Davis | 'We’re putting huge demands on each other'

After his side created 21 opportunities on goal against Leicester City, Steve Davis has now called on the group to start turning them into goals.

The old gold dominated the Foxes in terms of shots of goal, but ended up well beaten, and Davis knows if that can be turned around, Wolves’ position in the Premier League table could change very quickly. Having analysed that 4-0 reverse during the week, and worked on ways to put things right, Davis is confident Wolves have the quality to become more clinical in front of goal.

On looking to add goals

“It was something we recognised straight away. We were struggling with creating chances, getting enough bodies in the box, breaking lines, getting in behind, all the things that take hard work, so they were the things we worked on the first week and I thought against Leicester was the best we’ve done it. What we didn’t do was deal with the four or five chances that they had.

“They were very clinical and showed us how we need to be when we get on the end of some of those crosses and chances in the box. We lacked a bit of confidence at the end to finish it off. We were a bit unlucky at times, the keeper made some good saves, and one was blocked on the line which he didn’t know much about.”

On analysing and improving

“As a coach, you’re looking at the positives and on Tuesday we analysed it. Our stats were our highest of the season in terms of crosses and touches in the box, so we’re getting that bit right, although the goals haven’t showed that yet. You’re hoping that if you continue with that number of chances in the next games, sooner or later some of them are going to go in.

“Obviously, we practice these things regularly. It’s easy on the training ground in the week, when there’s no pressure, balls are flying into the net. Now we’ve got to take them into the weekend games. You see the confidence in training, you see the movements and end products they produce.

“We’re putting huge demands on each other because we all want to do better. It’s important to be collective in that and keep trying to get more out of each other. I haven’t seen a lack of effort or commitment from anybody, everyone’s pulling together and we’re working hard to turn it around.”

On a reaction to last week

“We’re all very disappointed. It took us until Tuesday to analyse it and speak honestly about it. As a coach, you’re trying to pick out the positives and make the players see there’s a difference, and on the other hand looking for things to improve on. There are things we need to do better.

“You try to pick the team you think is going to win the game. We have a system we’ve stuck to and off the back of that we’ve created a lot of chances, just haven’t hit the back of the net. We’re hopeful that can change.”

On injuries in the camp

“Diego [Costa] on Wednesday picked up a little knock but we’re hoping he’s going to be OK. He’s trained today and haven’t seen to many aftereffects of that. I think he’ll be OK. We’ll assess him again. Toti’s started running this week, so it’s great to see him back out there. This week will probably be a bit too soon for him, but he’s on the road to being recovered. Everybody else is OK.”

On how things can change quickly

“When you look at the table, back-to-back wins can make such a difference. Suddenly you can find yourself halfway up the league. It’s very tight, but we know how hard it is to get points in this division. We remain positive, we know if we can get something out of the game, and we’ll certainly be scrapping hard for that, things can change very quickly. It’s very early in the season and there’s a lot of games to play.

“You know how quickly football can change. We’ve got to get the balance between how we attack and defend. If we can get that right, stick together and battle away, we have the talent. We’ve produced some excellent football already, but we’ve got to stop goals going in. Get that strong base to defend and recover.”

On Brentford’s quality

“Very powerful, organised, aggressive in and out of possession, and obviously have threats going forward. We’ve obviously analysed them very well, try to pick up on strengths and weaknesses, and tried to work on a plan this week to get something from the game hopefully.”

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