Wolves under-18s head coach Richard Walker was upbeat about the overall performance his side gave at home against undefeated opposition Manchester United, despite a 1-0 defeat.
A second half goal from Jaydan Kamason edged it for the Red Devils at Compton Park, and Walker believes his players caused plenty of problems for a side who have a 100% record in the league this season.
On what pleased him most
“The performance as an overall, I think Manchester United have pretty much just brushed everyone else in the league aside and won at a canter pretty much every game to the point where they've scored eights and nines in games.
“That was a proper game today, that could have gone either way. There was a lot of quality in our side, we were stretching and caused them a lot of problems.
“Particularly disappointed to come out the Youth Cup on Tuesday evening and I think the response from the players was excellent, in terms of executing the tactical plan, with and without the ball, the endeavour to work, to run, but also the bravery to take the ball, and the game was again really in the balance right until the final whistle.”
On how the game changed after going behind
“Goals change games. I've got to say I think Manchester United were really frustrated with the manner in which we defended, and I think they were questioning whilst they've been scoring goals all season, I think there was a doubt in their mind that we're going to score and I sensed that.
“I think when they did score, you could see in their celebration the relief. And naturally, that's going to dent us a little bit in terms of momentum we've built, but the response was positive.”
On what was the best way to break the opposition down
“In terms of the open spaces, it was a strange one. They had real athletes on the pitch, so I don't think we were ever going to run away with them with a fast counter, I think we were going to have to be intricate and get ourselves up the pitch connected so that if we did turn over possession, we could affect the play with a counter as opposed to having to gobble up 50-60 yards on the transition.
“We absolutely bombarded them with chances and every set-piece of ours we were threatening, we also had two chances that I'd anticipate we would take seven or eight times out of ten.”
On players coming off injured and developing the depth of the squad
“You want players on the pitch to develop individuals, you've got to make sure you protect them, and I don't think anyone was too serious as such.
“Conor McLeod’s got a little bit of a knee injury that we looked at. I don't think there's any real alarm bells at this minute of time, touchwood. We ended the game with two under-16s and an under-15 on the pitch, so we were significantly younger than them in that aspect but that's what we want to do. We want to make sure that we get the right balance and let individual players thrive because that's ultimately what we're here for.”
By Rivaan Athwal
