'Embarrassing' Wolves savaged as relegation looms

"Embarrassing," blasted Sam Johnstone.

The Wolves goalkeeper did not hold back on his side's performance after a wretched 3-0 defeat at Fulham left them in danger of getting cut adrift at the bottom of the Premier League.

"It's not good enough and we need to do better. We should be embarrassed and they might not want to hear it, but we apologise to the fans," continued the England international.

"We are trying our best and have to keep going. We have good players and we need to turn it around quickly."

Wolves are eight points from safety and winless in their opening 10 games - a carbon copy of last season's start, with a first victory coming in their 11th match.

They have lost eight of the 10, have just two points, are the joint lowest scorers and have the league's worst defence.

Owners Fosun do not want to sack manager Vitor Pereira, but if something does not change - either results or personnel - then Wolves will be heading to the Championship.

When asked to explain what went wrong at Fulham, Johnstone said: "Pretty much everything - I'm being completely honest.

"It's difficult to find words. There's a lot of emotions, it's very difficult in there [the dressing room]."

Wolves supporters again barracked the players after they went over at the final whistle - and angrily turned on Pereira again.

The defeat had all the hallmarks of a side doomed for the drop: conceding an early goal, a 36th-minute red card for Emmanuel Agbadou following a Fulham break and a comical Yerson Mosquera own goal.

Pereira said on Friday he did not feel the club was in crisis, but it was a "crisis of results", and the Craven Cottage display definitely set the alarm bells ringing.

No team has survived in the Premier League with two points after 10 games and, of the previous 20 sides winless after 10 games of a top-flight season, 14 were relegated.

Last season Wolves had three after drawing 2-2 with Crystal Palace on 2 November and, while they survived after replacing Gary O'Neil with Pereira, the picture looks bleaker this time around.

"I don't have the answer [to how Wolves can be the ones to survive] but I can answer by saying last season, do you think for a club like Wolves, it was possible to win six games in a row?" said Pereira.

"Very difficult, even for the big teams, it's difficult to win six games in a row. This is my answer."

Will Pereira get the chance to turn things around though?

"I'm doing my best, working hard to help my players and club. I cannot control the time, the confidence the club has in our work," he added.

"What I can say is me and my staff, we are trying everything, changing the system, changing the players, to help the team perform and get results."

A 3-2 defeat by Burnley last Sunday - Wolves beaten by a side who were happy to settle for a point with 15 minutes remaining - and Wednesday's 4-3 Carabao Cup home loss to Chelsea at least had spirit and fight.

They were limp at Fulham, committing mistakes - including Santi Bueno's gaffe for Ryan Sessegnon's opener - and left Pereira disappointed on just how bad it was during his tenure.

"It was the worst [performance]," said the Portuguese, whose side last tasted victory against Leicester City on 26 April.

"I felt my team physically was not at the level to face Fulham. Tactically with some mistakes, technically we were not there. We missed a lot of passes, movements and we conceded the first goal.

"The game for us and Fulham was not a fantastic game to see but after the red card it was very difficult."

Pereira and his players will have a summit, likely to be on Monday, to debrief what happened.

The manager does not like to speak too much after games, for fear of his message getting lost or saying the wrong thing in the heat of the moment. So there will be discussions at their Compton training base to try to solve their problems.

"We need to have a conversation together to understand what happened because we didn't play at the level we need to play," said Pereira.

"I like to listen to players and understand what they felt inside the pitch, tactically, physically and mentally. I must speak with them, not at the end of a game because we are frustrated and it's impossible to have the conversation in the dressing room.

"The next training [session] we will talk and I will try to understand what was missing on the pitch because we must play at a better level. We have more level than what we showed.

"I need to understand what happened. When you don't get results as a manager what do you try? You try to find the solutions."