Wolves are preparing for their second group stage game in Turkey, determined to put their first points on the board. After enjoying much of the ball, before being caught on the counter attack, Wolves will learn a great deal from their group stage opener, insists Coady.
On learning from SC Braga loss
“We have to defend better this year because I feel that’s what sets us up, that’s our base, and I don’t think we’ve done it well enough this year, if I’m being honest. Saturday was better against Watford and we want to build on that base because it was a good performance, but it’s totally different to playing in the Premier League.
“They play in a different way and have different players, and you need to build up how you play. Braga managed the game, that’s how they play. We controlled the game quite well and they caught us on the counter attack. It’s how different teams play and we’ve got to learn as quickly as possible because Thursday’s a big game.”
On Besiktas as opposition
“It’s such a tough game. I mentioned before when the group stage was announced, when you see the teams come out of the hat, you knew it was going to be a tough game.
“They have top players who’ve been at a high level, but we look at Besiktas and coming to Istanbul, you know how tough it’s going to be. The whole team, and the way Besiktas play, we’ve worked on it to make sure we’re ready.
“We’ve not looked at where they are and how they’re doing. We look at it as a team, how they compare to us and how we can hurt them as much as possible. We’re coming here with a way of playing that we know best to do."
On enjoying the Europa League
“We’re enjoying everything. It’s something where, when we got to seventh last year, we wanted to make the most of it and make sure we got ourselves into the group stages. Now that we’re here, we want to learn and improve because we lost the first game, which we didn’t want to happen.
“It’s the best thing in the world, you’re excited for it. You see the fixtures come out, we all sat together and watched it in the canteen, and it was so exciting. They’re huge games. We’re not coming to these places just to enjoy ourselves, we want to learn from the Braga game because we need to win, it’s as simple as that. We’re in a group stage and we want to make sure we go through.”
