Vitor Pereira says a clinical streak was the difference between Wolves and Manchester City on the opening day at Molineux.
The visitors scored with all four of their shots on target at Molineux, punishing Wolves for their defensive mistakes, while the Old Gold failed to make the most of their own opportunities in front of goal.
The head coach wasn’t overly harsh on his side, given the quality of the opposition, but knows there’s work to be done to rectify the mistakes made on day one, which will begin straight away for the Old Gold squad.
On the opening day defeat
“In our minds, in our hearts, we have [Diogo] Jota and his brother. We tried to do our best to get a good result, but it was not possible because we faced a strong team, technically strong, individually strong, tactically strong, with a lot of options.
“We did good things, in my opinion. We play with bravery and we tried to score goals. We had our chances to score, but each time that we committed a mistake, they punished us with a goal. Every time they committed mistakes, and we had a chance to score, we missed the goal – it was the difference between one team and the other team.”
On the positives on show
“We showed a good spirit and ambition to score, ambition to not just defend but to press them, to force them, to push them. In the end, the result is the result for us, but for us keep good things, improve the bad things.
“The spirit that I want is this spirit. We tried to be on the pitch with ambition, trying to score. We created some good chance to score. We did some good movements. Defending, sometimes at a good level. I will take the good things with me, and we'll correct the things that we need to correct. This is the only way that I know in football to increase the level.”
On the game turning suddenly
“We scored first, and it was offside. If you score first, it’s different. We conceded the first goal, when something in the middle was missing, and they have the quality to create this kind of chance. The second goal we offered. Building the play in the middle was not the plan, but I understand everybody can commit mistakes, even me, and the way is to correct. Second half, we started with a big chance for 2-1. After, counter attack, another goal, the third goal, and each mistake they punish us.”
On chasing the game
“They [the subs] went inside with the spirit that I like to see. We were losing the game, so it's natural that they want to go there to help and to press more, but against this kind of team, if you open the space in between the lines, or you stay man to man, they have players to find the solutions and to create problems.
“This is not the result that I want, but losing 1-0, I'm not a manager to say to my team that we wait for them. We need to believe that risking a little bit we can score, and we had chances. We have three or four chance to score, but we didn't and in the end they scored more two goals. But this is football. This is a risk. I want to see this bravery in my team.”
On Arias on the bench
“Jhon is a player with a lot of quality. He's coming from Brazil, a different league. He needs a little bit of time to understand what we want, but he's a player that has the quality.”
