Vitor Pereira understands his Wolves players need to start removing mistakes from their game, but he has taken full responsibility for the errors which led to his team falling to defeat to Leeds United.
After watching his team concede three in the closing stages of the first half at Molineux on Saturday, having opened the scoring early on, the head coach believes every mistake his team make are currently being converted by the opposition, leading to a winless start to the Premier League campaign.
And with supporters displaying their dissatisfaction at half-time and full-time of the 3-1 loss, Pereira says he understands the fans frustrations, but also believed his players have it inside of them to turn their fortunes around.
On defeat to Leeds
“It was a very good week of work together, and we had conversations to start the game strong and I felt that we wanted to do it. We scored a goal, but after the goal, we didn’t keep the pressure, especially in the defenders, and they start to have spaces to control the pace of the game and they scored a goal. And after the first goal, they got a free-kick and they scored the second one. And after that there were mistakes.
“But the mistakes are on me because every time when a player tries to do something, it’s my work. I assume this responsibility. But with this kind of mistake, trying to play in the middle, and we concede the third goal. In the second half, my opinion was completely different.
“We took risks, we were more aggressive on the pressure, we tried to switch the play to play from the sides, to take crosses, to create chances on the box, and we had some chances to score, but in the end, we didn’t score. But the second half was better because we didn’t concede counter attacks, we didn’t allow Leeds in our box, I remember just one or two times, and it was a different game in the second half.”
On the fans venting their frustrations
“I understand their feelings. But I know that we can change everything with a good result, to give us confidence so we have the tranquillity to play in our level.
“I am sure that we can do it together – with the supporters. But in this moment, I understand the supporters because they are as frustrated as I am.
“I am frustrated because I want to see them smiling in the end of a game and celebrating with the team, and for sure, we’ll do it again.”
On losing the opening five matches
“The pressure is the pressure that I put in myself, not the pressure of other people. I’m the kind of manager that focuses on what I can control. Of course, I want to win games.
“It’s the first time in my career one of my teams has lost five games [in a row] – I don’t remember something like this. But I’m resilient.
“I know that we can turn this situation around with a win. I know that the supporters love the team, they love the club, and they want wins, and that is what I want also, and I know what they are feeling, because I’m feeling it too.”
On eradicating mistakes from his players
“For me, it’s the mental balance. If you are in a good moment, you don’t do mistakes and it’s difficult to do these kinds of mistakes. When you want to help, you want to move the ball fast, you want to force a space, you want to control the opponent player every time.
“But at the moment, every time we commit a mistake, they score. But this league is like this. What I believe is to work hard every days, to improve, to increase our level, to not commit mistakes, to be more aggressive in our pressure, especially when we play at home and to start to score goals.
“We had chances to score today, but the third goal was the difference. When they scored the third goal, it mentally [affected the players]. But even at 3-1, I felt what we did in the second half was good and I need to keep this in my mind.”
