Nuno Espirito Santo confirmed in his pre-match press conference that Vinagre is missing with the flu and Jota picked up a knock in Saturday’s win at Goodison Park. Their absence will present more opportunities for Rob Edwards’ under-23 players to earn a call up, with Ryan Giles and Niall Ennis amongst those waiting in the wings.
On Vinagre, Jota and Neves
“With Jota, it was a kick in the game against Everton. He didn’t train today, he’s improving, but we have made a decision not to involve him tomorrow.
“Neves had a tough kick (against Everton) but he’s improving. I hope he will be fit. We have a small issue with Vinagre who has flu, a virus, and he is probably not available for tomorrow.”
On who fills their places
“That’s the idea of back-ups. It goes with the idea of a short squad. For example, tomorrow Vinagre cannot be involved, so naturally we have to have a back-up.
“We decided before it was (Ryan) Giles, another time it was Cameron (John), tomorrow for example it’s going to be Niall (Ennis) because Diogo (Jota) is not involved. That’s the idea. It’s like a puzzle, trying to put pieces when you need them.
“It was a tough game (at Shrewsbury), but I can say Giles is going to be involved tomorrow, the idea when you bring back ups, you try and provide them this moment of real competition. This is the way we can see how well they handle situations.”
On young players’ influence
“Young players bring joy and excitement, but it only works out when they are inside an organsied and well-structured team. This is the best way to put young players inside, but we are very pleased with the back-ups that we have.
“Giles is one example, he started working with us at the beginning of the season. First day he went to Switzerland, he played a lot of games, he’s inside the idea and process of the team.”
On FA Cup excitement
“I understand the excitement of the fans. I think because they are proud of the team, they are proud of what they are seeing on the pitch – this is what makes me pleased.
“The expectations outside for us doesn’t mean a lot because we work for the fans, we try to provide them moments of happiness and tomorrow we have to do it again at Molineux.
“I know it’s going to almost be a full house, I’m really glad for it because we’re going to need their support.”
On Everton the debrief
“It was a good game, it was a good win, a good performance. I think we did a good game against a tough team; Everton are a tough team at Goodison Park, a tough atmosphere, but I think we stood up to the challenge and we performed well.
“It’s game-by-game and the next one is the most important and we must be really focused for tomorrow.
“After the game, like we usually do, we did our analysis and we started to prepare for the next one. You have to speak about what happened in the previous game, we did so, analyse, I congratulated them, but at the same time we have to be switched on for tomorrow.”
