Matt Doherty refuses to press Wolves panic button

Doherty had a decent showing as a substitute on Saturday, but Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were vastly out of sorts as they lost 5-2 to Chelsea at Molineux on the ground’s 130th anniversary.

That made it back-to-back losses after three draws in the league.

But Doherty said: “We’re not concerned, not just yet.

“We’ve had a lot of games, drew the first three, but we could’ve won a couple of those.

“The result and the performance (against Chelsea) wasn’t great, but in the previous games, I don’t think our performance was that bad, so we’re not really worried about it at all yet.”

Doherty’s display was one of a couple of positives at the weekend, with the other being Patrick Cutrone’s first goal for the club. The Italian poked home after Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga was only able to parry Doherty’s shot from a tight angle.

“I guess that’s a positive we can take from the game, he’s come over and as a striker, you want to get your first goal to give you confidence,” said Doherty.

“Confidence is everything in sport and in football, so, hopefully, he’s going to kick on from that and get us a lot of goals.”

Fans are trying to put their finger on why Wolves have started the league season so slowly, and some are putting it down to the extra games which come with being in the Europa League leaving the players physically and mentally fatigued.

The next one in the competition comes at home against Portuguese side Braga on Thursday – kicking off the campaign in Group K which also includes Turkish team Besiktas and Slovakian outfit Slovan Bratislava – before heading to Crystal Palace and looking to get that first victory in the Premier League on Sunday. But Doherty – who made his debut for the club eight years ago, making him their longest-serving current player – refuses to use the Europa involvement as an excuse.

“I think that would be an easy excuse to use or for people to say, but I don’t think so,” said Doherty.

“We’re probably a bit ahead of schedule in terms of when we came back in for pre-season, and the games that we’ve had, but if anything, it’s probably just got us right.

“I can’t use that (Europe) as an excuse at all.”

Wolves are 19th in the table at this early stage of the season, with a goal difference of minus-four.

“They (Chelsea) kind of nullified us from the start,” added Doherty.

“It was pretty much a very professional and clinical performance from them, and we’re going to have to learn from it.”