Joining Mikey Burrows was co-commentator and Wolves Hall of Fame full-back Andy Thompson as they pair analysed the dominant 4-0 win at the City Ground, which secured the old gold’s place in the hat for the third round draw.
Also joining ahead of kick-off was Wolves midfielder Connor Ronan and The Athletic’s Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers, as they also spoke about the positive start to the season despite the Premier League results, a first win for Bruno Lage and Daniel Podence’s return from injury.
On aiming for a cup run
Thompson said: “You would hope so. It’s always nice to have a good cup run. You saw what it meant to Wolves [in 2019] when they got to the semi-final of the FA Cup.
“Forest have made a lot of changes, we have as well, but with the squad that we’ve got [Bruno Lage] is utilising all that, and it should be a good run out and work out for the players tonight.”
Oh, what a night 🙌 pic.twitter.com/lCNYyhmvMc
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 24, 2021
On a positive Premier League start despite results
Thompson said: “I’ve spoken to a lot of Wolves fans this week and they’ve said about how well we’ve played and the pace that we’ve played at.
“Having no goals and no points is the only negative side from the two Premier League games so far. I know that is everything, but the way that we’ve played and creating the opportunities that we have, I don’t think he’s [Lage] going to be too disappointed in the performances, just the goals and the points.
“I’m hoping that tonight is where we’re going to start with the goals and it’s going to give people confidence because that’s what it’s all about – having the confidence in front of goal.”
On Podence’s return from injury
Thompson said: “It’s good to have him back. What you want is your quality players to come back from injury and to give the manager selection problems.
“He hasn’t been involved in pre-season quite a lot, so it will be interesting to see how his fitness is, but with everything they have at Wolves with the fitness coaches and everything else, they seem to do a good job at getting players up to scratch in the games.
“It’s nice to have him back and just gives him [Lage] selection problems in the future if he stays fit.”
On a dominant cup performance
Thompson said: “The really did deserve to go through, they were dominant from the first whistle and I thought they played really well.
“I spoke about the tempo they’ve been playing at, and they started with that, creating lots of opportunities and in the opening 15 minutes or so, Wolves looked a real good team. The way they were passing, the control, the sharpness that was in their play, and that’s what we want to see.
“Forest felt that they could get something out the game from set-plays, but we controlled the game for long spells. Forest came out and had a go in the second-half, but we dealt with it well. Then all of a sudden our quality shone through and we were able to get the victory.”
On a first win for Lage
Thompson said: “On the back of the two defeats, you don’t want to come to Forest and throw the game away. You can see by the line-up he put out. He doesn’t want to just put out the kids. He wants to make sure the players who aren’t regular starters get some kind of game-time and they’ve controlled the game
“But what he did was bring players in with experience, Podence making his first appearance of the season as well, got himself on the scoresheet, so you could see from the team straight away that he meant business in this competition.
“You could see he wanted the team to score goals tonight, and that will give them confidence for the league game against Man United.”
⚽️ BrunoBall™️
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 25, 2021
🔢🔥 pic.twitter.com/DvgN6fJPVG
On Gibbs-White’s impressive showing
Thompson said: “He did well. You’re always watching the players when they’re playing, and with no disrespect to Forest, you’re hoping you’re going to see Wolves players show up, get the ball and want the ball, and he did that tonight.
“He was always willing to be there to receive the ball, and in the first-half he seemed to be trying to hard to force it a little bit, but second-half he was a lot better, got in the game and find his targets with his passing. Then he topped it off with a goal.
“He’ll be happy with the way things are going. He’s got himself on the scoresheet, he’s played the whole game – which is another thing he wanted to do – but these players want to play for this club and the only way you’re going to stay at this club is performing week in, week out, as he did.”
You can watch Matchday Live Extra 30 minutes before every Wolves kick-off this season on Twitter and on Wolves TV, before heading over to the Wolves App following full-time for all the post-match reaction.
