James Collins expressed delight after his under-21s beat PSV under-21s in the Premier League International Cup.
Wolves picked up their first three points of this season’s European competition, overcoming PSV 2-0. Enso Gonzalez and Dani Angel were on the scoresheet at Aggborough on Tuesday evening.
Collins was happy to speak on his side’s performance, highlighting back-to-back clean sheets and scoring twice before half-time. The boss also touched on this season’s International Cup campaign so far, concluding with turning attention back to league action where Collins’ side will face West Ham United.
On the performance
“I’m delighted. It’s a second clean sheet in a week which is great for us, we’ve had no problems scoring goals this season but we’ve definitely had issues keeping clean sheets, so the boys really pulled together to keep those two clean sheets.
“We played against a team tonight full of good players from the top division in Holland, they brought a strong team over, players from the first team. So to win 2-0, comprehensively in the end is good.
“We had to ride our luck in the first half a little bit and the start of the second half, but I thought by the end of the game we had done it well and we looked a threat as well going forward.”
On scoring twice before half-time
“I think we rode our luck early in the game at times, they're a good side, as good as you'll play in youth football, and as I said, it was a strong group they brought with them.
“I thought the first half we got a bit lucky in moments, the first 15-20 minutes, but then we settled into the game. We started to build patterns and got the spare midfielder on the ball, something we spoke about during the game and hadn’t done early in the game.
“Then following on from that, the goal helps, it gives you confidence, and then the second one was vital, just before half-time.
“Then the second half they came at us hard, pressing at the top of the pitch, but that’s hard to sustain for a whole half, so we knew if we could ride the first 15 minutes or so then we would be alright in the end which is how it turned out.”
On our PL International Cup campaign so far
“I’ve said many times, this is a great competition for us, the under-21s game programme is very good now.
“Playing international opposition like Real Madrid at Molineux, we conceded a late goal there, we felt we were better than RB Leipzig and felt we should've won that game, but ended up with a draw. Then tonight we rode our luck early but probably got what we deserved in the end.
“It’s a great competition, we've got one game left in it, Monaco. It would be nice to qualify but that's not the be all or end all, the importance is playing big games against different styles of opposition across Europe, and that's what the boys have experienced tonight.”
On West Ham next up
“West Ham are excellent, they're a really good side who won the Youth Cup a couple of years ago, so it's that same group. Similar position to us in the league I think, and they play a similar shape to us, so it'll be interesting to see what we do tactically to counteract that.
“It’s a tough opposition at a new venue, at Hednesford where they've got a new pitch so it'll be nice to play there and play some nice football to see if we can get something out of the game.”
