Rob Edwards insists Wolves can’t let Friday’s defeat to West Ham United affect the positive momentum which has been built in recent weeks.
The Old Gold started well at the London Stadium, but the game got away from them during three chaotic second half minutes, and the Old Gold were unable to recover, eventually going down by four goals to nil.
Edwards spoke honestly with the players in the changing room, demanding they “take their medicine” for the defeat, but remain competitive during the final two months of the season.
On a heavy defeat at West Ham
“I’m really surprised. It's a bit baffling, speaking to the players at the end, I can't really get my head around how it ran away from us. I thought the performance in the first half was good. We started the game really well, so I was really disappointed to concede the goal in the manner that we did, trying to stop that cross in the first half and the second phase from the set piece.
“Even at half-time I felt we were right in the game, and I think we'd been the better team, but we got punished for our mistakes in the second half, those quick-fire goals, and the game ran away then. Obviously, the stadium erupted, they felt more confident, and loosened off a lot, and at 3-0 it was really difficult for us.”
On the gap between matches
“I don't feel that was the case. Their fast transitions are quick, they’ve got players who wait for the right moment, and they punished us for those two goals, and then obviously they can attack quickly. I didn't feel like we were leggy, I didn't feel like people were struggling for fitness. I don't think 25 days away from playing helped, but I won't use it as an excuse.”
On not letting it affect morale
“It's really important that we make sure we show the best of ourselves during the remaining games, we've got to respond well at Elland Road next week, which we know will be a very difficult game. The lads know, they're nodding their heads as I'm speaking in there.
“In a couple of moments we got punished tonight. You look at the score line, but I don't feel like it was that sort of game anyway. We’ve got to deal with it, that's reality, we’ve got to take our medicine. We've got to take the criticism and we've got to be able to make sure now we respond.”
On looking after Mane
“He’ll be fine. We make mistakes as a team. A couple of our best players in him and Joao got robbed of the ball for those goals, but then there's still a lot that's got to happen. So it's a collective it's not an individual making a mistake.”
On a positive start
“I thought we were really threatening, and I thought we were pressing very well. I thought we were playing really well with the ball. At half-time we wanted to take a bit more of a risk and to make sure the final action counted. Maybe we could have taken more of a risk, maybe we were a bit safe at times in the first half, but the first goal in these sorts of games is always important.”
