In Wolves’ past two outings, the 25-year-old has played alongside three different left-backs and in both a back four and back three, such are the strains of the business end of the season and the options at Lopetegui’s disposal. The Spaniard’s switch in system against Tottenham Hotspur, which saw Nathan Collins join Kilman and Craig Dawson in defence paid dividends, and the way in which the old gold battled to get over the line impressed Wolves’ number 23.
On a different kind of win against Spurs
“The first half we weren’t really playing great. They were dominating possession and created chances, but in the second half we showed a really good performance, which was good enough to win the game. In the second half we were resilient, pressed really well, kept the ball really well and created chances. It shows football is a game of two halves.
“If you look at the Bournemouth game, it was the other way around. We were dominating the ball and created chances but were just unfortunate that Bournemouth had one chance and they scored. It’s the Premier League, every team’s got that quality to punish you, even if they don’t have much of the ball, and luckily it was in our favour last week, but we backed it with a lot of quality and in the second half showed a real performance.”
On adapting to different defensive partners
“It doesn’t matter who you’re playing with, it’s more about the team. A lot of our success in the second part of the season has come from being a bit more organised as a team, more than the defence. It’s a team game, you start the attack from your goalkeeper, but also start defending from your strikers, so it’s a combination of everyone gelling together and we’re much better as a team. Everything’s clicked more.”
On moving to a back three
“We’d not played it in such a long time. We’ve been so used to playing in a back four this season. I played it a lot last season and we played it a lot as a team, but we had to adapt in the game. I think tactically it was spot on and I think it really helped us press Tottenham in higher areas, be closer to our players and win the ball back and create chances going forward after it.”
🖐 @premierleague wins under Lopetegui pic.twitter.com/glGYMNIcsy
— Wolves (@Wolves) March 6, 2023
On passing his experience to young left-backs
“I try to always talk to them throughout the game, when the ball’s out of play, give them a bit of information. They’re [Bueno and Ait-Nouri] both very talented players and can have big careers, and they’re doing that already. I like to help as much as possible, but they’re showing their quality and it’s really good to see – when they’ve had the opportunity to play, they’ve done exceptionally well.
“Once you get used to someone playing next to you all the time, you know what that player is going to do, his body shape, how he’s going to defend, all that. I’ve played with all three numerous amounts of times now, so you just need to quickly change your focus, I know their strengths and how they like to play, and you go from there.”
