Julen Lopetegui believes the support of the Molineux faithful on Tuesday night is going to be key in helping Wolves achieve a crucial result against Crystal Palace.
With just six matches remaining this season, the head coach knows the importance of picking up as many points as possible in each match, beginning with a match under the Molineux lights against Roy Hodgson’s rejuvenated side.
On the importance of Tuesday night’s fixture
“To win each match in the Premier League, you have to play well, you have to defend well, and do well in all of the matches, not just in phases.
“As always, we are going to be able to compete and overcome a very good team as is Crystal Palace. You talk about the quality players, but not all teams have the quality that Crystal Palace has so we have to be focused and ready to do a complete match in all the phases; in the offensive phase and the defensive phase.
“As you get closer to the end of the season, each match becomes more important. We know that, but we have to put the focus to be ready in our work, how we want to play and how we are going to develop our idea on the pitch tomorrow. It’s important to think about us.”
On support from the Molineux stands
“The energy and the spirit that our fans can build is going to be key for us. I repeat this a lot, but especially in the bad moments in the match because you are going to have those as you are playing against very good teams.
“Sometimes you are dominating the play and sometimes you’re not, so we have to feel this spirit and this energy and I’m sure that they understand that we have arrived in the key moments of the season.
“We have fought very hard to have this possibility, so it’s a good thing to think about four months ago where we were and now the chance that we have. But in football and in sport, the most difficult thing is what you still have to do and we’ve got to put the focus there, so the energy and the support of the fans is going to be key.
“The players feel that. Undoubtedly. It’s very important to create this atmosphere and this energy around the team that pushes you when you are tired and you have doubts, this support is very important.”
On Mario Lemina’s fitness
“It's not the severity of the injury that we thought at first after assessing him. Tomorrow morning, we are going to see more, so we will see tomorrow if he’s going to be ready or not. If not, we are going to have one other player who is ready.
“He has played well, as have the rest of the team during the first-half, but we played three days ago and tomorrow we have one other match, that’s why I prefer to put the focus on the work we have to do tomorrow.”
On a quick turnaround
“As have the rest of the teams. When you play inside three days, you have to change your mentality quickly. Maybe you won, maybe you lost, but the next match is going to be the most important thing, and we are in this.
“In football you have to be able to do this because sometimes you win and sometimes you’ve lost, and you have to be balanced. We are the same when we have won, so you have to be balanced for the next challenge and the next chance and the next aim, which is always the same. Now we play a new match after three days and we try to forget all the things from Saturday, and be focused on the present, which is tomorrow’s match.
“Of course, you watch and you analyse to see what you did well and what you can do better, but you have to change very quickly to show the players what kind of players they’re going to face and show them the game plan that we have in such a short space of time.”
On focusing on Palace
“I only think in the present, I am a very objective man; the past is the past, the future is the future, and now is the present, which is the most important thing. We have to put the focus on tomorrow, knowing that each match has its difficulties.
“Tomorrow, it’s very clear the kind of team we are going to have in front of us. The last matches they have played away, they have won in a big way and have very clearly overcome their opponents, that’s why the quality of their players is undoubtedly very high, so we have to be ready for tomorrow. We have to be ready to do our best to overcome a good team like Crystal Palace.”
On a first battle against Hodgson
“He has a big merit. The career that he has had, all of the coaches admire him. He has shown he is still ready to compete with all the coaches because he has changed his team a lot in such a short time and this is because we are talking about a legendary coach in England.
“He has plenty of energy to have decided to accept this job. I don’t know him, I haven’t had the honour to know him and I look forward to meeting him, but he has a big merit and has shown that in these last matches.”
Supporters who can't attend Tuesday night's match at Molineux can watch it live on BT Sport. Click here to buy a BT Sport Monthly Pass which offers access to all BT Sport channels and coverage for 30 days, including Wolves vs Crystal Palace.
