Wolves ace sends brutal warning as he insists team-mates run risk of being known as 'COWARDS' amid historically terrible start

A second-half double from Brentford’s Keane Lewis-Potter consigned Wolves to another loss in what has quickly turned into one of the worst Premier League campaigns in history.

On the back of yet another defeat at Molineux, Wolves equalled the top-flight record for the longest winless start to a season, matching the 17 games that Sheffield United went without victory from the start of 2020-21 campaign.

Relegation is already looking inevitable for a Wolves side who are currently bottom of the league table with just two points to their name. The Old Gold, who are 16 points behind 17th-placed Nottingham Forest, have conceded 37 goals in their 17 fixtures this term, scoring just nine.

Hoping to arrest the club’s slide towards the Championship under previous head coach Vitor Pereira, Wolves named Rob Edwards as their new manager in November. But the club have lost all six of their games under the Welshman’s stewardship, despite producing credible performances in the losses at Aston Villa and Arsenal.

But after witnessing first-hand Wolves’ season reach a new low point, vice-captain Doherty has now issued a rallying cry to the dressing room. 

The Republic of Ireland defender has warned his team-mates to avoid seeking the “easy option” of a move away in January but to “look at ourselves in the mirror” instead and fight to avoid becoming the statistically-worst team in Premier League history.

Derby County hold the record for the lowest points total by a Premier League club, having collected just 11 points in the 2007-08 campaign. The Rams won just one game that season - a 1-0 victory over Newcastle United in September 2007, courtesy of an effort from Kenny Miller, who finished as the club’s top scorer with just four league goals to his name.

Addressing his team-mates after the loss against Brentford, former Tottenham and Atletico Madrid full-back Doherty said: “Do we want to be remembered for fighting all the way to the end of season, or do we want to be remembered for being cowards and taking the easy option, maybe trying to leave in January, or not fighting and training, and letting other people take your position? 

“We need to look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out how we want to be remembered at the club.”

He added: “It’s easier to do that away from home, but you still have half your season at home. We need to do some soul searching and have a look in the mirror and just figure out what we want to be remembered for at the club.

“We’re going to need everyone who’s here now also to find the level of where we were last season, because a lot of us are still here from last season, and last season, we got ourselves to a good level of performance to stay in the league, because we were in a tough spot this time last year as well. Obviously, this is a lot worse, but we need to find the levels, myself included.

“We’re not finding it easy at all. We’re very hurt, but we need to show up, we need to act. It’s easy to say all these things, that we’re hurt, but we just need to show more on the pitch. We were in the game for 60 minutes, we feel like we’re doing ok, and then we concede the goal and it just feels that we conceded the same goal again after that. It’s just a bit too easy for them.”

Things are not expected to get any easier on paper for Doherty and Wolves as they prepare to travel to Liverpool in the league next Saturday. Arne Slot’s side stretched their unbeaten run in all competitions to six games following their nervy 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

Wolves will then round off 2025 with a trip to Manchester United on Tuesday, 30 December. Edwards’ men were on the receiving end of a 4-1 home defeat by Amorim’s side at the start of the month.