The Portuguese, making his third consecutive start, headed home from close range following delightful build-up play from Joao Moutinho and Matt Doherty. Coady watched from afar as the opening goal unfolded and knows the importance of that goal to a player who “knits the team together”.
On a brilliant first goal
“Daniel’s goal was brilliant. Lovely little pass from Joao and he deserves all the plaudits he gets because it’s a brilliant pass and obviously Doc being in that place where we’ve seen him so often – the right place at the right time.
“It was a brilliant goal and important for Daniel because he’s come to the club and popped up now with a great goal. It was a great result for everybody and we move on to Sunday now.”
On getting the job done well
“It was a really good result and something that we wanted to do going into the game. We had a game plan to stick to and I thought the boys were excellent, honestly. I was made up for Daniel, he’s been brilliant since he’s come into the team, the way he knits the team together, he gets into little pockets, he turns, he drives at people.”
On the timing of Podence’s goal
“It’s always a good time to score, when it’s just at the end of the first-half. To go into half-time with a lead is important, it gives you something to hold on to, and I thought second-half we managed it, but still with a threat as well.
“That was pleasing as well, it was a great night all round. We knew how tough it is coming up against Palace from last season, but I think we’ve learnt from that and you saw second-half how we managed it.”
Podence off the mark
— Wolves (@Wolves) July 21, 2020
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On growing into games
“It’s something that we like doing. It’s important that we grew into the game. It’s important we carried on the threat. We didn’t want to just manage the game and become passive because they’ve got some important players, some tough players to play against on the counter attack, so we needed to make sure we kept that threat and luckily we did.”
On bouncing back from Burnley
“I think everybody was disappointed after Burnley. We felt that we did enough to win the game, but we went into Monday with a game plan of how we wanted to play, respecting Crystal Palace because we know how tough it is to play against them, because they’ve got some really tough players to play against. The boys focused ever since the Burnley game finished, trying to put it right.”
On the season finale at Chelsea
“It’s a great game for us and we’re ready for it now. Straight away we said in the changing room, we make sure we recover ready for Sunday and we go again. Going to Chelsea at any time in the season’s a real tough game, but you look at it now, it’s the last game of the season, it’s been a long season and we want to try and finish it well.”
