VITOR PEREIRA is safe in his job – for now.
Wolves’ embattled boss has been given the green light to launch a rescue mission after the angry fall-out of a last-gasp defeat to Burnley.
The club’s hierarchy is standing squarely behind the 57-year-old following an afternoon to forget at Molineux.
Tempers being stretched to breaking point at the final whistle after the hosts’ winless streak was extended to nine as Lyle Foster’s injury-time goal tipped the manager, players and supporters over the edge.
A chaotic afternoon ended with Wolves’ skipper Jorgen Strand Larsen fronting up upset supporters in the South Bank within seconds of the final whistle.
He was joined by manager who then erupted into a flurry of gesticulations towards home supporters.
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Pereira was eventually restrained by security guards from taking the matter further.
And then No2 keeper Jose Sa left his car to remonstrate with more angry fans who had gathered outside the players’ car park.
If it gives the impression of a club ill-at-ease with itself – that would be about right.
But the one constant is the support in the boardroom for the manager from executive chairman Jeff Shi.
It was only three weeks ago that the club’s chief decision-maker handed Pereira an extended contract.
And although he is coming under pressure to take action, Shi has done everything in his power to make sure the manager has the necessary tools to do the job.
Wolves parted company with sporting director Matt Hobbs during the summer, replacing him with Domenico Teti – who worked alongside Pereira during a stint in Saudi Arabia with Al-Shabab.
However, the summer’s recruitment was disjointed and many of the signings were completed with the campaign well underway.
That has left Pereira trying to find out about his new players while trying to engineer the victories to kickstart the club’s campaign.
So far, it has not worked out as Wolves only have two points from draws against Brighton and Tottenham to their credit.
In total, it is now over SIX months since Wolves’ fans were last able to celebrate a victory.
Incredibly, the situation is exactly the same as this time 12 months ago.
Back then, Gary O’Neil’s side had managed just two draws before the next three matches yielded seven points.
However, the key difference is that Wolves were hit with a horrible fixture list to open their campaign that included games against six out of the previous season’s top seven.
As Strand Larsen pointed out, that is markedly different from this set of games.
He said: “The season is really long. We know we need to stay in the fight because this is long. You can fall away early – but that’s not going to happen.
“We’re going to fight every day – last year we beat some teams that we probably didn’t expect to. And that can happen this year, too. But at the start of last season, we also lost against teams at home.
The season is really long. We know we need to stay in the fight because this is long.
Jorgen Strand Larsen
“We shouldn’t be losing against them – but it shows that there are possibilities to come back.
“But now we have lost against the three teams promoted from last season. So, that’s not a good statistic – but we just need to look forward.”
Wolves’ next game is on Wednesday against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup.
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So far, Pereira’s side has won both its matches against Premier League opposition in the competition – West Ham and Everton – but face trips to Fulham and Stamford Bridge before the next international break.
And unless Molineux becomes toxic against the Blues, the former Fenerbahce and Flamengo boss is likely to be given until then to prove he can engineer a miraculous recovery.
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