Although the head coach admits that the team’s usual preparation has had to be sped up to make sure the players are as fully equipped as possible as the squad undergoes a quick turn-around for Sunday afternoon’s Premier League clash with Newcastle United, as Wolves aim to increase their unbeaten run to eight matches.
On recovering from Bratislava match
“It’s been tough – the schedules have been really tight for us. Yesterday, we played, we are travelling in the night, we are in the morning working, trying to recover the players so we can compete in the best way on Sunday.
“Since the qualifiers, we have been trying to slowly progress in terms of adaptation, knowing that each time we have less hours to recover and the players are being really cooperative on this. We have to start immediately to recover.
“Yesterday, in the dressing room, we were already trying to rush things that normally take longer so we are able to compete. The players are ok, they understand it and they embrace the challenge.
“We have already played 19 games and we have been able to compete in all of them and one of the aspects is the squad, we really have to manage the squad knowing that we have to make decisions.
“Players that have played less or more minutes, you have to adjust for what you want from the game, but I am really confident that we are always able to compete in the best way we can.”
On current unbeaten run
“I’m happy. For me, it’s not important the results, what’s important is how we are embracing this challenge since the beginning and I’m happy. I’m happy because all the players, all the staff, all the club is putting everything in ourselves to make a successful situation for us. It’s tough, a challenge but only can make us grow.
“I summarise by performances. I think that the moment that we played in qualifiers, I think we were able to perform not so good but always we were able to compete because of the difference in the level of opponents that we had in the qualifiers in the Europa League compared to how tough it is in the Premier League.
“You cannot really balance or measure on that knowing that we’ve had up and downs. We are progressing, we are getting better in terms of what is our idea, our shape and the biggest thing is that we have to improve during our competitions.
“We don’t have time to train so much on the pitch and we have to be able to find solutions during the competition. It’s what make things hard but also more challenging: the manger and the players. So, I think we are growing during the competition.
“Every moment that things don’t go well even in training sessions is a moment of frustration but that doesn’t stop you, that cannot enable you to keep chasing things that you want. Of course, there are moments of frustration, there are moments of happiness but that doesn’t distract us of our minds.”
On turning draws into wins
“It’s over now. Those games have been analysed – we have a good look at that always the positives and the negatives, it’s finished but all the games we’ve had until now, we always compete.
“There could be different results – there could be wins or losses, but we always compete, this is what is more important for us, competing no matter what happens.
“Even if you have a big performance, you know that the next game is going to be different and you have to raise your standards again and stand up and grown and compete, this is more important for us.”
