Any Wolverhampton Wanderers fans wondering what Rob Edwards wants from his teams do not have to go back far to find out.
It is just five months since the new Wolves head coach was unveiled by Middlesbrough and took the chance to spell out what he would demand of his players.
“I want my teams to be aggressive and on the front foot,” he told journalists, as reported by Teesside Live in June. “I want us to play with bravery. I want control; I want complete control ideally, but as far away from our goal as possible. Action — that’s what I want.
“I don’t know a fanbase that wouldn’t want to play with passion and emotion, working very hard and winning duels. Blocking crosses, sprinting forward, getting crosses and bodies in the box.
“Tackles, action, playing with passion. Of course, you have to control the passion and play with a tactical understanding as well.”
Rob Edwards watches his Middlesbrough team take on Stoke in September (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Edwards has managed 183 games since taking his first job in the full-time game with Forest Green Rovers in 2021. He got the Gloucestershire club promoted from League Two
to League One and was appointed Watford head coach in May 2022, only to be sacked the following September after poor results. Two months later he got the Luton job and he took them from the Championship into the Premier League. After being relegated the following season, Edwards’ side were struggling in the lower reaches of the second tier when he left in January. He had made a flying start at Boro since being appointed in the summer.
Throughout those four spells, there are certain preferences that have emerged when it comes to what constitutes a ‘Rob Edwards line-up’.
He favours a three-man central defence — a system that will suit a Wolves squad that currently boasts six centre-backs.
He used that system, with attacking wing-backs, to great success in his promotions from League Two with Forest Green and from the Championship with Luton, sometimes in a 5-3-2 system and sometimes in a 5-2-3, with a front three whose make-up varied between two central strikers with a supporting No 10 and one centre-forward with two wider, supporting forwards.
But he has shown a willingness to switch to a back four at times, including in his final few games in charge of Boro, having started the campaign with a more familiar Edwards system.
In his final game in charge against Leicester, his side operated in a 4-2-3-1 system.
But earlier in the season, the line-up would have been more familiar to fans of his former teams.
There were three centre-halves, for example, in the home victory over Sheffield United in August, when they employed a 5-2-3 formation (central striker Tommy Conway is out of shot).
“I want us to be flexible and adaptable within games,” Edwards told the Northern Echo in October.
“We’ll try to pick the right team and shape for each game that we believe gives us the best chance of winning a game of football. I’m very open to shifting that around as well. Our principles and what we want to do in a game won’t change, but sometimes we’ll flip things tactically.”
Another general trend in Edwards’ management has been a desire to play high-pressing football.
Both at Forest Green and Luton in his successful promotion-winning campaigns, wing-backs and the No 8s in a three-man midfield have been encouraged to press aggressively, meaning Edwards has often used six players in advanced positions to pin opponents back.
That trait could be seen in the opening few minutes of Boro’s 2-1 win at Norwich in August, when two of his midfielders joined his three forwards in a high press as the home side tried to pass their way out from the back.
In winning promotion with Forest Green, Edwards had a team with the lowest passes per defensive action (PPDA) figure in the league. PPDA counts how many passes opponents are allowed to make between a defensive team’s attempts to stop them with defensive actions such as tackles, presses and fouls. Edwards’ side were the most aggressive pressers in League Two by that metric.
“I want my team to be exciting, play with passion,” he said in June. “Obviously they’ve got to play with their heads, but control the game by keeping the ball as far away from our goal as we can.”
High full-backs are a feature of Edwards’ teams in possession.
In a Premier League season that ended in relegation, left wing-back Alfie Doughty delivered over 100 crosses, more than any other player in the division, so Hugo Bueno and summer signings Jackson Tchatchoua and David Moller Wolfe might have key roles to play in Wolves’ attacking play.
Edwards’ preferred style is direct without being long-ball. With Forest Green, who he led for the entirety of their promotion season, his side had an above average ‘direct speed’, meaning they moved the ball forwards more quickly than the average team, but also a relatively high number of passes per sequence, suggesting they passed the ball effectively but forwards.
A typical goal from an Edwards team came in Boro’s win against Sheffield United, when they moved the ball in two passes to left wing-back Matt Targett, who delivered a first-time cross for Conway to finish.
Inevitably, though, there are periods when teams struggling near the foot of the Premier League are unable to impose their own style on opponents.
In that situation, Edwards’ Luton side tried to defend in a solid 5-3-2 or 5-4-1 system and looked to break with pace.
That was evident in how they lined up in the opening seconds of a 1-0 loss at Manchester United in November 2023.
They still looked to use wing-backs Doughty and Chiedozie Ogbene to good effect. In their difficult top-flight season, that pair had more progressive carries than any other Luton players.
Luton’s style of play in the Premier League is shown in the graphic below, which compares key metrics to other teams across Europe’s top seven leagues. It shows that Edwards’ side did not look to dominate the ball (Possession, 8 out of 99) or have a high share of territory (Field tilt, 42 out of 99). But when they did venture forward they would often get the ball wide (low Central progression) and craft an opening to maximise the quality of their chances created (Patient attack, 81 out of 99).
So as he takes charge of a Wolves side in dire straits at the foot of the table, it is likely that Edwards will need to adapt — at least until the January transfer window provides the opportunity to tweak the squad to his own requirements.
But Edwards’ past deeds in management provide some strong clues about how his side might look, as do his words.
Speaking to The Coaches’ Voice in July 2023 about taking over from Nathan Jones at Luton three months into their promotion-winning season, Edwards outlined the fundamental principles that underpin his philosophy.
“It was a case of playing to our strengths, and making sure we were sticking to a few core principles,” he said. “If we lose the ball, we want five-second regains; if it’s a recovery run, it’s a sprint; fast support whenever we have the ball.
“If I can see those three things, I know that we’re working hard.”