Wolves can go top of the Championship when they host Birmingham City in the early kick-off at Molineux on Saturday. Much of that has been down to the impressive efforts of Bakary Sako and Nouha Dicko. Adam Bate looks at the remarkable turnaround since the pair first linked up…
Thursday 30 October 2014 12:48, UK
Bakary Sako and Nouha Dicko are unlikely to forget their first game together as Wolves team-mates. It was April 2013 and the scene was Molineux for the final home game of the season against Burnley. Wolves were desperate for a positive result to avoid a second consecutive relegation.
With that in mind, Sako was rushed back from a hamstring injury to take his place on the bench. Unfortunately, Wolves were already two goals down by the time he was introduced as a second-half substitute. Dicko, on loan from Wigan, managed to pull one back late on with his first goal for the club but it was to no avail. Defeat all but confirmed their fate.
A pitch invasion followed. Some were demanding that owner Steve Morgan leave, others were generally apoplectic at a series of decisions that had precipitated the back-to-back relegations that were supposed to be unthinkable in the era of Premier League parachute payments. Just about the only thing all could agree on was that the mood was toxic and things had to change.
In a sense, that really ought to have been that for the two Malian men and their time in Wolverhampton. Dicko returned to his parent club having made just one start, entitled to wonder what he’d been allowed to walk into and could have been forgiven for setting about the process of disassociating himself from the entire sorry episode. Instead he returned to the club on a permanent deal midway through the following season. “I think it helped me grow up as a footballer and a man,” he’s said since.
Sako too was expected to depart the scene having been the one bright light in a dismal campaign. Not only had he delivered 10 goals and 11 assists that year, but injury had seen him forced to sit out much of Dean Saunders’ disastrous time at the helm. Sako had joined as a stepping stone to the Premier League. Instead he found himself in League One.
Bids were duly received from Fulham and Nottingham Forest. With the transfer window furore at its height, Sako didn’t play in Wolves’ game against Port Vale. “He wasn’t in the right frame of mind to play,” said manager Kenny Jackett. “Those are his words, not mine.” These were the tell-tale signs of a relationship between club and player that had broken down and an exit that was surely imminent.
What happened next was the real surprise. Sako not only stayed but thrived. With his move denied, he focused on his game and proved to everyone just why he was far too good for League One. He finished last season as Wolves’ joint-highest scorer in their title-winning campaign. Sharing the honour was January arrival Dicko, who’d found the net 13 times in just 16 starts.
Dicko combined startling pace with a low centre of gravity, harrying defenders in his lone forward role. He stretched defences and gave the attacking midfielders space in which to play – all for a bargain fee believed to be in the region of £300,000. Still only 22, Dicko now has 31 goals in 3973 minutes of English football – the equivalent of 44 full games.
His burgeoning relationship with his compatriot Sako has been a significant factor in that success and Dicko is evidently an admirer of the senior man. “A lot of players might have turned around after relegation and said ‘no, I don’t want to stay here in League One’. But I think he knows this was a good challenge for him – to help a big club like Wolves try and get back to where it belongs.”
The respect is mutual and the bond is there for all to see. The two men seem to feed off each other. For example, Wolves have won 18 of the last 24 matches in which both Sako and Dicko have started. In contrast, last week’s victory at Leeds was the first in seven they’ve won without the duo together in the line-up. The crowd have a joint song for the pair and, importantly for someone so reliant on confidence, Sako is playing with freedom and a smile on his face.
“We get on really well on the pitch,” Sako told FourFourTwo. “I could even say it’s automatic – when I’ve got the ball I know what he’s going to do and I know what kind of passes he likes. It’s easier to play with players that you already know well – you know their qualities and their movements. Off the pitch we spend a lot of time together, sometimes at home or we go out together. We get on brilliantly.”
After last season’s success, both players have made the step back up to the Championship in impressive fashion. Sako is the team’s top scorer with seven goals and also ranks among the top three dribblers in the division. Dicko is Wolves’ next highest scorer with three of his own and has also contributed three assists too – more than anyone else at the club.
Sako is a doubt for the early kick-off against Birmingham at Molineux on Saturday, but Jackett will be anxious to give his key man all the time he needs to prove his fitness. It’s a big game with even a draw taking Wolves to the top of the Championship for the first time this season. If that happens then Bakary Sako and Nouha Dicko should afford themselves a smile and recall just how far they’ve come since that inauspicious start together just 18 months ago.
Watch Wolves take on Birmingham live on Sky Sports 1 HD this Saturday (12.15pm kick off)
