Vitor Pereira says the “personalities and souls” of his group give him confidence that Wolves can cope without the suspended Matheus Cunha.
The head coach is preparing his players for Everton under the Molineux lights on Saturday night and has called on all those both on and off the pitch with an Old Gold connection to unite in a bid to pull the club away from the drop zone.
During Friday's press conference Pereira had positive news from the treatment room, with Emmanuel Agbadou and Rodrigo Gomes returning to fitness, and the head coach is pleased to be going into the Toffees clash with stronger selection options, which he believes will be important.
On a crucial period of the season
“This is a very important moment of the season, and I don't believe in a team that is built around one player. This is not football for me. Of course, individual qualities can help a lot for sure, because if you take the best players from Liverpool, they will, for sure, not be the same team.
“But I believe that the most important thing in this sport is the team, the way that the team will react, the way that the team shows the personality and the hunger to win. This is the moment to show this, to prove that we are strong as a team. Without doubt, I'm very, very positive.”
On team news in the camp
“It’s very positive, because Agbadou is ready to help us. Munetsi had a problem in the last game, but he is ready to help the team. Guedes is ready to help the team. Rodrigo is ready to help the team. Bellegarde got something in the last game, but he's ready to help the team. It means that I'm happy and positive for this game. ‘Doc’ trained with the team yesterday. He will train today, and we’ll check how he feels.”
Agbadou presenting Bellegarde with the SUDU Player of the Month award for February 🏆
— Wolves (@Wolves) March 7, 2025
On facing a tough Everton side
“They were doing fantastic work in the last month. But my focus is my team, because it's the only thing that I can control. We will go to face them, a good team, they were competing with every team in the last games. We need to play our game and to correct some behaviours from the last game that we lost. We need to recover as soon as possible, to be ourselves, to play as Wolves.
“I'm very confident for the future, with Cunha or without Cunha, because I know my players, I know the personalities, I know the soul of them. They will give us a strong response in this game, for sure.”
On the support at Molineux
“We feel we are in an important moment of the season, and we must make our supporters proud. They must show the spirit of a wolf. We must show on the pitch, and they must show outside. We need to be connected, to feel the energy and to play, because I believe that we cannot only fight. We need to play because it's football, but it will be a battle, and I want to see my team with character, showing the character as a wolf.
“We had a lot of physical problems in the game. Everything happened, because Doc had the problem, Munetsi had the problem, Bellegarde had a problem, Cunha had a problem, Larsen was not ready to play extra time. 70 minutes was the plan, but in the end, he played more. Three or four players on the pitch were not in conditions to be themselves. If we look at the football that we played, it was very difficult for us this game, and we must admit that it was a day with a lot of problems.”
