Wolves under-18s head coach Richard Walker was full of praise for his side’s first half performance against table toppers Manchester City and was proud of the team’s effort to keep going despite eventually losing 3-0.
Walker also reiterated and emphasised what he wants to see from the squad from the final few games of the season as they look to end it on a high.
On the overall performance
“I thought the first 30 minutes were excellent. Their coach said at the end that was as stiff a test as they’ve had all season, other than when we played them at their place. The intensity of our press really caused them problems, we gained it high [up the pitch] on a few occasions.
“I thought we played with good composure, they struggled to get out to Bjorn Marwa at the bottom of our diamond so tactically we caused them issues and when they did jump out to Bjorn, we got it to Mane at the top of the diamond. We really had the advantage in the first half an hour.
“Then we just came off it a little bit and allowed them to get a little bit of comfort but nevertheless, coming in at half-time 0-0 and we had the better chances of the first half that we hadn’t managed to capitalise on. I thought second half Man City came out like a train, we weren’t as tidy in our play to get through their press, it had gone up a level and we weren’t quite good enough to play through it and they get ahead and it becomes a tough task, but the lads tried to everything we asked and we ended making changes that made us a young side, and it was a stiff test against what’s probably their strongest side bar two players.”
On the effect of the two goals in a short space of time in the second half
“When they got ahead, it shifted the momentum. They were getting a bit frustrated with each other at half-time and that suddenly calmed them down a little bit as much as it made the task a little bit more difficult for us. We didn’t respond well to that but it’s understandable to a large extent.
“But again, we’re here to develop players and I thought they had a really expensively assembled squad, but I felt we had the best player on the day in Mateus Mane who was excellent, showed real quality and they struggled with what he was bringing to the table, and I felt for him that he didn’t get the goal that his performance deserved.”
Looking ahead to the final few games of the season
“I want to see the same endeavour, bravery and work rate that they’ve shown for the lion’s share of the season, both in training and in the games. We want to continue progressing players and give them the right amount of challenge, so just the same again really.
“Hopefully a few of the lads can transfer their performances into results as they did last week comfortably against Nottingham Forest, but I think that it’s important the lads have that desire, belief and pride in themselves to go end the season well and put themselves in a good position for next season as well.”
By Rivaan Athwal
