Statistics presently show that the Wolves have two players who are completely dominant in one area in the whole premier league
Wolves are becoming much more fluid and slick in the way they play – but there are two players in the team who are absolutely dominating in the air at the moment.
Gary O’Neil has overseen a pretty good start since coming in as manager just days before the new season.
There was real potential for things to go south very quickly. Julen Lopetegui walked out, and several big-name players had left.
Many anticipated Wolves would seriously struggle, but O’Neil has come in and got all of the players to buy into his methods and tactics.
And arguably, Wolves have been playing better football under O’Neil than Lopetegui and Bruno Lage.
But in addition to this nice brand of football, there is a physicality and a competitiveness. Which is summed up nicely by one statistic involving a couple of Molineux stars.
Craig Dawson and Max Kilman have been dominant in the air for Wolves this season
The Other 14 have released data for Premier League players at non-Big Six clubs for the category of heading duel success rate.
And sitting right at the very top is none other than Craig Dawson.
Dawson, who signed for Wolves for just over £3 million, has been absolutely incredible in the air this season so far, winning 23 duels and losing just five. That gives him a success rate of 82.1%.
He’s actually a fair way clear of the player in second place, which is another Wolves player.
Molineux captain Max Kilman has also been very strong aerially this season, winning 24 duels and losing nine, to yield a success rate of 72.7%
Excellent numbers from Dawson and Kilman
These are some really impressive numbers from Dawson and Kilman, especially the former.
It is always helpful to have aerially dominant centre-backs. Especially since a lot of teams in the Premier League have tall, physical strikers.
It is especially good to see Kilman having such a high success rate.
Last season, interim manager Steve Davis had suggested that Kilman was a top Premier League defender but was lacking that aggression and ability to really dominate.
This statistic does suggest that he is perhaps on his way to becoming a bit more dominant. Perhaps it was always going to happen playing alongside someone like Dawson, who sets a brilliant example.
