[ad_1]
Sunshine arrived at the Wolves’ training camp this week. That always lifts your spirits a bit and this is a club that needs a boost. “We have had a couple of good days,” Nuno Espirito Santo tells Sky Sports. “But the cold is back. The predictions are not very good.”
The prognosis for the Wolves season was much better than it seems. Seventh on their return to the Premier League, they repeated the feat while navigating European football last season. There was optimism that a lighter match list would present a real opportunity.
The Wolves were sixth in late November after winning at Arsenal, but the loss of Raúl Jiménez to a terrible skull fracture that day caused an alarming drop in form.
The replacements were unable to fill the void left by the team’s star forward. No Wolves player has scored more than five goals this season, a tally achieved by Diogo Jota with Liverpool on the night of Jiménez’s injury. Wolves go to the weekend in 14th place.
For Nuno it has been a new experience and he acknowledges that it has been difficult. On the field, his lowest result in the league as a coach before this was his 11th with Rio Ave seven years ago. Off the field, the stresses of the global pandemic have weighed heavily on his mind.
“I think it is the hardest season, the hardest time due to the pandemic. It is a challenge for everyone. The most important thing is that we stay close and support each other in this situation. It is really demanding for everyone.” aspects of society “.
At first glance, the Wolves’ particular problems can be explained by the absence of Jiménez. The team scored 34 Premier League goals without him in each of their two previous seasons and the rest of the team won’t be far behind that total this time.
Unfortunately, Fabio Silva, the teenager who was asked for a substitute more than anticipated, has scored just two goals, both goals in losses. Willian José, the seasoned Brazilian drafted on loan in January, has yet to find the net in nine Premier League appearances.
The search for alternative solutions has given rise to more questions than answers. Formation changes designed to boost creativity only resulted in compromising defensive structure. The familiar patterns that had once given the Wolves their advantage were lost.
Nuno says that it is impossible to reduce the struggles to a single issue.
There have just been too many.
“It has been a different challenge because of the situations that we have faced. Many different circumstances that did not happen to us before and that have required a different approach.
“This season has not been linear in aspects of the team’s performance, there were different moments of our season that we must separate. We have always had small problems that create problems for us. The moment you fix them, there is another one to come.
“Sometimes you have problems in defense, you are not that solid or compact and you concede easy goals that make your task very difficult. We face that problem during the season that we always fit in first. That always requires a great reaction from the team.
“There was a time when we couldn’t perform as well in the first half as we did in the second, so there was that stigma. We faced those different situations. So it’s not about conceding or not scoring goals, it’s about finding the right one. balance we need.
“The players need to improve, to realize that we did not do so well during part of the season. We cannot repeat that again. We are working on that, realizing that to achieve things in football you have to react, you have to recuperate”. of difficult periods “.
He has tasted Nuno like never before. In the past, your team chose itself. When you name your team against West Ham, the number of line-up changes for the season is likely to exceed that of your first Premier League campaign with eight games to play.
Did you enjoy the challenge of solving the puzzle?
“Enjoying is not the word. The word is focus. Focus on those little details that can make a difference. It’s part of the job. When things happen, you need to react. That can only make it better. New solutions are required and it’s up to us to find them within. of us.
“The tasks of the individual have been the main focus because we know that we have a talented team that needs routines to produce good football.
“The challenge is to find those aspects in players that we did not expect to play so many times and so many times together in such a short time. Players who have already arrived in the space of a pandemic who are struggling with social aspects.
“I am sure that all of this will make us better for the future.
“I’m very sure of that.”
In fact, Nuno is more forceful when he insists that the worst period of the Wolves is behind him. There are several reasons for this. First of all, this three-week gap between games is not insignificant for a club that only had five weeks between seasons in the summer.
“The long weeks of preparation can help us,” he says.
“We have used the time to work on other things.”
Second, the team takes shape again. Nelson Semedo and Jonny’s first-choice full back pair are finally together. They were joined in the starting lineup for the first time by the return of Willy Boly last time against Liverpool.
Nuno shrugs off the suggestion that, following Jiménez’s return, he might finally be able to name the team he had imagined all along – “I never pick a team this early in the season” – but nonetheless, there is a sense of that Wolves might look more like Wolves again soon.
“I’m really positive because the players are coming back,” says Nuno.
Of course, that comes too late to achieve great notoriety this season. The FA Cup exit to Southampton was a huge disappointment given the lack of obvious goals in the Premier League. It even sparked some murmurs of discontent among supporters.
With no fans in the stadium, the loudest voices on the internet have gained greater prominence, but a recent fan poll suggests the vast majority still expect Nuno to stick around for a long time. Your extraordinary donation of £ 250,000 to local causes resonates.
As for the man himself, he admits that he lacks that direct connection to fans.
“Unfortunately, we have lost it. It is clear that we have lost it. We miss their presence in Molineux. We miss the joy of finishing a match and walking towards them and feeling the real mood of the people. We have lost that.” . We hope you come back soon. It’s about the fans. Without fans, the game loses its intensity and its advantage. “
Still get the fan feeling? What interaction is there now? “Not as much as I would like because we are inside a bubble that we have to respect. I get into my car at my house and get out of my car when I get to Compton, so there are not many chances of contact.
“This is the message I send to the players because we still have to play football because society needs football to stay engaged so that people have a little joy. I realize that the fans are still waiting for the moment. of the party to be able “. see your team. “
That is why he insists that a good ending is still important.
“What happened before during the previous seasons, we always had different scenarios ahead of us. What has not changed is the obligation to compete and perform.
“That’s always our obsession. We’re going to compete. Let’s play. Let’s demand more of ourselves no matter what happens. We still have a lot of big games that we have to compete in.”
“It’s always important. This is our attitude. But we can’t test ourselves until Monday. That will be the first game. We have to go where we need to go. This is our main goal now.”
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
[ad_2]
