Much was made of Matheus Cunha’s body language following Monday’s defeat to Chelsea.
But ask yourself this: how are you supposed to react after losing 3-1? Smiling, skipping, full of the joys of spring? If Cunha cut a disconsolate figure and let everyone know it, then that will only be borne out of sheer disappointment.
Because that’s Cunha in a nutshell: a winner. It pains him that his team are battling relegation. It pained him that they lost at Stamford Bridge. He wore his heart on his sleeve. There’s little wrong with that.
To that end there was a degree of surprise on Monday night when his own manager Vitor Pereira appeared to question his player’s demeanour.
‘I don’t like this body language,’ said Pereira – who has been in post at Molineux all of a month. ‘I want someone, as a captain, trying to help the team – running, suffering and fighting all together. But this is something I can understand. Next time, I won’t understand.’
Cunha’s response to social media criticism and accusations he headed straight for the tunnel after the final whistle were telling. ‘Liar,’ he posted on his X account as he reacted to online assertions about his attitude.
Much was made of Matheus Cunha’s body language following Monday’s defeat to Chelsea
Cunha cut a disconsolate figure after Wolves suffered their third league loss on the trot
It pains Cunha that his team are battling relegation and he wears his heart on his sleeve
With that in mind, you can take an informed guess at how Cunha may feel about Pereira’s post-match remarks.
In deciphering the comments and how they may impact Pereira’s relationship with Cunha moving forward, it’s important to acknowledge the Wolves manager was asked a direct question about his player’s body language. Crucially, he didn’t provide the comments unprompted.
Nevertheless, given Pereira has only been in the job for just over a month, his answer was rather a risky one. Most managers, in my experience, shut down any hint of criticism of their players in public; though things can be rather different in private.
But generally, what happens in the dressing room stays in the dressing room. Keeping players onside, in modern football, is a critical part of football management.
Disgruntled individuals can very quickly snowball into a disgruntled squad. There’s a fine balance between maintaining authority and alienating your players.
And while speaking with such honesty, as Pereira did on Monday night,…