Saiss | On Patricio, penalty appeal and final third improvements

Romain Saiss felt Wolves were denied a certain penalty in the opening minutes of their defeat to Liverpool but understands the players cannot rely on refereeing decisions and must be more clinical in front of goal.

The hosts, who saw Rui Patricio taken from the pitch with a head injury late on, fell to a goal from former Wolves forward Diogo Jota at Molineux, and although the gold and black produced a positive first-half performance, something which has been lacking in recent games, they were not able to get the equalising goal, with Saiss believing the whole team needs to improve in the final third.

On Patricio being stretchered off

“Fortunately for us he was awake on the pitch and in the dressing room, so that’s good news for him and for us. I hope he’s going to recover really well and quick because he’s really important for us.

“We were happy he was awake and I hope for Rui that it’s nothing too hard for him and he’s going to recover really well.

“I saw him after, he was with the doctor and he is awake, so that is most important thing for us. We wish him the best in his recovery and hope he’s going to be back really quick.”

On being reminiscent of Jimenez’s injury

“We remember what happened with Raul, but fortunately for us, Rui was awake on the pitch, so it was good news for us, and we’re going to see him now for the next few days.

“But we’re really confident because he looks better than Raul when his happened, but it’s not good to have this kind of injury in your team again.”

On Alisson’s apparent foul on Semedo

“We should have had a penalty in the first-half on Nelson. Even after when we saw the images inside, it was clearly a penalty. I don’t know how they didn’t it. It’s impossible they don’t check that and don’t give the penalty.

“The goalkeeper lost the ball and after it’s like he’s playing rugby. I don’t know, maybe it’s because he’s been watching the Six Nations or if that’s normal, but he lost the ball and then he goes straight into Nelson. It’s clearly a pen.

“I think the referee lost a bit the control of the game in the second-half, but we have to do more to score goals and don’t think about the ref.”

On improved first-half

“We’ve struggled in the first-half in the last few games, but I think we did a good first-half and created a lot of chances. We did well, we know they are really good on front and they will create a lot of movement and a lot of chances, but we stayed solid.

“We never gave up after and we kept pushing after the injury of Rui and we tried to push to score the goal, with a lot of players in the box from crosses and all these things. We tried to push to make the draw but unfortunately, we didn’t achieve it.

“I think we did pretty well, but we will keep working on the way we play and think about the next game after the international break.”

On being more clinical

“We had some chances, but I think Alisson made maybe one or two great saves, otherwise it was not a great load of chances. We need to be more clinical in front of the goal. We had a couple of headers from crosses, but we have to work on it.

“I think we have to be better in the final 30 metres and be more clinical in front of the goal, but we are working really well in training and in the game also, so we are confident for the next games.”

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