Dave Edwards: Plenty of work to do after that Wolves second-half shocker

It was an absolutely incredible game of football. The first half was as exciting as I’ve probably seen at Molineux in recent years.

The atmosphere was set with Noni Madueke being the pantomime villain for the day and the players used that extremely well to get fired up and get the crowd on side.

The atmosphere was absolutely electric in that first half. The first home game of the season, playing one of the big teams, and the crowd really turned up.

It was a fabulous first half of football, although Wolves will be disappointed with both goals they conceded.

Rayan Ait-Nouri didn’t get tight enough and conceded a corner, where everyone gets sucked underneath the ball, giving Nicolas Jackson acres of space at the back post.

The ball was rolling for the second goal and it should have been chalked off, but VAR doesn’t intervene for restarts and Wolves are a bit unlucky.

Despite that, Yerson Mosquera gets caught between two men. I’m not sure he’s even aware Jackson is there as the ball comes over and he then reacts, leaving Cole Palmer.

Jose Sa is in no man’s land, making it a really poor goal to give away.

Although Chelsea looked extremely dangerous every time they went forward, some of the football Wolves played was some of the best I’ve seen in a long time at Molineux.

They played so fast, direct and with a real intensity to move the ball forward. The passes were inch perfect, the link-up play between the front four was excellent.

Joao Gomes and Mario Lemina were fabulous in midfield. The ball-winning and passing was incredible – and from Jean-Ricner Bellegarde as well – it was really impressive.

Matheus Cunha and Jorgen Strand Larsen linked really well. Cunha is playing with so much confidence and Larsen did everything you want from a Wolves number nine.

He was physical, made it difficult for Chelsea, chased down lost causes and got the crowd going.

The first goal was fabulous. Ait-Nouri’s run was brilliant, Cunha’s finish was superb.

I was delighted to see Larsen get his goal as well. It was a big moment for him.

That brought the first half to a close and at half-time I was telling everyone that this is exactly what we want to see from a Wolves team. They were giving their heart and soul to the football club with a real togetherness. Not in a million years did I expect to see what happened in the second half, which was so out of character for a Gary O’Neil team.

They made a terrible start by conceding so quickly and again I think it’s a refereeing mistake.

The free-kick that was taken was at least 15 yards away from where the actual foul was, which meant Joao Gomes was taken out of the game.

The referee should have pulled it back and it ended up in Wolves’ net.

Ait-Nouri, in particular, really struggled down the left side. They conceded some really poor goals from Madueke.

Wolves were alarmingly all over the place in that second half and there’s lots of work to do for O’Neil.

He’s worked hard in pre-season to transition from a back five to a back four and going for more athletic defenders, rather than the experience of Craig Dawson.

In pre-season it looked brilliant and I think they also looked really good at Arsenal, but it looked erratic on Sunday.

It was more about individual choices rather than the shape, but not having that extra centre-back to help Ait-Nouri had an impact.

We can see the pluses going forward, but now it’s about finding the right personnel in defence.

At the moment it looks like they will need to go into the transfer market and definitely look for another centre-back, but I’d also look for an out-and-out left-back as well.

Someone who is more defensive-minded with some experience and a good one-v-one defender.

That allows Ait-Nouri to move higher up the pitch. We’ve been linked with wingers but I feel Ait-Nouri would be one of the best wingers at the club.

There is definitely work to do and conceding eight goals in the first two games might be a blessing in disguise.

For O’Neil it will prove to the board that they need signings. I don’t think Fosun will panic, that isn’t what they do, but it might put some emphasis on getting some defenders through the door by Friday.

The game against Burnley tomorrow becomes a big game now because O’Neil will want to get a win on the board and it’s an opportunity for some players.

Not many people expected Wolves to get any points from these two games anyway, but it does now put a little bit of pressure on the Nottingham Forest game at the weekend.

All the good stuff that has happened under O’Neil so far, in pre-season and against Arsenal shouldn’t be thrown out the window.

Four at the back, at this moment in time, is the way to go. If we’re still looking very vulnerable in six weeks’ time then maybe we can look at changing things.

At the moment, there is an evolution happening with the playing squad and that needs to be stuck by.

O’Neil is the right person to get this team playing a more attacking brand of football and we have to stick with his thought process.