The big kick-off sees Bruno Lage’s men clash with three of last season’s top seven, starting at the King Power Stadium on Saturday, but that beginning simply excites Coady. Having spent the summer learning their head coach’s styles and with Raul Jimenez back in attack, Coady is full of excitement for a new chapter, but is braced for a tough start across the midlands this weekend.
On the Leicester challenge
“They’re a fantastic football team with a world class manager. How well they’ve done the last few years is testament to them, how they go about their business and how they play.
“They’re a fantastic football team with some real top players, but it’s exciting for us. It’s been really good the last few weeks, learning new ways of playing has been quite refreshing in terms of trying new things.”
On a tough start ahead
“We can’t wait for it. We’ve got Leicester, Tottenham and Manchester United, so it doesn’t get much harder, it’s really tough, but if we look at that and scare ourselves, what’s the point going to play? It’s an exciting moment for us and something we’re really looking forward to.
“Since we came into the Premier League, we’ve always wanted to test ourselves against the best teams, the best players, and that will never change. We look at it as a chance to improve, a time to improve for ourselves, for our supporters, for our football club. We can’t wait for it, we’re really excited.”
On implementing the manager’s ideas
“He’s been brilliant. He’s spoken to everybody. He’s been great for every single player in the changing room, speaking to everybody, trying to get his ideas across on how we want to play. It’s a different way of playing, we’re trying to be a little bit higher up the pitch, more aggressive with things, a bit stronger in duels, things like that.
“The good thing is we’ve had loads of games to try and put his ideas across and we’ve given ourselves a bit of a platform in pre-season on what we want to do. We’ve still got a long way to go and need to get better, but we’re on the right track and looking forward to the Leicester game.”
On having Jimenez back
“It’s incredible. I think first and foremost, it’s a bit of relief that we’ve got him back. Last season was hard when it happened, being more than a team mate, but friend. For all of us it was traumatic, but obviously more for Raul because he went through the injury himself.
“It was something we felt for quite a long time, so to have him back is a sense of relief, and to see him on the scoresheet against Stoke was amazing, you saw how much it meant to him, but also all of us – we’re so happy he’s back with us, scoring goals.”
🎬 Opening day bangers 💣
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 11, 2021
👤 @Raul_Jimenez9, @rubendsneves_, @_DaveEdwards, Afobe, Bull, Keane and more!
🆚⚽️ pic.twitter.com/a6KBJP7p9S
On not setting season targets
“We’re at a football club where we don’t really put targets on ourselves, because if you do and don’t get there, you’re disappointed. What we target is trying to improve. We finished 13th in the Premier League last year, so we want to improve on that and that’s the most important thing for our football club and our players.
“We try that every single day, no matter what we’re doing, we try to get the best of ourselves. We’re all pulling in the same direction when it comes to these things as well.”
