Anfield was a stadium of mixed emotions on Sunday afternoon, with eyes also on latest scoreline at the Etihad, as Manchester City and Aston Villa went head-to-head to see which side came out on top in the race for the top-flight title. Although admitting it was a ‘mad’ atmosphere to play football in, the Wolves captain believed his teammates did well to keep the crowd out of their minds and concentrate on what was going on inside the pitch.
On defeat in the final outing of the season
“It was a tough game, a real tough game. We had a game plan going into it and I thought we played really well, from a Wolves point of view. I don’t think many people were talking about Wolves going into today because it was all about the other side and obviously what was going on in Manchester.
“It was about us sticking to what we know and that’s all we thought about. I thought we played really well, but to give the goals away the way we have done is really poor from our point of view.
“But at the same time, the atmosphere was a bit mad, and we realised at one point that City weren’t winning and they were getting beat one or two-nil, so it was a bit mad atmosphere, but I thought our lads played really well.
“Considering the few weeks that we’ve had, I thought we did really well, so it was massively disappointing to concede the goals we have.”
On the score at the Etihad affecting atmosphere
“It was alright. We played them a couple of years ago and Man City were playing Brighton and they were both going for the league then, and it was exactly the same then when Brighton went ahead.
“So we kind of remembered that and had that in our heads to keep us going, but I think they had the same as well because you could see both teams carried on playing.
“We realised when we were out there, with the atmosphere going on and our crowd singing at one point and their crowd singing at one point, it was all a bit mad. But we carried on playing, both teams carried on playing and we had to be professional with it, and the goals were really disappointing.
“I thought the way we played as a team, we had chances on the break, not many teams come here and have chances, we had chances to score goals and it would’ve been a different game if we’d have taken one or two.
“There was a couple, but we believed in ourselves. We believed in what we wanted to do, but to fizzle out in the end with a couple of the goals we conceded was disappointing from our point of view.”
On being booed by the Liverpool supporters
“I do get a few when I come here, to be honest. I don’t really know what they expect when I’m coming here with Wolves and I want to win every game.
“But it was about defending as much as we can, and it’s something that I thought we did really well, but the goals we conceded were really poor. But it’s such a tough place to play, they press you and are after you as much as possible, so it’s a tough one to take.”
Thank you to all who travelled to Liverpool to support us this afternoon and thank you to everyone who has followed us up and down the country throughout the season.
— Wolves (@Wolves) May 22, 2022
You're incredible.
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On a positive season of improvement
“It’s huge. Huge. Not many people are looking that at the minute, a lot of people are talking about the last few weeks, but the last few weeks have been disappointing. But the whole season needs to be looked at as a whole.
“The season is 38 games and we’ve come into the season when not many people expected us to do so well, but we’ve had to listen to the manager all season and he’s been fantastic, the players have been fantastic and it’s important now we try to use that and move forward as much as we can to get better.”
On summer plans
“Enjoy a little bit of a breather. Enjoy a bit of a breather with my family because I don’t see my kids and my misses too much so I’m looking forward to seeing them now.”
