Nathan Judah comment: Vitor Pereira's Wolves impact is clear for all to see

Gary O'Neil was relieved of his duties following the 2-1 home defeat to Ipswich in December, their fourth league defeat in a row.

The club was in disarray both on-and-off the pitch, Wolves were languishing in 19th, four points from safety and multiple disciplinary issues throughout the squad.

Fast-forward two months and the influence of Pereira is clear for all to see.

Wolves are two points outside the relegation zone with a significantly better goal difference than their struggling rivals.

Pereira is averaging 1.25 points-per-game compared with O'Neil's 0.56. 

Run that over a season and historically that would be good enough to finish between 11th and 13th in the Premier League.

But it's just not just net points that have improved if we take a deeper dive into the statistics.

xG chance creation from open play has risen from 0.84 to 0.98 as has xG from shots created from corners - 0.09 to 0.14.

And defensively Wolves are a lot more solid with average goals conceded reducing by one whole goal, 2.5 to 1.5 including three clean sheets.

It hasn't been perfect and there's still plenty of work to do in order for Wolves to be playing in the Premier League next season, but for these statistics to be in such stark contrast to O'Neil's, proves Wolves made the right choice; albeit probably a little later than they should have done.

With the numbers on the pitch improving, the way Pereira has dealt with problems off it has also been admirable.

The former Porto boss declared on Day 1 that all players are allowed one mistake with him, but two 'and there is a problem.'

Discipline and organisation is high up on Pereira's agenda to make the football club a success and he's balanced a disengaged, volatile squad very well.

Wolves have coped with potentially damaging suspensions to Rayan Ait-Nouri, Matheus Cunha and Joao Gomes while the Mario Lemina situation was dealt with superbly.

Communication is key and Pereira uses the media well to be refreshingly open and honest when predecessors have been reluctant to divulge information.

There's clear intent from the 56-year-old to send messages to players and fans that his methods are there to be respected - and the results are already showing.

Pass attempts per game are up from 380 to 398 as are pass attempts in the final third of the pitch, 88 to 103.

Across the board the numbers are impressive and that includes a difficult fixture list as well as notable injuries to Toti Gomes, Jorgen Strand Larsen, Nelson Semedo and Pablo Sarabia.

Uncertainty throughout January in relation to Matheus Cunha's future ended in the Brazilian signing a new contract while Pereira also green-lighted deals for Emmanuel Agbadou, Marshall Munetsi and Nasser Djiga.

Muntesi's exciting substitute cameo at Blackburn bodes well for the future and Agbadou's capture is looking like a fantastic piece of business.

One of the main reasons of Wolves' early season demise was the club not addressing Max Kilman's exit in the summer.

In Agabadou, Wolves have added a piece to the puzzle that could well be the signing of the season.

There will be plenty more bumps in the road, but in terms of impact, Vitor Pereira has had a fantastic start.