The stats that show why Wolves sacked Bruno Large

How last season went 

The Portuguese manager did fairly well during his first season in charge as he guided Wolves to a respectable 10th placed finish. 

Wolves were notoriously tight at the back throughout the entire season as they only conceded a total of 43 goals. 

Their solid defensive record was largely down to the form of goalkeeper Jose Sa, who prevented over nine goals according to xG. 

His overperformance of 9.2 goals was the biggest by any Premier League goalkeeper last season and was perhaps an indicator of Wolves being dug-out by their inform goalkeeper. 

Scoring goals has often been the problem for Wolves though. 

In the 2021/22 season, Wolves scored a total of 38 league goals at an average of one goal per game. 

Raul Jiminez finished the season as Wolves’ top scorer with just six Premier League goals to his name. 

The likes of Hwang Hee-Chan, Ruben Neves and Daniel Podence all chipped in with a handful of goals, but this area has been Wolves’ weakness for quite some time now. 

Last season they averaged 10.6 shots per game, which was the third lowest in the Premier League, only ahead of Norwich and Watford. 

They ranked 10th in the table for shots conceded, with an average of 13.4 shots against them in each match. 

Where things went wrong this season 

Given their underlying numbers from last season, it’s been no surprise to see Wolves struggle for goals this time around. 

They have only scored three goals in their opening eight matches of the season and have averaged just 0.37 goals per game. 

If they were to continue on their current trajectory, they would only score 14 goals this season. 

They have been taking more shots per game this season with 12.1 attempts, but only 3.1 of them have been on target each game. 

In total, Wolves have an xG of 6.9 so far this season which would indicate they are underperforming by around four goals so far. 

The likes of Matheus Nunes, Pedro Neto and Jiminez have all been guilty of underperforming their individual xG so far this season. 

On top of their poor attacking record, Sa hasn’t been able to dig them out on as many occasions this season. 

The Portuguese goalkeeper has prevented 0.4 goals this season, but is nowhere near the level of overperformance he was achieving last season. 

Wolves have averaged 0.75 points per game this season, which averaged over an entire season would see them pick up just 28.5 points. 

With the underlying statistics looking quite damming, it’s no surprise that Wolves have decided to pull the trigger on Large with just eight games played of the season. 

Where do Wolves go next? 

Next up for Wolves is a difficult looking game away at Cheslea, but after their trip to Stamford Bridge, the fixtures do start to ease up for them. 

In the month of October, they have games against the likes of Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, Leicester City and Brentford. 

Given their slow start to the season, the month of October could turn out to be pivotal in their season. 

As of writing, Ruben Amorim seems to top the list of who Wolves are looking at as replacements for Large. 

Amorim is currently the manager of Sporting CP and his potential appointment would be the continuation of Wolves shopping in the Portuguese market. 

Sporting are currently seventh in The Primeira Liga, having picked up 13 points from their opening eight matches. 

They have averaged two goals per game and if Amorim takes the Wolves job, his first task will be to get them scoring goals on a consistent basis.