The Portuguese performed impressively when utilised at left-back, showing another string to his bow, after displaying his capabilities at centre back when given the opportunity last term. On Tuesday evening Wolves host Preston North End in the Carabao Cup, and should Lage hand out opportunities to members of his squad, Toti is one player who would come into contention, and is raring to go for the season, having sat out the opening three Premier League games.
On playing a back four
“It’s nothing that I’ve not done before. I’ve already played in this formation in the past, but of course there are differences within each coach’s system, and there are also differences between the championships I was playing this formation in. But so far, it’s going well and we’re all adapting to the new style.
“I’ve also played a few times as left-back because of the injury to Nelson, but again, I’ve already played that position. Before I started playing centre-back, I was a left-back, so I can do that position as well, although I used to do it easier some years ago as I hadn’t got used to playing in the centre, but it’s another position which I can play if the coach needs me to.”
On his targets for the season
“I don’t really have any specific goals or targets in mind this season, I just want to keep working every day. Of course, I would like more game time, but every player wants to have that, but my main aim is to help the team as much as I can, help them every day in training, and after, when I have the opportunity to play, just give my best.”
"Hey, look at us..." 😆 pic.twitter.com/wXIH4qjVDP
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 19, 2022
On a good pre-season under his belt
“We started the pre-season and very soon after we went out to Spain and then Portugal as well. At the beginning of the pre-season, I had a little small injury, so I just stayed out for a week, a week-and-a-half, so that delayed me a little bit compared to the others in the group, but it wasn’t a big deal, I was still able to focus on what I needed to do to be ready for every challenge inside of the team.”
On bonding as a team
“It was a great time to get to know all of my teammates even better because it was my first pre-season with the team. It was good to be a part of the group since the beginning of a season, as I didn’t experience that last year. Everything was good, the training, and the rest we enjoyed a lot when we were there.
“Pre-season is not just thinking about the football, a big part of it is to do with the social side, spending time with your teammates and building relationships which will help you on the pitch. Those relationships we’ve built throughout pre-season will be really beneficial, and we’ve already seen that while we were out in Spain with those small games we would play outside of the football, the dinners that we had to bring everyone always together even more, and that will help us for the rest of the season, so it was really good to be a part of it.”
— Wolves (@Wolves) July 26, 2022
On the hard work on the training pitch
“This year, especially because we’ve changed the tactics and the formation of the team compared to last year, there have been a lot of things we’ve been working on specifically as a group as well as individually, especially for my position as we need to change.
“Last season we were a back three, this season we’re a back two, so we’ve been training that way since the beginning of the pre-season and improving as much as we can some of the little details and little things that will help the bigger picture.”
