Traore | ‘You’ve not seen the best of me yet’

Ahead of taking on West Ham United at Molineux on Saturday afternoon, Adama Traore insists his teammates are going into the match with a strong mentality to bounce back from their previous outing.

The winger, who has had to settle for a place on the bench in recent weeks, admits he and Wolves still have plenty of improvements to be made under Bruno Lage, and he is doing all he can on the training pitch to earn a starting spot for the visit of the Irons.

On his performances so far this season

“You’ve not seen the best of me yet. Absolutely not. In the early part of the season, I had many chances in front of goal, and my main target is working on that.

“I’m having the chances, I’m helping the team, but I know I have to keep working on it.  I’m having the chances in front of the goal, one-v-one, against the keepers.

“I’m working on different aspects also with the team because it’s different way to play. Bruno wants to play with the ball, he wants us to have the ball, he wants us to find spaces, and I think I’m growing in that aspect as well.”

On earning a starting spot

“I don’t like to sit on the bench because I always want to be on the pitch, but that’s true of any player. Everyone wants to play. That’s true. I want to be in the field and I want to help the team with my quality.

“The messages from the manager are that I have to keep working, but that’s also my mentality. He’s making the decisions, I respect it, and I don’t have anything to say about that.

“All I can do is work hard, and I will work hard, and I know my moment will come, and when the moment comes, I will take it.

“But these are the manager’s decisions, and I have to respect it.”

On bouncing back from Palace disappointment

“The main thing is that we have to see what went wrong. The coach will speak to us about what went wrong but we have to see these games as lessons to make us stronger.

“That is the mentality you have to have. When things go wrong, you can do two things; you can be disappointed and put your head down, or you can improve yourself and learn for the future.

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. That is how I see it. We lost one game, but the game before that against Everton, a good performance, and that’s it. We have to keep working and for sure we will step up in the next game.”

On inviting an impressive West Ham side to Molineux

“Not only this season, but I think West Ham have been doing great the last couple of seasons. They are a good team and they seem to have a very good connection with the manager they have, and it’s good.

“But whether they are a good team or not, we don’t want to come out onto the pitch thinking we are going to lose to them. That’s impossible.

“Our mentality is to fight until the end.”

On analysing his speed

“I know the speed I achieve it 37 [kph], but sometimes they tell me that I’ve been running at the maximum speed, I’ve been running very fast, but to be honest, I don’t see [the speed] that much, or they don’t tell me when I go to see the stats.

“I look at my type of running, the intensity I have to go, this is the important thing for me, rather than maximum speed. I know one of my powerful things is my speed, but it doesn’t bother me to see what my maximum speed is.

“All I think about is the speed of the play. If I have to be at 35, I go 35, if I have to go 34, I go 34.”

On being the top dribbler in Europe

“I’m proud of that. If I’m the number one dribbler in Europe, it’s because I’m having chances too. I have to be the best that I can be, and if I take the chances I have, I can be the player I want to be in the future.

“This is my mentality, fulfilling that. If you see last season, I was not having the chances that I’ve had this season. But this is my mentality, to grow as a player each day, and then this season now, I’m having more chances close to the goalie and I hope, soon, the ball is going to be hitting the net.”

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