Today’s third round tie is one of several important fixtures for the old gold during the next week, but the Irish centre-back believes his teammates will not be letting their standards slip as they switch their attention from the Premier League and an upcoming Carabao Cup quarter-final on Wednesday.
On a cup meeting with Liverpool
“This is why we love football and this is why we love to play football. You want to play against the big teams in the big stadiums.
“This is what I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid, so I’m not complaining about the games we have, I’m looking forwards to them all. I just want to enjoy the occasion. I’ve played in the big games against big teams and big players.
“The history this competition has in England makes it a huge game. If we can go on a run, that would be really good for the club, and really good for the fans and it will give us confidence. So we’re going to go in there with full belief that we can go and win the game and get through to the next round.”
On switching between league and cup
“Personally, I don’t think it makes a difference. Every game we go into it the same way. My way of going into a game is that every game is a must win and we want to win it, so it doesn’t really change for me.
“But I think we want to win every game, we want to get as far in a tournament as possible, we want to get as far up the table as possible, so every game we need to go into it with the right attitude.
“We’ve not talked about it yet because we’ve had other games to concentrate on, but we have to do our own job of recovering and get ready.”
A Ruben Neves @EmiratesFACup special against Liverpool.
— Wolves (@Wolves) January 6, 2023
🏆🚀 pic.twitter.com/qVjagBsMnA
On learning from point at Villa
“As soon as we got into the changing room Ruben [Neves] had the goal up on his phone and we were looking at what we could do better and it’s frustrating because we know we could have stopped that and we know that it could’ve been three points.
“But we didn’t lose the game and we took a point away from home against a team who have been performing well recently. There’s a long road to go but performances have been getting better.”
On performances improving
“Even when we’re under the cosh, we’re defending as a team, and we look good defensively. We got caught out once with their goal, but overall, we didn’t give them a lot.
“In the first-half against Villa, we went forward with the ball really well as a team and in the second-half we defended really well as a team.
“We are growing together, we’re growing as individuals, and everyone is looking better.”
Well played, @maxkilman 🥇👏
— Wolves (@Wolves) January 5, 2023
🔢 @ItsTradeNation pic.twitter.com/prXAz6t8KQ
On playing in a back four or five
“I have to trust what the gaffer is thinking and if he decides that’s what’s best to do then we will back him because he gets everything else right so far. I trust his decision, I trust Toti in there, I trust Max as well, so whether we’re a two or a three, it’s no problem.”
On being given confidence by Lopetegui
“His urgency, his belief in us and his tactics, the whole staff he’s brought in, has put everyone in a good place. Everyone is confident in our ability and he’s pumped that confidence into us.
“We still have a lot to improve on, but as you can see, everyone notices that we’re getting better as a team.”
