Wolverhampton Wanderers succumbed to their first league defeat in 11 matches on Sunday afternoon as Tottenham Hotspur’s resurgence continued at Molineux.
The west Midlanders were left rueing a late, late winner from Jan Vertonghen as he headed home Christian Eriksen’s corner in injury time to send Spurs back to north London with all three points.
Wolves boss Nuno Santo made the brave call to stick with his makeshift defensive trio that mean Romain Saiss and Leander Dendoncker kept their places alongside captain Conor Coady.
And what a disastrous move that has proven to be.
The Belgian, who is valued at £25.2m by Transfermarkt, put in a dire display as he struggled to cope with the firepower of Harry Kane, Lucas Moura and Heung-Min Son.
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Per SofaScore, Dendoncker committed three fouls, lost possession nine times, was dribbled past five times and clinched the lowest rating of anyone on the pitch with 5.8.
He also failed to win barely any of his duels, 50% aerially and just 28% on the ground, meaning he had quite the nightmare at left centre-back.
The 24-year-old can be forgiven slightly as he’s a midfielder by trade, but Nuno needs to rectify this by dropping him for their next game against Norwich City on Saturday afternoon.
In the nine matches that Dendoncker has played central defence this season, Wolves have kept only two clean sheets, via Transfermarkt.
On the bench, the Portuguese boss could have called upon either Max Kilman, who impressed fans in his last outing, or Ryan Bennett, who is the more natural option for the role.
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It seems like a bizarre tactical decision to persist with a midfielder in defence when you have two fit and ready options amongst the matchday squad.
The Canaries have Teemu Pukki leading their line. His nine goals and three assists this term should serve as a reminder of the danger he could pose this weekend, something that Kilman or Bennett would be far more equipped to deal with.
Meanwhile, Nuno Santo should have called on this rarely seen man against Spurs…