The Molineux men will play five matches over the coming 15 days, beginning with Saturday afternoon’s clash with Norwich City at Carrow Road, including two games in less than 46 hours against Liverpool and Manchester City, so with little time to get to work on the training pitch in-between games, recovery for the players becomes crucial.
On busy festive schedule
“It’s a bit difficult for every team because of the times of the matches, obviously I think every player and manager would like more time to recover well, so they can perform well, but this is the reality.
“We’ve been mentioning this issue a lot of times, it’s very difficult. Sometimes it’s almost absurd the hours between matches, but let’s try and do it.”
On recovery between matches being key
“When you don’t have too much time to train on the ground, you have to prepare yourself, recover, but try to develop yourself during the competition.
“This has been a new challenge for us this season because we are always trying new solutions, meanwhile we are competing and giving things to the players that are useful for them in the games.
“It’s a different process, it’s about recovering and trying to find solutions, Meanwhile, you compete.”
On performance against Spurs
“We don’t judge by the result, we judge by the performance. That is what we want to achieve. I think last season we performed well, we did a good game, so it’s about that. Trying to maintain the levels of performance, try to improve the things we need to improve and compete.
“This is what we are really obsessed about, prepare ourselves to compete for all the games in the best way we can.”
On facing Norwich at Carrow Road
“All the games, no matter which position, the table doesn’t mean anything. All the teams, all the squads are really good, high quality, it’s going to be tough for us, very, very tough for us.
“Norwich are a good team. We’ve been together in the Championship and Daniel [Farke] is still there working, with good players and a very good idea of football.
“We have to really be focused, be organised, try to play the way we play, control the game and create chances.”
On what new managers can expect
“Every manager has his own mission. Every manager has his own job and his own club. My mission is Wolves, so I’m focused only on Wolves.
“When you dedicate yourself to a club, you put all the energy you have into it. The important things are who you surround yourself with, because it’s not only you, it’s your team, the club, the confidence and the patience that the club and your new owner has, the ideas, and approach it as a project. A project to build something.
“When you come for the first time, I remember my first time was in Portugal and I had all these ingredients. I had people to trust me, I had a club that wanted to grow, I surrounded myself with good people, and useful people that have different ideas that could help me, and developed a team, because this is what it’s all about.
“It’s about developing, creating something that reflects what you had in your mind on the pitch.”
