Jon Dadi Bodvarsson believes Wolves’ confidence will remain strong as they aim to bounce back from their Barnsley nightmare at in-form Newcastle United tomorrow (3pm).
Wolves will travel to the Toon for the first time in four-and-a-half years tomorrow to take on a Newcastle side which has won six games on the spin and not conceded in the last five.
A tough task, but one Bodvarsson feels Wolves need to relish and embrace, especially after the disappointment of Tuesday’s 4-0 defeat.
“Tuesday was a hard kick in the butt and sometimes that is necessary in football, and makes you even better in the next games,” he says.
“There is not a lot of time to talk about what happened.
“Now we go straight into the Newcastle game.
“We don’t need to motivate ourselves for Newcastle which is a really attractive cliub to come up against.
“You always want to test yourselves against the best teams.
“We want to bounce back but it will be a tough game.
“I don’t think the Barnsley game will affect our confidence.
“We know what we can do – unfortunately it happened and we talked about it but I am confident we can bounce back.
“I am not focusing on what Newcastle are doing and what their last results were.
“We need to focus on ourselves, believe in the things we are doing and keep the momentum that we had at the start of the season.
“If we do that then everything is possible.”
There were of course lessons to learn from Tuesday’s late collapse, which left the Icelandic striker almost in stunned silence on the pitch at full time.
But Bodvarsson is confident Wolves will learn those lessons, and also show their character at St James’ Park.
“It was a little bit of a shock and there was not much talk in the dressing room afterwards,” he says.
“Every individual in the team thinking about how it went so wrong and focusing on trying to get an explanation
“We had a meeting the next morning and went through the game together and learned a lot from it.
“There is a difference between losing, and losing 4-0 at home.
“If we do that then we have to check the game and learn from it as quickly as possible because the schedule is tight.
“We needed to analyst the game together in the meeting room and express ourselves and talk about it and then we have been training hard and focusing on the next opponents.
“You don’t want to come off the pitch at your ground after losing 4-0.
“You want to at least get a consolation goal or show the fans that you want to challenge the opposition much more than we did.
“Unfortunately they punished us and we just collapsed a little after their first goal.
“We have been talking together and focusing on each other’s games and learning from it.
“It is important to bounce back and show the character of the team.”
Tuesday night apart, Bodvarsson has enjoyed his first couple of months in English football where he has already become something of a fans’ favourite.
He has settled quickly and is confident there is much more to come, both individually and from the team.
“I love it here, it is a really nice club and it has been easy for me to settle here,” he says.
“I speak English and the guys here are more open and welcome you as they know it is important for new players to settle in fast.
“I have to give them a really big credit for that – they have been fantastic to me, the same as the coaching staff, the fans, and the club in general.
“When that all adds together it makes you more comfortable in the pitch and you enjoy yourself more.
“That is so important and it has been fantastic so far and will hopefully carry on like that.
“I had always wanted to play in English football and now that I am here it feels right.
“My confidence is high and I am settling in quickly.
“I didn’t expect the reaction from the fans - it has been a major plus and fantastic to have that behind your back every game.
“I feel the atmosphere in the game when I am playing and I feel the fans appreciate me and I want to do everything I can to give something back.
“It always motivates me when they give me that energy and hopefully I will score more goals and we will have more victories to say thank you to them.”
*Wolves have SOLD OUT of their allocation for tomorrow’s game and fans without a ticket are urged not to travel to St James’ Park.
