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Wolverhampton Wanderers
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Vitor Pereira to Wolves all-but confirmed by manager Al-Shabab want to replace him
The atmosphere at Premier League crisis club Wolverhampton Wanderers, following another defeat which led to Gary O’Neil’s sacking, is far from ‘happy’.
Just like at the end of that 2-1 loss at West Ham United five days earlier, the full-time whistle on Saturday afternoon was greeted by an unseemly brawl between players and staff.
Mario Lemina had already been stripped of his captain’s armband following a remarkable implosion at the London Stadium. Now, after Jack Taylor’s 94th minute winner saw Ipswich Town spell the end for Gary O’Neil, Wolves will have to contend without Rayan Ait-Nouri, and probably star man Matheus Cunha, for the next few weeks.
Quite the challenging situation for O’Neil’s replacement to walk into, then.
TBR understands that Al-Shabab manager Vitor Pereira is heading to Wolves, having agreed in principle to take over at Molineux. Quite the combustable character himself, Vitor Pereira will look to harness that aggression bubbling beneath the surface rather than curb it entirely.
But his first task, should he take over ahead of a gruelling festive fixture schedule, will be to get this underachieving and clearly exasperated squad pulling in the right direction again.
Carlos Carvalhal rejects chance to replace Wolves-bound Vitor Pereira
Perhaps Pereira could take inspiration from the work Carlos Carvalhal has done at Braga.
The former Swansea City and Sheffield Wednesday boss admits that he has turned down the chance to replace the England-bound Pereira, focusing instead on continuing Braga’s resurgence over in Portugal.
“I was approached [by Al-Shabab],” Carvalhal tells . “And I immediately refused to listen to the proposal because I am committed to SC Braga, body and soul. My commitment to the chairman is to stay until the end of my contract. I am happy at SC Braga.
“It is the most difficult challenge in terms of group dynamics since I have been a coach, due to the incidents we have had, the differences between one player and another, but that gives me extra motivation.
“I want to come out of this situation well, to join forces. I am very happy and the atmosphere, after my face-to-face conversation, was spectacular between [the players]; hugging, happy and focused on the game.”
It’s fair to say there hasn’t been much ‘hugging’ at Wolves recently. Scrapping, yes, but no hugging. Not too much happiness either. More fury and frustration amongst a squad so clearly capable of better.
That Ipswich reverse – O’Neil bemoaning yet more schoolboy defending from his now-former charges – leaves Wolves five points adrift of safety. They have won just two of their 16 Premier League matches across the entirety of 2024/25.
Vitor Pereira should bring clear communication to Molineux
56-year-old Pereira, meanwhile, has made no secret about his desire to work in the Premier League.
Vitor Pereira held talks with Everton on a number of occasions, though some sections of the fanbase turned on him even before Frank Lampard was appointed instead back in 2022 amid concerns over his alleged connections with unpopular former Toffees owner Farhad Moshiri.
Vitor Pereira, well-travelled and pretty successful in the dugout, has accumulated eight trophies during spells in charge of FC Porto, Olympiakos and Shanghai SIPG.
Speaking to the , he prides himself upon his communication skills and his ability to get the players at his disposal carrying out his plans.
“The coach has to send a clear message about what he expects from each of his players in the different possible match scenarios,” Pereira explained. “If they know what their tasks are, they will be calmer when dealing with the emotions that are bound to arise.
“In the two years I was in charge of Porto [from 2011 to 2013] we managed to play great matches. Not only against Benfica, but also against Sporting and Braga. The team was full of players with enormous tactical maturity, who also had a lot of personality to carry out what we had planned.
“It didn’t matter whether we were playing at home or away. We knew how to press to win the ball back, and we knew even better what to do when we had the ball at our feet. When we were ahead, it was almost impossible for the opposition to turn the game around.”
TBR understands that Wolves looked at Blackburn Rovers manager John Eustace and former Coventry City icon Mark Robins before settling on Pereira.