it’d be poetic. Just when we think we’ve seen every possible own goal, Spurs unearth a new variation.

There was hope, fleeting as ever. Mathys Tel gave us a lifeline on 59 minutes, stabbing in at the back post after Brennan Johnson’s cross confused Nelson Semedo into a defensive interpretive dance. But naturally, we couldn’t ride that momentum. Five minutes later, Ait-Nouri danced past Cristian Romero like he was a training cone and teed up Strand Larsen for an easy tap-in. That’s four goals in four games for him. Lovely for Wolves. Miserable for us.

Richarlison added a late one to make it 3-2 and give us the briefest whiff of salvation, bundling it in after Romero’s header came off the bar. But of course, there was still time for another defensive lapse. Lucas Bergvall lost the ball, substitute Matheus Cunha galloped away, and coolly slotted home to make it four. Job done for Wolves. Crisis klaxon for Spurs.

Postecoglou was visibly dismayed throughout – not surprising given the catalogue of self-inflicted wounds. While Wolves were unrecognisably composed and confident under Vitor Pereira, we looked like a team caught between priorities and held together by the faint hope of European redemption.

Wolves, to their credit, are on the up. Pereira’s arrival has transformed them, lifting them to 16th and well clear of danger. He’s taken more points since December than the entire bottom three combined, which feels very unnecessary to point out in a piece about us, but here we are.

The whole Wolves squad took a collective bow at full-time – a united front that’s a far cry from our lot, who probably just wanted the ground to swallow them. Ait-Nouri and Cunha looked a cut above, and even Strand Larsen’s goal run is drawing comparisons to Henri Camara. Meanwhile, we’re just hoping not to break another player before Thursday.

Let’s be fair – the context matters. This was a team rotated with one eye (and possibly both) on Frankfurt. Son and van de Ven were left out, and their absence was stark. The result was another match full of the usual: effort, intent, and some inexplicable defending.

Now, it’s all about Europe. The league’s gone sideways, but Thursday offers a lifeline, a real shot at the last four. That’s where Ange’s future may be decided, and where Spurs fans will look for something—anything—that feels like progress. Because frankly, we’re all a bit tired of the rinse-repeat of these domestic debacles.

So yes, another defeat, another dramatic instalment in the great Spurs tragicomedy. But let’s bottle the frustration, bring the best to Germany, and give ourselves something to believe in. Because if there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that following Spurs is never boring. Utterly maddening, but never boring.