Wolves rejoice in Hwang and Cunha reunion – and wonder what might have been

Wolves’ opening goal of a much-needed 2-1 win over Luton was actually a bittersweet moment.

On one hand, it offered a positive signal that their run-in might better reflect the huge strides they have made throughout the first nine months of the season. On the other, it carried the sting of regret at what might have been.

Not since December 27 had head coach Gary O’Neil been able to name Hwang Hee-chan and Matheus Cunha in the same starting XI. That is 123 days and 20 games in which he could not pick both of his two most potent goal threats from the start.

It was two months earlier, on October 28, when O’Neil was last able to select the pair alongside his creator-in-chief, Pedro Neto, in the same line-up.

The trio who began the season as Wolves’ preferred attacking trident have not started together since the 12th of its 38 games.

Wolves have largely been denied their first-choice front three of Hwang, Cunha and Neto (Jack Thomas – WWFC/Wolves via Getty Images)

When the definitive story of Wolves’ 2023-24 campaign is written in three weeks’ time, it will be a tale of significant progress and the exceeding of expectations caveated with a host of ‘What ifs?’.

What if O’Neil had been given the benefit of a full pre-season instead of joining the club four days before the opening league game?

What if VAR had not dealt Wolves several crushingly demoralising blows?

What if his bosses had found the funds to sign a striker in January, as O’Neil desperately wanted?

And what if they had just managed their emotions a little better in that sickening stoppage-time period in the FA Cup quarter-final loss against Coventry City?

Yet the biggest unknown will concern their injuries in attack.

What if O’Neil and Wolves had just been a little more fortunate there? It is easy to point to the lack of January reinforcements once Fabio Silva and Sasa Kalajdzic had both been allowed to leave on loan in that window, yet in reality it is likely Wolves would still have struggled in the face of the injuries they have suffered in the second half of the season.

What difference would one extra player — whether Chelsea’s Armando Broja, who instead joined Fulham, or another target — have made in the absences of Cunha, Hwang and Neto for extended periods? We will never know the answers, but carrying the attacking responsibility alone would have been a heavy burden for any January signing to shoulder.

Chelsea’s Broja was a January target but ended up joining Fulham on loan (Dylan Hepworth/MB Media/Getty Images)

Sometimes, clubs and managers simply suffer ill-fortune, but there is little doubt just how important O’Neil’s attacking combinations have been to his Wolves team’s approach.

In the 18 Premier League matches Hwang and Cunha have started together, Wolves have scored more goals per game and conceded fewer than in the 17 one or both has not started; and they have recorded a 50 per cent win percentage and 1.7 points per game with both starting, compared to 23.5 per cent and 1.1 points without one or both.

Those are blunt statistics that do not take into account other factors which could help explain the disparity, such as the strength of opponents and the availability of other Wolves players, but they do provide a strong indication of the difference that having Hwang and Cunha in tandem can make.

In comparison, Wolves’ win percentage is just 29 per cent and their points-per-game average 1.1 with both Cunha and Neto starting, compared to an improved 43 per cent and 1.4 without one or both. And in nine games with Hwang and Neto starting together, they have won 56 per cent of their matches and averaged two points, compared to 31 per cent and 1.1 points without one or both.

So while all three forwards have made excellent contributions to Wolves’ season, these basic statistics suggest it was Hwang whose presence is most important to the team finding a successful attacking combination.

Hwang and Cunha had both reached double figures in goals for the season before Saturday, becoming the first pair of Wolves players to do so in the same top-flight campaign since Andy Gray and John Richards in 1979-80.

But their combination play for Hwang’s first club goal since late December underlined the value of having the pair in tandem, with the South Korean’s pace and direct style of play stretching the Luton defence and creating the uncertainty which enabled Cunha to wriggle free and release his colleague.

Hwang races Luton’s Teden Mengi (MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Playing as a centre-forward, Hwang might not be operating in his favoured position — he would almost certainly choose the left-sided role that Cunha occupied. But in a squad without a specialist No 9, Hwang has made a better fist of filling that void up top than anyone else. And his presence as a strong-running, pacy target man gave Wolves, and Cunha, an extra dimension in their play.

“To not be able to name those two since the end of December is huge,” said O’Neil. “It has been tough for the group, because we have had to try to find a way and we have been competitive in the last few weeks — apart from Wednesday against Bournemouth.

“Channy’s first goal today — we would not have scored that goal in the last six or seven games. He gives us something very different.

“The lads have done great to keep working, keep fighting. I knew once we started to get attacking players back it would make a big difference. I thought we looked a lot more threatening.”

O’Neil will never know how different things might have been had Hwang, Cunha and Neto been fit and available together more often over recent months.

But he already knows that keeping the first two names of that trio on the pitch will be vital next season.

(Top photo: Jack Thomas – WWFC/Wolves via Getty Images)