The Keen & Judah Show: Is Matheus Cunha Wolves' saviour?

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Liam Keen and Nathan Judah discuss the four players that they think will shape Wolverhampton Wanderers season,  and hopefully help the team climb up the Premier League table.

Transcript

00:00Looking at players who can really make a difference in the second half of the season and the rest

00:11of the season, who could be key towards getting out of this slump and getting them as high

00:16at the table as possible. European positions might be out to reach I think Liam at this

00:20moment in time. Maybe just a little bit. We'll see. Craig Dawson, Mario Lamina were two before

00:25the break and we're going to go further up the pitch now and someone who I think we've

00:29both think is the best player in this side who has been brilliant and can't really quite

00:35saying this at the time with this transfer fee, but full value and more from what he

00:40has delivered.

00:41He is insane. He makes this team tick. He's a main goal scorer. He is the leader really

00:47at this moment in time for me on the pitch. There's a few issues there as well. Completely.

00:53I completely agree. I think two or three things that he could clean up in his game that we

00:56don't particularly like to see, but in terms of talent level, in terms of threat, in terms

01:00of goal scoring, in terms of winning games and getting points, Mateus Cunha is indispensable

01:04to this team going forward, isn't he?

01:06Absolutely. I mean, we could have spoken about, gives it away that he's not the fourth player

01:11we're going to speak about. We could have spoken about Andre, his Brazilian teammates,

01:15a midfielder that we've been full of praise for and rightly so, I believe. But Cunha and

01:22yeah, we'll explain why the last person's on there, but I think they also deserve it.

01:27Wolves make games. Wolves, at the moment, are not really struggling with scoring a

01:33lot of goals. They are making things happen. And Cunha is always the catalyst. He's always

01:40involved. He's always key to Wolves creating chances, scoring goals, getting assists. We

01:45saw the way he did it last season, carrying the ball forward out on that left 10 roll

01:52and massively influential to every possible Wolves attack alongside players like Ryan

01:58Aitnori and a few others. I do agree he's Wolves' best player. As with anyone, he has

02:05shortcomings, but I think I would also go as far as saying, you know, that he's signed

02:10for 43 million pounds, which is a huge outlay at the time, a record. I think Wolves make

02:18money on him if they sold him now. I think he's worth more than that. And I think he's

02:22proven that with the way that he's impacted the Premier League, which is not easy for

02:26players. And he had a difficult first few months when he arrived in the second half

02:30of that season in January 2023. But from last season onwards, and again, this season has

02:36proved to be a top quality player that I think would get into quite a few Premier League

02:43You did mention the shortcomings. I'm interested what you think, because for me, I would use

02:50it as, and he's emotional. He wears his heart on his sleeve. I've interviewed him before

02:58and he's described himself as being South American and we can't help it. This is the

03:02way we are. We're very emotional. There are some times, not all the time, but sometimes

03:08it maybe goes over the line a little bit. And maybe excellent might be the word I would

03:14use at times, which I don't think helps his game. I mean, would you agree with that? He

03:19just puts himself in a difficult position with referees and yellow cards.

03:22I think, I think exactly that. Yeah, I would. Yeah. Excellent. I would say that sometimes

03:28he's a bit whiny on the pitch. And you're right. You know, I think he's different, different

03:33cultures. And I think, you know, there's a lot of expressions there that maybe some English

03:37guys just get on with it and, you know, it's arms and it's this, it's looking to the, it's

03:41looking to the sky and referees don't like that. Referees do not like that. They don't

03:46like being shown up, I guess, at times or looking at linesmen. Yes. Very expressions

03:51are amplified, I think, on the pitch when maybe he just needs to rein it in a little

03:55bit, especially when things aren't working. Everyone's frustrated, everyone's exasperated,

03:59but he probably shows it a little bit too much at times. And I think that gets, that

04:03grinds people's gears. And when, you know, you've, you've got someone in that centre

04:07circle who's controlling that, that, that game, same with a lot of referees and umpires

04:12throughout the game, they don't like being questioned when they are. And it is very much

04:16visual. And I think that that sometimes creates an issue and it's not going to help. It's

04:24not going to help matters on the pitch.

04:25And he does sort of get himself away from his own game as well. When he, when he starts

04:29going down this road, we've seen him, um, in previous games, struggle to contain his

04:35emotion. And he does start to dip out of, of his own form. He starts to become anonymous

04:41within the game. He's quiet. Um, uh, there's a couple of bad touches in particular off

04:48the top man. I think it was the Villa one, um, a few weeks ago where there was so many

04:54bad touches that second half, he lost the ball so many times and he became increasingly

04:57frustrated with himself. Um, and in turn, didn't help himself to get back into the,

05:02you know, the player that we all know he is, but regardless of that, but what was this

05:06season if we now in May, it's a long, long time and he's going to be another player that

05:12if we wanted to do anything, he'll be at the very, very heart of it.

05:16Yeah, he is a fantastic player. I know we've said a couple of negative ish things there.

05:21That's because, you know, he is, he is going to be the catalyst going forward of, of walls,

05:24hopefully getting, you know, moving up this table and a fantastic player and, uh, someone

05:29who, you know, you pay your money to go and see we've paid our money to go and see some

05:32brilliant plays over the time you pay your money. Mateus couldn't, you as one of those

05:35players who, who you pay money to see because he is a game changer.

05:38And sometimes you have to nitpick a little bit to pick out a couple of negatives because

05:42he's so good as well. Now it is a negative that we've both spotted in individually and

05:47spoken about before. Um, and I do think it's something that he needs to address. Um, because

05:53if it spills over, I'm sure it will. I mean, it, it becomes a, it becomes a real issue.

05:58Um, but we, we have to sort of pick up on a couple of things with him because he's so

06:06good going forward. He is so good on the ball. He is so dangerous. Um, he does link it with

06:10players around him. He does make wolves tick. He's always his best player, particularly

06:14since Pedro Neto has left. I think he has that, that mantle, um, without any shadow

06:19of a doubt, or be it as one or two, Andre in different position, a couple of others

06:23that I'm sure would, uh, would argue with.

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