00:00So, Charles, looking at Mateus Cunha of Wolverhampton Wonders, I mean, what a player, what a signing
00:08he's been. Let's be honest, Wolves have not been great this season, it's fair to say.
00:12Certainly the shining light of Wolves' team under Gary O'Neill at the moment is Mateus
00:16Cunha. Of course, the quality, some of the finishes he managed to put in as well were
00:21just unbelievable. I mean, just how important is a player like that to Wolves at the moment?
00:27You have other parts of the team where the quality is not really there, I think it has
00:31to be said, and Gary O'Neill can only get so much out of some of those players,
00:37but then you've got that one sort of talisman who's sort of dragging the rest of the team
00:40along with him. If anything, it does actually boost morale a little bit, the fact that you've
00:44got someone as good as him. Obviously, you've got January coming up and you don't want to
00:47lose a player like that, but just how important in the here and now is he, and if he is to stay
00:52for the rest of the season, can he be the one who makes sure Wolves do not go down just on his own?
00:59Yeah, I think the simple answer to that is probably yes. I mean, you look at a number
01:03of sides who've escaped that relegation fight over a number of years and they do always tend
01:09to have a top player who's just outshining the rest and producing some incredible moments to
01:14just help them dig out. But I mean, with Cunha, it starts from the sort of back end of last season,
01:20actually, when he was so, so good and he went on an amazing streak after returning from injury
01:26and he came back into the Wolves' side and he was so, so strong at performances. Gary O'Neill has
01:33been vocal in saying he's played a decent part in where Cunha's got to. Wolves fans,
01:40after the start to the Premier League season, might be a bit critical on Gary O'Neill,
01:44but in all fairness to him, he has certainly got the best out of Cunha,
01:48given him that space and freedom in the ten role. I mean, 2024 has been an incredible year
01:54for Mateus Cunha. Maybe not so for Wolves, they missed out on a Wembley trip against Coventry at
02:00Molyneux, where that sort of spiralled down the back end of last season. They started this season
02:05fairly poorly as well with a tough run of games and they just were really struggling to find
02:11any points, really. But Mateus Cunha has been a certain shining light throughout 2024.
02:16And yeah, you know, January coming up, it's a massive moment for Wolves to really ensure that
02:22anything that comes in for him, they keep him at the club. It's been so important. Obviously,
02:28Gary O'Neill has been speaking so much about how Wolves haven't been able to buy a striker,
02:33profit and sustainability rules. We've seen how that's impacted lots of forests and Everton,
02:36so Wolves had to stick in line and Cunha stepped up into a striker position that he's not full
02:41number nine, really. He's more of a false nine or a winger or someone who can come in from wide.
02:46He's not always been that figure. He's not a physical presence. But the way he uses his body,
02:51he backs into defenders, he turns off the ball, he plays one-twos, he dribbles the players,
02:56and he's been so crucial.
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