Vitor Pereira says Wolves will “work and work and work” over Christmas to ensure the group is in the best possible place come kick-off at 5.30pm on Boxing Day.
The new head coach enjoyed a dream start to his tenure on Sunday, with a 3-0 win at Leicester City, but Pereira still saw things he wants to improve before facing Manchester United on Thursday. Pleased to have Rayan Ait-Nouri back from suspension, and hopeful on the fitness of Mario Lemina, Pereira has been pleased with the start but knows the hard work is only just beginning, with a group willing to learn under his stewardship.
On Lemina’s fitness
“I think it is a small injury, but I didn't want to take the risk. Because we don't have a lot of midfielders, I hope that he is able to help us [against Man United].”
On getting a song out of Guedes
“I can give him confidence, for sure. I can increase the tactical skills, and he needs to know that to play with me he must run, he must fight. He must work for the team, not only for himself. This is for him and for everybody. I want to let the players express themselves, but working for the team, simple.”
On having Ait-Nouri back from suspension
“He has quality. Between Rodrigo and Ait-Nouri, they have different skills, different qualities. I think it’s good for the team. The diversity of the qualities of the players increases the level of the team.
“When we change a player, we put on the pitch other qualities, and if these qualities are working for the group, for the team, this is why football is beautiful. When you change the players, you have other qualities on the pitch. I don't want, in the same position, two players with the same skills, the same qualities. I like that they are different because they give me the opportunity to change something.”
On the training schedule over Christmas
“We'll rest, and in the rest time, we need to have the tactical skills to help them, even when they are resting, when they are recovering. It means that I must do the corrections that we need. We cannot play, but we can reproduce the actions that we want to increase or to correct in a small time. If I want to correct something in the defensive organisation, we will do it, but in short periods of time. This is the way that we can recover and correct the tactical things.
“The plan is to work and work and work. I just know one way to increase the level is working and working. Doing mistakes, correcting mistakes, and trying to work again. I need to give confidence to the players.”
On implementing his ideas
“We will improve, will be better than Sunday. OK, the result was result fantastic. I'm very happy inside, but I believe that we can do it in a better way. When we arrive in the box, we need to understand the position that we need to arrive to score, because I don't want to players in the same space.
“It was a short time to work, we will improve for sure. We’ll improve our possession, our defensive organisation. I just need a few weeks. I don't need a lot of time to put this team playing in the way that I want, because I know what I want and they are open to this kind of play. I want to play with quality. For me, football is not only the results. For me, it must be a beautiful game.”
On communicating in different languages
“I speak Portuguese, I can speak a bit in English, a bit in French, a bit in Spanish. This gave me the possibility to make them understand me. But the communication in football is universal. They know the message because the words are every time the same words, repeating the same words and they start to understand what I mean.”
— Wolves (@Wolves) December 23, 2024
On facing a fellow Portuguese in Amorin
“No, we never played against each other. I'm older than him. I took a lot of time to arrive here, because I made maybe bad steps in my career and I missed the opportunity to come sooner. Amorin is the new generation of Portuguese coach with a lot of talent in the communication, tactical talent, strategical talent, and I believe that he will do very good work in the Premier League.
“You can play in 4-3-3 and your 4-3-3 is completely different than my 4-3-3. In my opinion, what’s important is the dynamic of the system. When we try to understand the system that they [any team] play, almost all the time they attack in one system and they defend in another system. It means that it's difficult to say we are working in this system, because after the dynamic will change the system. It depends what I want to create, if I want to change something. But the big principles, they are the most important in football, the big principles, the intentions.”
