By virtue of last season’s seventh-place finish in the Premier League, Wolves returned to competitive action earlier than usual – on July 25 – as they hosted Crusaders in the first leg of their Europa League second round qualifying tie. Goals from Diogo Jota and Ruben Vinagre earned Wolves a 2-0 lead to take into next week’s second leg, and Coady was pleased with the early showing.
On starting positively
“We wanted to make sure that we set the foundations for the whole season, and I think we’ve started with a good result, and a clean sheet, which is something we can take forward.
“We moved the ball from side to side – we probably could have penetrated a bit more, but they came with a game plan and sat deeper and deeper, which makes it tough when you’re trying to get around them.
“We’ve been back (in pre-season) a long time compared to other clubs. It’s different, but it’s something we’d much rather have, because friendlies aren’t proper games, so when competitive games come along they really help.”
On the halfway point in the tie
“That second goal really helped us. I think we deserved it, and probably a couple more as well, but we needed the second and we got it.
“It’s still going to be tough going there (for the second leg). It’s on a plastic pitch, it’s a tough place to go and we’ve never been there before. We know what to expect with being in this situation before, but we need to make sure we do it professionally, do it properly and go there playing how we know we can and hopefully come away with a result.”
On being back at Molineux
“It was brilliant. We knew what Molineux was going to be like, we knew it would be rocking, we knew the supporters were coming out and it was a sell-out. That crowd is always behind us no matter what, we love playing here and we couldn’t wait to get back here, believe me.”
