Wolves defender labels EPL campaign 'embarrassing' ahead of Man Utd clash

Unacceptable and embarrassing. That is the stark assessment of Wolves' latest performance from defender David Moller Wolfe, in a Premier League season that is showing few signs of improvement.

No points, no goals and no clean sheets in the three games Rob Edwards has overseen so far. And that is certainly not a reflection on the new head coach, but rather the cumulative events of the past few months and years at Molineux which have seen a once-formidable squad gradually broken up.

Ahead of the Monday Night Football fixture against Manchester United, Moller Wolfe reflected honestly on the latest defeat against Nottingham Forest, a 1-0 loss at home, on Wednesday evening.

"Frustration and disappointment," he told Sky Sports. "I think that, first off, what we did was unacceptable.

"It was such an important game for us - the players, the club, the fans - and then to show up like that in the first half was quite embarrassing to be honest."

That disappointment was shared by the rest of the squad and coaching staff, who believed the performance in defeat to Aston Villa in the previous game showed that the team were on the right track.

The Forest result felt like two steps back for a side that has not won in the Premier League since April.

The summer transfer strategy has arguably left the squad bereft of the quality it needs to compete at this level.

Three of the squad's best players - Matheus Cunha, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Nelson Semedo - were replaced with six players with no Premier League experience whatsoever.

That is not a criticism of the new arrivals, individually, but clubs like Sunderland, Leeds and Brentford were able to add Granit Xhaka, Jordan Henderson and Dominic Calvert-Lewin to their ranks alongside other signings.

Wolves, meanwhile, gambled that players unproven at Premier League level could hit the ground running, as they had in the past.

Perhaps if the newcomers had been propped up by a more experienced supporting cast, they might have been able to adapt better.

"I haven't thought about it like that to be honest," Moller Wolfe added when questioned about that exact problem.

"I can only talk about my personal experience with the Premier League, and of course, it's a step up from the Dutch league. When I arrived here I wasn't in shape because I knew that I was going to change clubs, so I didn't train with my former team because of injury reasons - I didn't want to get an injury.

"So when I came here, I wasn't in shape and then, boom, I started the first game against Manchester City and it didn't go as I wanted. I've been training well since and I feel like my shape is coming back now."

Training is one key area that the Norwegian believes has gone up a notch under Edwards, with the team's sprinting stats improving in the opening two games under the new head coach.

The players' average positions on the pitch have illustrated a more compact unit than the wide-open team that had been shipping goals at an alarming rate under the previous incumbent, Vitor Pereira.

"I feel like we just have to keep training, that's where everything starts," Moller Wolfe continued.

"Training since the first day of the season has not been good enough, but now we have been stepping it up since Rob has come in. I think that will show in the results in the games coming up.

"We train with a lot more intensity now. We train as we play a game and, for me, that's so important. I can only say positive things about Rob and everyone that has come in, so to deliver the first half we did against Forest was so disappointing.

"I didn't feel good going to sleep that night because we want to give the fans something to smile about again. It's been such a long time and we also want to give Rob and his coaching team a win."

On a personal level, it has not all been doom and gloom this season.

Moller Wolfe and his team-mate Jorgen Strand Larsen have been integral members of the Norway squad which qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in 28 years. The stunning 4-1 win in Milan against Italy last month was the highlight of an impressive qualifying campaign.

"A year ago, there was this big hype around our national team in Norway," the full-back said.

"It was down to us players not to join in that hype too much, but stay focused, and I think we did that. We had a couple of tough games during the qualification and there was a lot of attention on us for non-football reasons, too.

"So, the way we qualified is something we are incredibly proud of. I'm looking forward to it, but first and foremost I've got a job to do here at Wolves."

Strand Larsen has been struggling to reproduce his international form at club level, with just one Premier League goal all season, but Moller Wolfe believes there is a clear reason for this.

"I feel for him because sometimes he's so alone up there, fighting with two or three big centre-backs, and it's up to us to give him the assists for the chances that we all know he can score from."

Discovering a formula that can bring goals at one end and clean sheets at the other feels like an insurmountable challenge right now but, unlike those long-suffering fans who have one eye on Derby County's unwanted lowest points record, Moller Wolfe has not lost all hope just yet.

If there is a mindset he believes the squad needs to absorb before welcoming United to Molineux, it is this: "We have to show up with energy, with passion and play with the heart. Then the quality will come."