Matt Doherty has called on his Wolves teammates to stand up and fight for the badge rather than take the easy way out and look for a move away from the club in January.
After Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Brentford at Molineux, which will leave the team on just two points heading into Christmas, the defender admits the current situation at Molineux has left him feeling as low as he has been in his dozen years wearing gold and black.
However, with Doherty determined to do everything possible to help the club turn the situation around, he’s appealed for his teammates to stand up and be counted during the rest of the season, so not to be known as one of the worst performing teams in Premier League history.
On another home defeat
“We’re not finding it easy at all. We’re very hurt, but we need to show up, we need to act. It’s easy to say all these things, that we’re hurt, but we just need to show more on the pitch.
“We were in the game for 60 minutes, we feel like we’re doing ok, and then we concede the goal and it just feels that we conceded the same goal again after that. It’s just a bit too easy for them.
“I need to see it back as I haven’t seen them back, but it feels like the ball just took a bounce or something but there is not much to say other than it’s just not good enough.”
On his lowest point at Wolves
“When we were in League One, we were winning every game anyway, but obviously when we got relegated into the Champ, I was only kind of around towards the back end of that season, but you were still winning games in between some losses.
“I remember when we went down then [into League One] and that was a terrible feeling. I was around, but I didn’t play that much and this is the worst I’ve felt in a long time.
“You can see the stadium is nearly empty at the end, it’s not full at the start, but we’re just lacking belief that we can actually win the games. We’re afraid and scared to win the game, almost nervous about actually going ahead in the game and having to try and hold on. I don’t really know what else to say. We’ve just got to somehow keep trying to find something.”
On coming into the game with confidence
“We have had a better two weeks in training where the intensity and the energy and everything looked really good, and you could tell with our performance against Arsenal, we were definitely better. But when you’re playing at home in a situation like this, that’s where you’ve got to show real character, when the atmosphere isn’t great, and the energy is not in the stadium – and we completely understand why.
“But that’s where you have to show your character and come out and want the ball and be brave. Even if you’re not confident, getting around the pitch, running hard, pressing people. As a professional, there’s loads of weeks where you don’t have it technically, where you’re just a bit off on the day, but you can still run around.
“And we’re doing that for about an hour. We’re in every game almost until an hour and then we concede a goal, and then we just never look like getting back in, which is obviously disappointing. Then you concede another and it’s like we’re watching the same game back every week.”
On Strand Larsen’s penalty miss
“You have to be 100% in this league. Even for myself, carrying a lot of injuries this year as well, you’re just not going to get that many results if you’ve got a few players carrying stuff, but at the moment, we’ve got no choice.
“This is the squad that we have, lads have to play. Jorgen’s a very good striker, he’s obviously suffering, probably from our lack of creativity, but we know how good he can be. We know the goals he can score and he proved that last year in Premier League. The hardest thing to do in the Premier League is score goals, so we know that he’s got it in him.
“Missing the penalty is not the reason why we lost the game at all, so he’s not to take any blame for that, but he’s going to be fine. He’s a good character, he’s a strong character, so he’ll be able to get through this, I’m sure.”
On signing new players in January
“It's not hopefully, it has to be. We’ve got no choice, we’re going to need something, whether that’s in the loan market, or whatever. People who can see our situation and still want to come and want to help. We’re just going to need something. We’re going to need some fresh energy.
“I’m not saying what positions we need, but we need something. I’m sure the club will be looking, I’m sure they’ll be working behind the scenes, and from what I remember, the club has always been proactive in the market.”
On players taking accountability
“We’re going to need everyone who’s here now also to find the level of where we were last season, because a lot of us are still here from last season, and last season, we got ourselves to a good level of performance to stay in the league, because we were in a tough spot this time last year as well. Obviously, this is a lot worse, but we need to find the levels, myself included.
“It’s easier to do that away from home, but you still have half your season at home. We need to do some soul searching and have a look in the mirror and just figure out what we want to be remembered for at the club
“Do we want to be remembered for fighting all the way to the end of season, or do we want to be remembered for being cowards and taking the easy option, maybe trying to leave in January, or not fighting and training, and letting other people take your position? We need to look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out how we want to be remembered at the club.”
