What a difference a week makes.

4.55pm at Pride Park was a distant memory at 4.55pm at Selhurst Park.

A 3-2 defeat at Wimbledon hot on the heels of a 2-2 home draw at home to Sheffield Wednesday was not what was expected.

The fact that Jones has publicly come out and berated the players is unusual as the man shows less emotion and reaction than Spock.

However, 5 goals ‘Shipped’ in the two games just goes to show that the defensive frailties that we had seen in spells at home to Walsall and at Derby, were punished more effectively by better finishing.

Against Wednesday, Wolves couldn’t cope with Kuqi chasing the ball down and his pace. Shipperley seems to have poached off hesitancy.

The defence has been asked to play a different role this season, building the attack from the back, and they don’t look entirely happy with it.

With the exception of Irwin, Naylor, Lescott and Butler look as comfortable with the ball at their feet as if it were about to explode.

Lescott needs to learn to add composure on the ball to his game before he can challenge those currently in the England U21 team. There is no questioning his great reading of the game and ability to step in with a tackle but he needs to work on his passing and control.

Naylor is great when going forward into space but some of his passing is ‘astray’ if I’m being kind. His commitment isn’t in question but he needs to find how to create that bit of extra time and hold the ball.

As for Butler, well last season all he seemed to do was look up and try and hit it long for Kennedy. However, without the pacey winger, he’s lost and his delivery is amateurish.

Obviously it wasn’t the best of starts for the unlucky debutant Matt Murray but at least he can’t be faulted for the goals.

The injured Oakes however, has been looking like the proverbial ‘dodgy keeper’ in spells and seems slow off his line and has a ‘Dracula-like’ fear of crosses at times.

The defensive cover provided by Ingimarrson has been excellent and it was great to see him finally get on the score sheet after coming so close in recent games.

However, we’ve seen in the last two games that we can’t take anything for granted and it’s probably best to get the wake-up call early rather than later, like last season.

Preston is a tough home fixture, having beaten us over the Christmas period last season, but we will see what Jones works on with the team on the training ground in the next week.

Hopefully, Wimbledon will just be a blip and normal service, and a tighter defence, will be in evidence when we play in front of the cameras.