Despite sitting bottom of the Premier League with relegation confirmed, Rob Edwards insists the effort of his Wolves players cannot be questioned, but rather a lack of quality.
The Old Gold host Sunderland at Molineux on Saturday as they look to put an end to a run of three defeats in succession, although Edwards confirmed the side will be missing two key players in Jose Sa and Ladislav Krejci to injury.
But in spite of the situation the team find themselves in, the head coach is remaining optimistic ahead of facing the Black Cats, and believes his players will continue to give their all to try and give supporters something to cheer about before the season is up.
On injury news ahead of Saturday
“Krejci is progressing well, but he won’t be right for tomorrow. We’re hopeful for the week after. He joined in parts of training today, but obviously it’s too soon to come into it.
“Then Sa is a slight doubt again, but not with the issue that he had on his shoulder and his back, it’s more his ankle, so we’re going to try and get that right. There’s a chance that he misses potentially the next game or two, because we’re really keen to try and get that right. He’s been playing through quite a bit of pain for a while now, so I think it’s the right thing to do.”
On the threat Sunderland pose
“They’ve done incredibly well and have had a fantastic couple of years, so deserve a lot of credit. It’s going to be a very difficult game. They’ve got some really talented individuals, they’ve got power and athleticism in the team, and an effective way of playing.
“I know they had a difficult time last time out, but they’ll be looking to try and bounce back from that. It’ll be a tough game, as they all are, but look where we are in the league, every game for us is a big challenge.”
On fighting until the end
“It’s a difficult situation, but I feel that we’re getting the most out of the group. Every day, they’re coming in, they’re giving their absolute all and from when we first came in to now, the training levels are through the roof.
“That side of it can’t be questioned, certain bits can be – a bit of quality – and we’ll always make mistakes, and there’ll be things that we can improve on. I’m not saying we’re perfect, but the lads are giving everything.”
On fan frustrations
“Their support has been incredible. I’m absolutely fine with them being angry and venting their frustration because we’re bottom the league and we’ve lost three games in a row. They’re going to be angry and you have to take it.
“You can only win when you win. You know you’re going to get away with it when you win, and even then, sometimes people aren’t happy, so you just have got to accept that side of it.
“But this has been a really difficult season for the club, and the fact they’re turning up the way they are, the noise they made during that game last week was brilliant from the start, right the way throughout the game to the end, so they’ve been absolutely class and we're going to need that.”
On reacting to disappointment
“In the end, we’ve got to win games of football, so we’ve got to find a winning team again. I left a really good role and a club that was winning and came into a role where I knew we were not going to keep everyone happy this year. I knew that and I accepted it, so I’m going to have to stay strong, and believe in what we’re doing and what the football club is doing.
“I’m going to have to take a lot on my shoulders, take some criticism and take some stick, but then believe we’re going to do the right things and we will be able to turn things around in the long run. Results are unfortunately the one thing that we can’t guarantee, but we’re trying to do the right things.
“We’ve known for a long time what the situation is and what was probably coming, so we’ve had a long time to try to get ready for what’s next, and it’s how we react when we go forward. That’s the important thing.”
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On the expected player turnover in the summer
“We’ve got some good individual players. I know there’s going to be interest and some of them are going to leave, and if they do, it has to be right for the football club as well as the individual. Joao [Gomes] is a really talented player, but we will see what happens with him, but we’ve lost really talented players in the past and it’s making sure we’re really good in the market, so that when we do lose some of our good players, we’re bringing in some really good ones.
“Recruitment is going to be everything. We’ve had one window and we did quite a lot of work in that time, but there’s going to be more needed again in the summer. Everyone wants to be able to snap their fingers and just get it all perfect and get it up and running straight away.
“But this was always going to be a challenging job, and it’s going to take a little period of time to be able to get it to where we want it, but I think the summer will certainly set us in the right way.”
On Wolves Women’s play-off final
“They’ve done great and obviously I wish them all the best on Monday. It’s a big game for them and it’ll be an amazing achievement if they’re able to get promoted, so I wish them all of the best.
“But whatever happens, they’ve had a fantastic season anyway, so they deserve a lot of credit. They’ve represented the football club really well this year and we really hope they can do it on Monday.”
Tickets for the play-off are now on sale here at the advance prices of £10 for adults and £5 concessions.
