Why Paul Lambert needs time at Wolves

It's the old cliché in football that managers need time to settle. What Wolverhampton Wanderers fans will soon need to realise is that newly appointed boss Paul Lambert may require a lot longer than most managers need to settle in.

Lambert lost his first home game in charge of his new side 2-0 against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday afternoon proving that Lambert has more to deal with than he perhaps bargained for.

Here are five reasons why Lambert needs all the time he can possibly get to settle in at Molinuex.

Squad Size

With billionaire owners currently in charge of Wolves, Walter Zenga was able to spend big at the start of this season and he surely made the most of it. The former manager bought in 13 new signings with five of them joining on loan.

Now, Lambert has been left with a squad of 31 first team players and seriously needs to consider who is and isn't in his plans.

A big January cull would not be surprising given the large squad that Lambert has inherited.

Formation

Paul Lambert has been regularly known to avoid playing two up front. However is his philosophy going to work at his new side?

During their defeat against promotion hopefuls Sheffield Wednesday, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson looked incredibly isolated up front and is in desperate need another man to provide support for him.

Bodvarsson has been Wolves' main striker this season. However, with only two league goals all season, he is out of form and the isolation up front is not helping that. 

If Lambert wants any chance of revitalising his teams’ fortune this season, he needs to either give someone such as Nouha Dicko or Paul Gladon a try as a lone striker, or change the system completely.

Why is George Saville on the wing?

The Chelsea academy graduate has started Wolves' last two matches on the left hand side. 

The natural central midfielder has looked poor in both games in this position and it begs the question, why is he playing there?

Wolves signed four wingers who can comfortably play on the left side in the summer, so why not play one of them and pick George Saville, who clearly can't get a game over Dave Edwards, Conor Coady and Jack Price in the middle of midfield.

Defensive Issues

With captain Danny Batth suspended, on loan Richard Stearman partnered Kourtney Hause against Wednesday in the middle of defence.

The pair struggled to deal with the attack of both Fernando Forestieri and the returning Lucas Joao and it was not a pretty sight for the Wolves back line, especially in the first half.

It does not help that they are missing experienced defender Mike Williamson and his absence could be part of the reason they have only kept four clean sheets this season, against Preston, Newcastle, Ipswich and Reading.

Lambert may look to bring in another experienced defender in January in order to reduce the poor defensive record displayed this far this season.

Low Confidence

Wolves are without a win in over two months and their confidence is incredibly low.

To top things off, Nouha Dicko, who is still considered one of Wolves' star men is without a league goal since May 2015. The Malian has yet to find his shooting boots since return from a length injury.

Kourtney Hause may be representing England Under 21's on a regular basis, but his irregular spells in the Wolves line up are not doing his confidence or his sides form any good.

Hause still has a lot of potential, but if Lambert does not address confidence and get his side back to winning ways, the ability of his players may decrease at the rapid rate in which they already are.