Bonatini praises Molineux support on Tuesday

Leo Bonatini has praised the Molineux fans for their support after a much-changed Wolves side exited the Carabao Cup at the hands of Leicester City.

After the game finished goalless following 90 minutes, missed spot kicks from Romain Saiss, Diogo Jota and Adama Traore contributed to a 3-1 penalty shootout loss for the home side.

Going out of the competition at the third-round stage, Wolves forward Bonatini – one of nine changes to the starting line-up – lauded the fans, saying: “It is nice to play at Molineux. It’s our house, it’s our home and we feel comfortable here. All the fans make an unbelievable atmosphere which we need to help us go on together.

“We tried our best to play our best game on the pitch, but it’s difficult for us because we don’t play much together. We don’t know how our teammates want the ball, but that’s no excuse. We could have been better but now we prepare for the next game.

“Every time we come to win. We try to play our football the way we are and try to win the competition, but now we have to go tomorrow and prepare for our next game in the Premier League.”

Ivan Cavaleiro played 57 minutes of the cup tie on his first return to the side following injury, and Bonatini was delighted to have his fellow forward back involved.

“It’s good to have Cavaleiro back. He’s one guy who has worked a lot to be back and all the guys are happy to see him again.

“He’s trained for one week and he will improve more because of the confidence he will get. It’s been hard for him to come back but I think he had a good game. He was making the right back and left back defend.

“I was very happy to see him back on the pitch and I’m sure he will help us throughout this season.”

Minds have already moved on to Saturday as Wolves return to Premier League action when they welcome Southampton to Molineux.

Bonatini said the players will be working on improving their performance, adding: “We need to look at the positive points and I’m sure there are points which we can improve, but there are points which we can keep going and we will work on them.

“We are not looking for the opponent we are going to play. We will try to play our game, it doesn’t matter if we are home or away, we will try to do our best. We will respect everyone, but respect means to try to play our game and focus on what we need to do.

“Nuno knows exactly what we need and what we should expect. But we now need to train and recover well as we need all of the guys at 100 per cent.”