In his programme notes for the visit of Crystal Palace, Julen Lopetegui has reiterated the importance of the Wolves supporters arriving early to Molineux on Tuesday night and the impact the fans can have in the final six matches of the season.
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Good evening and welcome back to Molineux as we face Crystal Palace in the first of six finals that we have ahead of us.
Because of the schedule, we’ve had a very quick turnaround from Saturday’s match and I want the players to approach tonight’s game with a better mentality than what we showed against Leicester.
None of us were happy at the weekend because when you’ve lost, it’s always a bad feeling, but even more so when you lose a very important match, a match which was very physically and mentally demanding. However, whether we’ve won or we’ve lost, we have to stay balanced, and be ready for the next challenge, which comes this evening against Crystal Palace.
As soon as the match finished on Saturday, we were already putting our focus on tonight as we aim to achieve a good result, which is going to be key for us.
To be out of the relegation zone and stay in the Premier League is a very big aim for so many teams, but we’re going to have to fight a lot in all of the matches we have remaining. Until the end of the season, it’s going to be a very long and hard race – and this is something I repeat a lot because it is the truth.
We are still in the middle of the battle right now, and although people outside of the club might have thought after our wins against Chelsea and Brentford here at Molineux that our job was done, Saturday proved that is not the case.
And that has never been our mentality. At all. Inside the dressing room, the players are all very clear that we are still fighting to achieve our aim and we know how hard we are going to have to work during these last six finals.
To make it over the line, we also need the help of you, our supporters. We all want to do well and achieve our aims, but to do that, we need everyone; players, staff and fans, to bring everything they can to Molineux this evening.
I call on our fans to arrive inside the stadium 45 minutes before kick-off and help us from the warm-up and create the great atmosphere that matches under the lights here at Molineux are known for.
We need our supporters in all of the stands to come – as you always do – with the attitude to support us from the moment the players first walk out of the tunnel for the warm-up and through the whole match. Please don’t underestimate how much your support means to us and can help push us to achieve our aims – especially in the difficult moments that we will face.
On and off the pitch, we must be ready to do our job against a very hard team in Crystal Palace, and I welcome Roy Hodgson, his staff, players and supporters to Molineux this evening.
Roy is a very experienced manager who knows the Premier League better than anyone, so it is no surprise to me how well they have done since he returned. Crystal Palace are a team with very good players, but our focus before this game has been on our own strengths and what we can do to win.
We have to be ready for every challenge in front of us and we know we need to put everything inside of the pitch if we want to win, because each match is going to be a very hard task that requires a lot of hard work, but that work becomes easier when we hear your amazing support.
Please give us everything you can once again this evening and enjoy the game,
Julen.
