Gary O’Neil insists Wolves are doing everything possible to balance their attacking threat with being defensively solid as his side head to Fulham looking to extend their unbeaten run to four matches.
Ahead of Saturday’s visit to Craven Cottage, the head coach – who admits a few of his players are facing late fitness tests after the squad regrouped following the international break – is hoping Wolves can build on their first win of the season last time out against Southampton by claiming another three points against a Fulham side which features a few familiar former Old Gold faces.
On Bueno’s withdrawal from Uruguay
“Santi's done some work on the grass, he'll travel with us, and we're hopeful that he can make it.
“We have a few to check on, but I'm hopeful that we'll be ok. I’m confident we'll be able to name a strong team tomorrow. There are a couple of checks and I don't want to give too much away today, but I'm hopeful that we'll be fine.”
On building on an unbeaten run
“It's been an interesting season for us so far in that journey, not the results, just the performances I was really pleased with for such a long time at the start. I know you don't want to keep saying that because we weren't picking up enough points, but we had some tough opposition.
“We took Liverpool to the wire, we should have taken something off Newcastle, we were the better side at Villa for a long time, so there were some real good performances in there. But for some reason, when we arrived at Brentford, we fell a long way below the level. It was probably the first game that people outside of here would have gone, ‘You're not playing one of the big boys. Now let's see.’ And we fell well below the level and we gave ourselves absolutely no chance of taking anything from that game with how we went about it.
“A lot of work has been done then to try and figure out what we needed to do to give them a better chance of taking points in games. We've tried to do that over the last few weeks, and so far, points-wise, it's helped us. I think there's still a lot of room for improvement, and this will be a really tough test.”
On balancing scoring with keeping clean sheets
“It's just about how much you give up of that to protect the goal and we need to try and find the right blend. We do look like scoring goals, and before I arrived, Wolves struggled for years and years to score goals. They were one of the lowest scorers in the league for a very long time, and we always look like scoring now, and there are not too many games where we don't manage to score. But it's trying to find that right balance between that and making sure we're solid enough.
“We definitely don't want to take away from being an attacking team because some of our best moments come from Matheus Cunha’s freedom and getting players forward. But we do need to find a way to be solid. We need to help the boys with understanding how to defend the goal better. The front players need to protect them better, it’s about all of it as a team.
“The team needs to be better out of possession, and that’s a big focus. Sometimes you'll hear me talk about Matheus [Cunha], because he's unbelievably talented, and he wins us games on his own, but he wants me to be hard on him, and he wants me to improve him out of possession, and I work on it with him every single day. But that's the same with all of them.
“We have some real talented players, but we do have to work very hard to be a good team without the ball, because it's not easy. Premier League teams test you, and we need to be a good, well-organized, hard-working unit at all moments when we don't have the ball, and we're working very hard on that.”
On Andre’s lack of involvement in recent weeks
“He’s working very hard, but I think the central midfield area is one of our strongest areas. I was very impressed with him in his first few appearances, just the job against Manchester City maybe didn't suit him quite as well, and then he ended up losing his space at half time, and from that moment we've managed to be unbeaten.
“From putting a real good display in that game against Manchester City and then went to Brighton did well, played against Crystal Palace, played against Southampton, so it's just one of those moments for him. But he still works hard, he still shows his quality and he's still adapting to the difference.
“If you talk to him about the difference in football and the speed of the football and how it's played, it's a completely different game to what he's been used to playing, so he's still adapting to that. But he's going to be big for us, and we'll use him. Sooner rather than later, he'll have a massive impact on the team.”
On facing Fulham in the capital
“Fulham are one of the in-form sides, especially at Craven Cottage, they are always a tough test, so we'll need to be excellent. But we are in a decent moment – as strange as that sounds, of where we are in the league – five points from three Premier League games is always good going, especially with the pressure that was on those two home games coming before the International break, and to take four points from them was big, and we’ll try and carry some of that momentum into the next one.
“They've made good progression. I think they had a very good summer, I like the signings they made and I thought they recruited very well. I’m a big fan of Marco Silva and think he's an excellent coach. He's had a lot of time there but has used it very well. You can see there's a real good understanding and a real good style in what they do, and it's very lined up as well, in that the players they recruit fit excellently into what they want to do.
“It’s an impressive little transition they've had, because I remember I was involved at Bournemouth when we played them in the Championship, and from that moment, they've continued to grow and strengthen. As all the Premier League games are, it will be another real test for us.”
On taking on Raul Jimenez and Adama Traore
“I’m really impressed with the level that some of their players have managed to reach, and I think how much stronger they can get later in games as well when they make substitutes. If Adama doesn't start and if he starts Reiss Nelson and Iwobi, then you have Adama and Harry Wilson coming on, who have an unbelievable impact on football matches.
“The depth they have in a lot of their areas, if it's Jimenez’s day, Munoz will come on and is an excellent number nine. That’s what I mean with their recruitment and how well they've been able to line things up. Not only is their starting 11 very strong, but as soon as someone comes out, they just replace it like for like. If Anderson's injured, Diop fills in, so they're a well-balanced, well-built squad.
“But we go there with big hopes and we can cause them some problems. We need to be very good, of course, but big hopes, a big focus around ourselves and trying to maintain this little run that we've managed to create from a tough spot, and an opportunity to do that tomorrow.”
