With just one defeat in their last six league outings, this was the ideal opportunity for Wolves to lay down their credentials.
By all accounts, this has been a torrid campaign for the Old Gold. Nuno Santo has rarely had many difficulties in his Molineux tenure, but this season has been full of them.
With injuries aplenty and his attack misfiring, Nuno’s men have been closer to relegation than achieving their ultimate goal of European football.
Against a timid Newcastle side, it was a performance that demonstrated everything that’s gone wrong with this Wolves team. Last season, they surely would have pushed the Magpies aside.
Their quick counter-attacking style of football would arguably have been no match for a rigid Steve Bruce team. Though, his side stood firm on this occasion and even took the lead.
It took Ruben Neves’ fourth goal in ten matches for Wolves to take a solitary point after drawing 1-1, but if there was a positive beyond that, it had to be Adama Traore.
In an otherwise tame display, the winger was rampant and is now beginning to creep towards his best form again. The Spaniard caused the goal against Leeds just over a week ago, thundering a fierce effort off the bar that came off Illan Meslier and then found the net.
Although he failed to score at St James’ Park, his performance typified the skills he’s brought to the Premier League since joining from Middlesbrough.
We know Traore has what it takes to beat a man but even he defied his usual standards on Saturday evening. In total, the 25-year-old succeeded with a total of 14 dribbles from 19 attempts. That tally happened to better his season’s best of nine dribbles in a game.
He had Toon right-back Emil Krafth in a spin as he was surpassed past on no fewer than four occasions by the rampant Traore.
It was a day to forget for the Swedish defender who found life incredibly difficult against the Spain international.
That wasn’t the sole positive from his outing, though. Traore set the tone for a remarkable display with four key passes leading to goal scoring opportunities, a tally that once again happened to be his best of the campaign.
The forward is often a bulldozer on the wing and he used his frightening levels of strength to maraud his way past opponents. During the contest, he won a colossal 19 ground duels, a tally that surpassed Wolves’ next best player (Jonny) in this department by a total of 13.
This was a mesmerising outing from Traore, one that signified he is now well and truly back.
All the Wolves star needs now is to find the back of the net. Amazingly, he is yet to do so in the Premier League this season.