This article is part of Football FanCast's In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets... 

On Sunday afternoon, it was a dark day.

Wolves' first game without mainstay centre-back Willy Boly, who has made such a crucial impact in Nuno Santo's defence over the past 12 months or so.

The 28-year-old suffered a broken leg during training on Saturday morning after he slipped at the Sir Jack Hayward Traning Ground.

This week he will undergo an MRI scan and will also see a specialist to figure out the extent of the damage. Either way, it is a devastating blow to Wolves' season prospects.

In his absence, the Portuguese boss surprisingly opted for Matt Doherty in central defence over the more natural Max Kilman or Jesus Vallejo.

Let's just say that the experiment failed.

The Ireland international only played the first half in the new role, which tells you everything you need to know about how well it went.

Per SofaScore, Doherty managed a passing accuracy of just 76% and conceded one foul as Wolves drew with Newcastle United.

At half-time, Nuno dropped Leander Dendoncker in there from midfield, forcing Adama Traore into a more advanced role in a 3-4-3 formation, and the 27-year-old back to right wing-back.

The west Midlands club conceded in the first half, but not in the second, so I guess you could say they were stronger with Doherty in his more familiar role - the Magpies still had four shots at goal with three coming in the box during the final 45.

This all comes as a major worry over the next few months as Boly rates out as Wolves' best player by WhoScored, having averaged 4.9 aerial duels won, three tackles and 1.6 interceptions per game this season.

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He's a monumental loss in defence as the only game he didn't feature in this campaign was the 5-2 loss against Chelsea - just one of their two defeats all season. He even was part of the defence to keep a clean sheet against Manchester City.

Nuno clearly doesn't trust Vallejo or Kilman; otherwise, they would have started, the Spaniard was surely a shoo-in for that spot.

Therefore, expect some significant struggles ahead for Wolves as better teams will punish his absence.

Oh how the club must be rueing their failure to secure an extra central defender in the summer having been linked to Ruben Dias continually.