Wolves 0-0 Newcastle: How Eddie Howe's striking problem has only got worse - and why a teenage sensation has finally given the hosts something to sing about

One of these sides will play in the Champions League this week. The other continues its quest to avoid being the worst Premier League team of all time. For much of this forgettable contest on a cold Sunday afternoon, any unwitting observer would have struggled to pick them apart.

Another away game in which Newcastle failed to score and created very little, a common problem for Eddie Howe , and another contest for Wolves that ended in some precious points. That, too, is starting to become a habit under Rob Edwards even if it’s likely too late to start dreaming of miracles.

For a side that spent £120million in the summer to replace Alexander Isak, Newcastle don’t half have a striker problem.

Howe’s side needed 85 minutes to register their first shots on target when Guimaraes and then Joelinton forced a fine double save from Jose Sa. By that stage, Nick Woltemade had long trudged off the field having racked up 13 touches, the fewest of any player on either side at that stage, including both goalkeepers.

That’s now three goals in his last 19 games in all competitions for the man Newcastle signed for £69m from Stuttgart and who continues to feel like a man who would rather be playing a bit further back.

Woltemade squandered an early free header, making poor contact on a Harvey Barnes cross, before going closer with another that dropped on to the roof of the net but that, really, was as good as it got.

Nick Woltemade was wasteful in attack but the Germany international's contributions were as good as it got for Newcastle

Wissa offered little when he came on and remains a player still finding full fitness after injury. Even Jorgen Strand Larsen, the Wolves striker Newcastle tried to sign for £55m in the summer before his form dropped off a cliff, managed at least one shot after coming on.

‘We needed to do more in attack,’ said Howe. ‘It’s not just about those two players, it is about the whole team in a game that we didn’t have enough goalmouth action. We know that there are loads of sources of goals. I was disappointed with our set plays. There were a couple of good moments but not enough. There’s too many crosses coming in, flashes across their goal and we didn’t have a player on the end of it.’

Most of Newcastle’s attacking threat came from Barnes down the right, who fizzed in countless dangerous balls, or from Joelinton making runs through the middle before Kieran Tripper curled a free-kick into the side-netting that many thought had crept in.

For a side that came into the game on the back of three successive league victories, there is still a lingering sense of pessimism. Defeat at home to Manchester City in the first leg of the semi-final has left the defence of their League Cup crown hanging by a thread, especially with their dismal away form, and a daunting run of fixtures meant this was a chance against the bottom of the table they really should not be passing up, not when only five points separates Liverpool in fourth to Fulham in 10th.

Over the next 18 days, Newcastle face PSV and PSG in the Champions League, high-flying Aston Villa and Liverpool in the league before the trip to the Etihad. This was supposed to be the easy one.

They could still have won it late on with Bruno Guimaraes shanking a decent chance wide, a quality of finish that really summed up Newcastle’s day.

When asked if he might look to bring in another attacker in the January window, he replied: ‘I don't think we have the financial ability to do that.’

The 90s protest song Zombie by the Cranberries has earned its place in the sporting supporter songbook in recent times, thanks to its catchy lyric of ‘in your head’ that makes it ideal to taunt opponents that you have a mental hold over them. Nottingham Forest fans to Arne Slot, for example, or European golf fans about Rory McIlroy to their US counterparts.

It rang out again here at Molineux, too, thanks to their teenage sensation Mateus Mane. Wolves fans have had little to sing about this season, other than to demand the resignation of former chairman Jeff Shi, but in this 18-year-old academy prodigy they suddenly have a symbol of fearlessness and, above all, hope for the future.

Mateus Mane has been a bright spot in a dark and murky season for bottom-placed Wolves

He inspired a rare win here with a goal and an assist, as well as winning a penalty, against West Ham and then snatched the equaliser at Goodison Park. He was the brightest spark against Newcastle on and off the ball.

Within the opening few minutes he was pressing Bruno Guimaraes or backing into the Newcastle midfielder as he received the ball to lay it off and spin away. He left one on Kieran Trippier. He called for the ball whenever Wolves had possession and chased lost causes. When he dissected the Newcastle backline with a neat through ball but team-mate Tolu Arokodare couldn’t quite get it under control, he thumped the air with both hands in frustration, then had the audacity to hook a volley over his shoulder with his back to goal for Wolves first shot on goal. He almost had a fine chance to win it late on but couldn’t get the ball out of his feet.

We’re always guilty in this country of hyping up talent when they burst on to the scene but, boy, has this kid got something. So much so that a Premier League club has already had interest rebuffed this window.

Sixteen games left, fourteen points to make up. Too much to do, not enough time. Surely?

What is clear, though, is that on this showing – and that of the last few weeks – this is a side that will now surpass Derby’s all-time record of 11 points with ease and it is remarkable that they were ever in the conversation.

They contained Newcastle and looked lively on the counter-attack. They kept their shape and their cool under pressure. They played like a team with enough quality and character to be fighting for survival, certainly not one consigned to be the worst of all time.

They looked far more like a Premier League team than some others this season. That’s five games unbeaten now in all competitions and four in the league – the first side to go that many while bottom of the table since West Brom in 2018.

‘It was a really solid, spirited performance,’ said Edwards. ‘Would have loved us to carry a bit more threat but we didn’t get chance to get control of the ball high up the pitch but I am really pleased with that. It’s another step forward.’

Edwards lost his first seven games in charge but now has a side that, even if survival is too far out of their reach now, is building a team that can find its way back.