Having fought from behind against bottom of the table Southampton last weekend, the head coach knows his side will encounter another difficult test at the hands of Bournemouth, sat just one place above the Saints in the Premier League table, as both teams try everything in their power to earn a much-needed three points. And despite the possibility of achieving a third successive top-flight win, Lopetegui insists there is no room for complacency within his squad.
On the players at his disposal on Saturday
“Lemina is out, but I think Danny [Podence] is closer to coming back with us. We have the long-time injuries and we haven’t had any problems with the rest of the players, but they all have to be ready, and after, we are going to choose the best line-up for each match.
“Each match is different and tomorrow we have in front of us a very dangerous team, a very good team with very clear ideas and maybe one of the best counter-attacking teams in the Premier League.
“Bournemouth know how to match the opponent. I saw the last match against Newcastle and they deserved more. They had the chance and a possibility to win against one of the stronger teams in the Premier League, so we have to be ready for tomorrow and all the players, whatever the line-up, have to be ready.”
On threat posed by Bournemouth
“We are going to be in a fight with about seven or eight teams until the end. We have to put the focus on each match now and Bournemouth are a very good team, they have good players, fast players, strong players, they are a tactically and technically good team and are very balanced.
“With the ball they are a very compact and narrow team, with very high quality players. They have new signings and have had plenty of recovery time for this match, so all of this means we are going to have a very big and very hard match tomorrow.
“Bournemouth and us, we both need a lot of points and we both want these points. The aim is that we want to beat them, but it’s going to be a very hard match, I think it will be harder than the last match, I am sure, and we have to be ready to have the best results against a very good team.”
On the differences between Liverpool and Southampton wins
“For me, it’s the same to beat one team to another. The most important thing is to get the three points in each match. We are not thinking about what team we beat to win the three points; the Liverpool points are no more important than the Southampton points – or the Bournemouth points that we’re going to have to fight very hard in the next match for.
“For me, each match is one challenge and I don’t highlight the name of the opponent, I put the highlight on the ability to win three points in each match.
“The story of each match is different, because when you compare the Liverpool match and the Southampton match, they were both different. We played 60 minutes without one player, Mario Lemina, so with 10 players and it added one more difficulty, but in the end, we adapt, we tried to overcome this difficulty and in the end we were lucky to win these three points.
“In that situation, we could lose, but we had a lot of spirit and I was happy with the win. Of course, we would like to win every match, but the way to win is to have good spirit, work hard and of course, try to improve each match.”
— Wolves (@Wolves) February 15, 2023
On removing any complacency
“We don’t have space to have complacency. We haven’t done anything yet and we have in front of us a need for a lot of points, as do a lot of teams.
“We hope that our fans, as always, they are going to be close to us and we’re going to feel their support because we need that. When we’re altogether it’s still going to be hard, but having their support is going to make it [a third successive win] more possible.”
On the impact of Wolves’ January signings
“The new signings have increased the competitiveness of our daily work. For me, this is very important because these players are going to help us improve our options to choose for the line-up, for the squad list and this is important. I have more possibilities to choose in different positions and this is good for the team.”
Can't stop finding the net 🔥
— Wolves (@Wolves) February 14, 2023
🇧🇷 @GomesOficial08 pic.twitter.com/EnnT7UgnXO
On changing his starting line-ups
“Sometimes you have to adapt from one idea and choose in each match the best line-up and the best idea for each match, because each match is different.
“We have one idea to play in each match, but because every match is different, we have to change the little details to overcome the opponent. The players have the possibilities to play in different ways, but all the ways to play are good if you are able to develop in a good way.”
