The old gold have lost their last three matches without scoring a goal, but travel to Stamford Bridge knowing they’re capable of getting results on the road, having acquired more points away from Molineux this term. The Moroccan defender admits last week’s showing against Brighton & Hove Albion was arguably Wolves’ worst of the season and is full focused on putting things right in what he knows will be a tough game against Chelsea come Saturday.
On the search for form
“Of course, it’s not an easy period for us because we didn’t get any points from the last few games and didn’t score goals, and I don’t think we played really, really well. We have a chance, with four games to go, to try to change this poor form.
“After all the work we did on the season, I think we did pretty well, we cannot finish like that. We have to try to come back to our basics, try to win games and points to finish the season, and achieve something good for us and the club.”
On the need to improve performances
“Especially our last game, I think we were totally out of place. It was maybe the worst performance of the season. You can play against a better opponent than you, but you have to keep going to try to play the game we work on all the week.
“After that, you have some regret because you work a lot during the week and cannot play the game you want on the weekend. It’s not good to have this feeling after that, so that’s why it’s important to make sure we keep going with what we were doing at the beginning of the season to not have any regret at the end, and also take pleasure on the pitch.”
Heading to the capital.
— Wolves (@Wolves) May 6, 2022
👋🚌 pic.twitter.com/mlaE1a2uDe
On attention on Chelsea
“It’s going to be tough – one of the best teams in the league, but I think also they’re not at their best at the moment. It’s going to be important for both teams. It’s about us playing our game, it doesn’t matter the opponent, you can play against top or bottom of the table, we just want to keep playing our game and, of course, we need to get points. We have to go there with the right mentality, be ready to compete against this good team, and try to come back with some points.
“You never know what can happen in football. I think we saw it in the Champions League with City. In the past, we beat Chelsea, Man City, the biggest teams in England and Europe, so anything can happen. We have to believe in us, believe in the plan for each game, and try to get as many points as we can.”
On remaining hopeful
“It’s about us, objectives, what you want to do as a player. When you play football, you want to compete in the best competition. Then, after you want to reach Europe at the end of the season. Even if we lost a couple of games, we’re still in the race for European football, so we have to keep going. Now, we have to keep pushing, keep chasing the teams in front of us, to not have any regrets at the end.”
#EidMubarak 🌙
— Wolves (@Wolves) May 2, 2022
Wishing a happy Eid to everyone who is celebrating around the world! pic.twitter.com/NUOHBh7YUk
On the end of Ramadan
“It was good. It’s a nice time always. People are always thinking about the drinking and not eating, but it’s a nice month for us. In training and the game, you have to manage yourself differently, prepare for the game differently as well, but it’s always nice to have this month. We are lucky to have every year Ramadan.
“You have to adapt yourself to your job. Mine is football, so it requires a lot of energy, so I try to adapt myself to football with Ramadan. I think most important is the recovery. We have a plan with the nutritionist to eat and drink well when we can, to have energy during the day. Training is the morning, so try to adapt the food and drink, and in the game, you can play later in the day, so it’s different.
“Adapt to a different meal before the games and have energy for the day and ready to compete in the game, to avoid injury, don’t be too dizzy, because it happens sometimes to people. We did a good job with all the staff, the nutritionist, the chef did an amazing job to help us and after you have to manage yourself to being better in training, with time, the game the same, to be ready to compete in a full training and full game.”
