Wolves frustration grows after Saint-Maximin denies them at the death

A late volley saved a draw for Newcastle at Molineux, but Wolves will be frustrated at not having won a game that was theirs for the taking.

The optics might be slightly different, but there were two forms of advertising on display at Molineux on this bright sunny afternoon in the Black Country. Wolves are the team with the agent, a football club as an billboard poster for the talent at his disposal. Newcastle are the public face of Saudi Arabia in this country now, to the extent that they turned out for this match in the colours of the Saudi national team.

The Saudis took a gamble that the anger over their revelation of a new third kit in the colours of their owners, a two fingers up to everyone with objections to sportswashing projects, would burn brightly but fade quickly. And it’s worked, with a few riled tweets during this match but broad indifference.

This is how sportswashing works. This is why sportswashing works. And if you don’t see how a Premier League club cos-playing as a Middle Eastern nation state with a lot of money but a fairly egregious record on human rights might be considered sportswashing, it’s difficult to see how you could be persuaded now.

But while Newcastle has been awash with those who don’t care about the origins of all their new-found money as long as it’s spent on essentials like footballers, Wolves remain in something of a funk. Last season wasn’t bad, as such, but it was non-descript. The club finished in 10th place in the table, an improvement on the year before, but not so much of an improvement that it left that many people feeling satisfied. They scored fewer Premier League goals than anyone else who wasn’t relegated, but also conceded fewer anyone below the top four.

On this occasion, Wolves started with seven Portuguese players on the pitch, a reflection of the influence of  Mendes behind the scenes at the club. This assortment of players isn’t alarming, as such, but it is odd that a Premier League football club seems to have become so beholden to an agent, and a tepid start to the season in which they’ve the Wolvesest thing possible of only scoring one goal in their first three matches could turn up the heat on him, rather than the manager.

Wolves often feel like something of a mystery team. The first half that was more scrappy than anything else. Crosses looped high up into the air. Passes were misplaced. The final ball was conspicuous by its absence. Newcastle had a shout for a penalty…