The side head to St James’ Park on Saturday evening before trips to the Etihad and Villa Park in the opening days of March, but the Wolves captain is hoping his teammates can take examples from their victory on Friday night where the team were able to nullify the threat of free-scoring Leeds United for the second time this season.
On back-to-back top-flight wins
“It was a tough game, a real tough game because they’re a top team, so I’m really happy after a win like that.
“I thought the lads were fantastic all game, it was important we stuck to our game plan, stuck to what we wanted to do, and it was brilliant.
“It was a massive win, two wins on the spin and we can look forward now. You’re always looking forward to the next games after a win, and we’d probably rather play again Tuesday or Wednesday if we’re being honest.
“After a week, you’re just itching to get back on the pitch and train under the gaffer, but after two wins on the spin, it’s a fantastic feeling, and we’ve been fortunate to have quite a few of them over the years.
“But it’s important we build on the win and keep on going. Let’s look forward to next week.”
On nullifying Leeds’ threat
“It was something we worked on. We said in the week that we’ve got really clever players in our team, players who really think and Leeds have got a certain way of playing where they run and run and run.
“We knew they were going to get tired at some point because they’re not robots, so we wanted to try and be a bit higher on the pitch and set up the press where we wanted to go, and I thought the lads did that fantastically well.
“It was important we were organised, we were together and we were in shape, but we did the same when we were at their place as well, especially in the second-half, so it was important we stuck to that.”
On putting his face on the line
“As soon as it was coming it got to about a foot away from my face and I was thinking, ‘Oh no. I can’t move out the way of that!’ As it’s coming, it’s just something that you have to take, and it caught me in the face.
“Someone said an expletive and told me to get up, but I thought, ‘I don’t even know where I am! What’s going on?’ It was one of them.”
On Willian Jose’s improvement
“He gives us so much. Even when you try to play up from the keeper and you go a little bit longer into him, into his chest and he holds it up because he’s strong and powerful.
“He gives us so much, as does every striker in this football club, but he’s been fantastic since he came in, he’s a brilliant lad and you can see that he’s learning, he’s learning with each and every game.
“What he brings to our team is brilliant, so hopefully his goal will come soon, but the most important thing is that he’s helping our team, no end.”
🗣 Leading
— Wolves (@Wolves) February 21, 2021
⛔️ Not conceding
Both Conor and Rui have hit 💯 @PremierLeague appearances for the club.
🙌 pic.twitter.com/tb09vSIKgO
On Patricio’s ‘Man of the Match’ 100th Premier League appearance
“He’s great. We all know what Rui’s like, we all know the type of person he is, we all know the type of keeper he is.
“He’s not got that many caps for Portugal for no reason – he’s an outstanding keeper, and he plays like that for us all the time and he’s an absolutely fantastic person.
“The feeling you get when you’ve got someone like him behind you, it’s absolutely fantastic.”
On keeping a clean sheet
“It’s massive and we build ourselves on that. Over the years since the gaffer’s been here, we’ve kept a load of clean sheets, and it’s something we pride ourselves on.
“We’ve gone away from it the last couple of months or so, but we’ve been talking about it all the time because it’s a massive part of football and a massive part of how we play, but it was about nullifying them a little bit and play with our brains, and find spaces where they didn’t really want to be.
“But clean sheets are not just about the back five, it’s about the whole 11, because when you see how compact we are in the middle of the pitch, it becomes easier for all of us, so it’s a massive win and a huge three points going forward.”
