How Pereira saved Wolves and turned their season around | OneFootball

How Vítor Pereira Saved Wolves: From Crisis to Clarity at Molineux

There’s a time in every football club’s season where clarity becomes currency. Where confusion must give way to conviction. For Wolverhampton Wanderers, that moment came in late December, when Vítor Pereira — intense, meticulous, and quietly charismatic — walked into Compton Park and began the slow, unglamorous process of saving a season.

Wolves, marooned in the relegation zone and emotionally fragmented after Gary O’Neil’s departure, were in a tailspin. A 2-1 home loss to Ipswich Town had underlined the chaos, not just tactically but mentally, with players combusting on and off the pitch. Mario Lemina’s post-match implosion at West Ham had already hinted at deep fractures, while Matheus Cunha’s bizarre confrontation after Ipswich — complete with an elbow and a stolen pair of glasses — underscored a loss of collective control.

Enter Pereira. Not a firebrand, not a showman. Just a coach with a clear idea of how football should be played and how players should behave.

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Tactical simplicity, cultural reset

The decision to cancel Christmas was symbolic. Pereira’s choice to add an afternoon training session on 25 December wasn’t borne of Scrooge-like severity but rather a desire to reset standards. It signalled change. It signalled seriousness. And it worked. Wolves beat Manchester United 2-0 on Boxing Day, days after dispatching Leicester City 3-0.

What followed was not a revolution but a recalibration. The tactical chaos of O’Neil’s final weeks — where experimentation blurred into desperation — was replaced with structure. Wolves returned to a familiar 3-4-3, but with modern, high-pressing principles. “Since the first day until today, we have been working to build an identity,” Pereira said. The message was clear: believe, simplify, commit.

Players were repositioned, not reinvented. Matt Doherty’s redeployment as a right-sided centre-back exemplified that adaptability. Others were restored to roles where instinct could thrive. And it wasn’t just about shape — it was about mindset.

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Staff spoke of the “old pair of slippers” effect — familiarity, comfort, trust. Portuguese-speaking players reconnected quickly, and those who had frayed under pressure began to feel direction again. “We could play at a better level, defend better than we were defending and increase our level in attack,” Pereira said. “But the most important thing is confidence.”

Disciplinary firmness, emotional intelligence

Where O’Neil had attempted harmony, Pereira brought boundaries. Lemina, already stripped of the captaincy, was frozen out. The Gabon international was allowed to train, but not participate. “He had to go,” one insider noted. The same fate awaited Craig Dawson, who, after rejecting deadline-day moves, was excused from training altogether. The message was unmistakable: there would be no passengers.

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This was a squad that needed a psychologist as much as a tactician. Pereira knew that. One-on-one meetings, corridor chats, shared meals — all part of a broader campaign to rebuild belief. The compact nature of Compton Park allowed for chance encounters, words of encouragement, small interventions that carried weight.

Hotel stays before home matches were reintroduced. Squad meals became mandatory again. The goal was to reforge unity and collective standards — things that had ebbed away during the worst moments of the slump.

And when results began to turn, so too did the atmosphere. The revival wasn’t linear — successive defeats to Forest, Newcastle, Chelsea and Arsenal followed a strong start — but Pereira had diagnosed the issue: transfer speculation. Lemina’s exit and Cunha’s contract extension cleared the air. Focus returned.

Leadership redefined

Semedo’s rise as captain was no less vital than any tactical shift. Described by staff as “a revelation”, the Portugal international became the dressing room’s quiet leader, not with speeches but with action. Paintball trips, team meals, checking in on teammates — Semedo carried the connective tissue of a squad beginning to believe again.

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“Nelson is fantastic,” Pereira said. “He connects everyone… he tries to help every time. He does it with class.”

Semedo’s future remains uncertain, his contract set to expire, but his contribution in this campaign may have saved Wolves more than points. It helped salvage cohesion.

Recruitment clarity, summer ahead

The transfer window in January offered its own test. Emmanuel Agbadou and Marshall Munetsi arrived — not just as reinforcements, but as reminders of Pereira’s clarity in recruitment. Agbadou, in particular, has emerged as the defensive anchor Wolves lacked. Munetsi, too, filled a specific tactical brief, shaped by Pereira’s instructions.

This wasn’t scattergun shopping. It was targeted, specific, and in tune with the system being implemented.

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Pereira, having steadied a rocking ship, now has licence to shape the next one. Summer will bring exits. Cunha and Rayan Aït-Nouri, both saleable assets, are likely to depart. Others, like Dawson, have already made their exits symbolic.

Yet Pereira doesn’t fear change — he embraces it. “There is nothing magic,” he said. “But with small things, we can connect the people.” That philosophy now extends to squad building. Wolves, with their Premier League status secured, can plan. And Pereira will be central to that planning.

His contract runs out next year. Wolves, burned by O’Neil’s swift unravelling after a long-term deal, will tread carefully. But the appetite to extend Pereira’s stay is real. Not least because of his connection with the fans — not just in the stands, but in the pubs.

Pereira has walked Wolverhampton. Talked Wolverhampton. Shared pints and smiles and conversations with the people he represents every weekend. He has become in a few short months a symbol of grounded leadership.

Final act of a saviour?

Pereira didn’t just save Wolves. He stabilised them. He didn’t promise miracles, only a plan. And that’s perhaps what made him so effective. When he said Wolves had quality, it wasn’t flattery. It was belief. When he simplified tactics, it wasn’t patronising. It was strategic.

There’s still much to prove. The Premier League is ruthless. One wave of form can carry you to safety, but it won’t guarantee the next season’s security. Pereira, pragmatic as ever, is already thinking ahead.

“I’m not looking at the relegation zone,” he said after survival was secured. “I want my players to look for the position that we can reach with the next three points.”

This wasn’t the exultant declaration of a manager basking in glory. It was a nod to the next job. The next challenge. It was Pereira, sleeves rolled up, already ready to work again.

Because saving a club is one thing. Rebuilding it, reimagining it, re-energising it — that’s the work of months and years. And Wolves, if they’re wise, will give him both.