Wolverhampton Wanderers head coach Rob Edwards has revealed why Super Eagles striker Tolu Arokodare was on the bench in his side’s loss to Manchester City yesterday, Soccernet.ng reports.
The 25-year-old had started Wolves’ previous five fixtures before the clash against Pep Guardiola’s men, and it was a surprise for many when his name wasn’t in the starting lineup at the Etihad.
Arokodare eventually came on in the 71st minute but couldn’t affect the game positively, as he had just four touches of the ball.
Additionally, the former Genk striker couldn’t do much considering Wolves were two goals down when he came off the bench.
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Why Tolu Arokodare started on the bench against Man City
In his post-match presser, Rob Edwards clarified that his decision to bench Tolu wasn’t one that implied a negative connotation; it was simply a choice to field the best players that can cause damage to Manchester City’s backline.
“We wanted to try and take the ball more. We weren’t quite able to break lines and find real opportunities in the first start, and then get behind them,” the Welshman said in quotes revealed by Wolves’ official website.
“I thought the pressing was excellent, and they played really well, and stopped us doing that.
“We felt with ‘Channy’ we were still playing a striker, but we felt we needed a connection to those other midfielders with Arias, Mane, Joao and Andre to give us a little bit of link.
“I hope it wasn’t perceived as a negative change, bringing Tolu out of the team. The rationale was that we wanted to take the ball more and be able to get behind him in a different type of way.
“But then I thought Jorgen made a good impact, and I thought Tolu did as well when we introduced him.”
“That was the rationale behind the change, and that’s what we tried to do,” the former Luton Town coach concluded.
The Old Gold are currently at the bottom of the English Premier League table, eight points behind 19th-placed Burnley.