Nelson Semedo says if Wolves can compete so closely with league leaders Liverpool, they can do it against any side in the Premier League.
Wolves had Liverpool hanging on at Anfield on Sunday, after a much improved second half, and on another day could have taken a point for their efforts.
With 13 matches remaining, the captain has called on Wolves to learn their lessons from the first half, which disappointed head coach Vitor Pereira, and confidence from the second, which brought a much more positive response from all involved in the Old Gold.
On improving during the game
“I think, in general, we did a good game. I think in the first half we could have taken more risks and pressed them a little bit more like we did in the second half, because we created a lot of chances from pressing with Marshall, for example, and Cunha scored a great goal, and we had a couple more chances. So, I think we should have pressed a little bit more in the first half and took more risks.”
On what changed at the break
“When you're losing, you take more risks. But that's a thing that we have to improve as a team. I think we have to do that at the beginning of the game, because we can take advantage of that and even score goals from that. We’ll learn from the first half, we weren't very good, especially with the ball, because we tried to put too many balls in the air, and they have big defenders, and it was hard for us.
“Second half we did very good, everybody fought a lot. Everybody gave everything of themselves, and we created a lot of chances and could have scored the second goal. Unfortunately, we didn’t, but we have to move on. We have a good game against Bournemouth next weekend, and we have to prepare now.”
Matheus Cunha’s 12th @premierleague strike of the season 👏 pic.twitter.com/ly4beXXuCH
— Wolves (@Wolves) February 17, 2025
On the defence improving
“We came to Anfield to try to do a clean sheet. It's not easy against a good team, but I think we're doing really well. We're improving a lot. I think the first half was Liverpool. The second half was us. We finished the game trying to score and Liverpool trying to defend. And that shows how good we are now and how much we’ve improved. We still have a lot to improve, but we’re going to do that. We appreciate the fans that came to support. They were really important, and we’ll try to give them more happiness.”
On taking this positivity forward
“Even with the result not being the result we wanted, I think the second half gave us confidence to improve. If we can do this against this team, I think we can do it against most teams in the Premier League. Liverpool are the leaders of the Premier League. So, I'm pretty sure that we can do that. We just have to believe more in ourselves, take more risks, and I'm pretty sure that we're going to do well.”
