Nuno | On Jose bouncing back, Traore's impact and racism issues

Nuno Espirito Santo believes Willian Jose will not allow having his first Wolves goal taken away from affecting his attitude, as the head coach challenged his striker to hit straight back.

Jose was the victim of a controversial VAR call against Fulham last weekend after he appeared to have opened his Wolves account with a header on the stroke of half-time, only for Daniel Podence to have been adjudged offside in the build-up, cancelling out his inaugural goal.

But Nuno, who confirmed Theo Corbeanu would be in the squad for Saturday evening’s clash with Sheffield United following injury to Pedro Neto last week, has been impressed with the mentality of Jose after coming into the club during a difficult Premier League campaign.

On Jose bouncing back from VAR disappointment

“His mindset has always been good. The way he joined us and immediately he helped the team in a tough moment where we didn’t have much options.

“He integrated very well in the group, and his mindset has always been very positive, hard-working, knowing that this is football.

“He achieved a good goal, they took it away, he knows that it was there, so he has to be there again tomorrow to put it inside. But besides that, the work and the job that he does for the team is very good for us.”

On Traore getting off the mark last week

“Adama has always been very important for us, all the moments since he joined Wolves were very important. Sometimes starting, sometimes playing, sometimes playing good, sometimes not, but he’s always very important because he’s very special and a unique player.

“He played good against Fulham, he achieved a huge moment for him and for us, in the last gasp of the game, so we are positive that he’s going to perform well again. If he doesn’t perform, we will try to find the best way for him to perform the next game. It’s always like that.

“You cannot say that it’s going to be for sure, because you never know. It’s always adjusting, reacting, improving, and we do this work with all the players.

“It’s about all the team. Goals and all the aspects in the game have to do with team performance. It’s about us.”

On under-23s being involved with his squad

“We always try to find solutions for the best way to compete. For example, for the game of tomorrow, Corbeanu is going to join us. Last week was Luke [Cundle], [Christian] Marques and Lewis [Richards].

“It has to do with absences that we have in the first-team squad, then we take advantage of our good back-ups in the under-23s and the philosophy will still be the same. If we consider we could use them during the game, we will do that because we trust them.”

On Corbeanu stepping up in Neto’s absence

“He’s been involved in the 23s, playing good. He’s been working many sessions with us. He’s a talented player, he’s got a lot of things to improve, but I think Theo has to improve his defensive game and his game off the ball, but with the ball he’s a very talented player.

“He has a very good offensive one-v-one, he can use both feet as well, he has good finishing, but allow me to tell you, that’s not the most important part.

“He still has a lot of aspects that he needs to improve, but it’s a matter of taking the right steps and make him grow.”

On racism on social media

“Is it about racism or is this about bad use of social networking or social media? Because you don’t know who’s behind the message.

“You don’t know. There’s no face on that. Some of you are official, so just pay attention to the official accounts, but you never know who’s behind that, so the best way is to have the presence of everybody.”

On taking a knee when supporters return

“It’s about five seconds that we take the knee before the game starts. I think it should be longer when the fans hopefully return to the stadium so we can pass the right message.

“Even if someone doesn’t agree with that, let’s see how we deal with that situation. Hopefully, we’ll make a stand, and everybody will understand the message. Because when everybody is in the stadium, they are part of the message.

“If someone suggests we might stop now, we never can judge if the statement was made and people understand the message. So maybe a little bit longer, you can feel and hear what the opinion is of fans in the stadium.

“I hope [there will be a positive response]. But knowing that it will take a long time, many years before racism is finally eradicated, so we have to be patient, resistant and relentless in our message.”

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