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Good evening and welcome to our first game together here at Molineux.
All of us are excited for this moment. My staff and I, we are all very happy to have this first chance to enjoy Molineux, and we know we will need the vehement support of the fans.
This competition is special because cups are only about one match. We have seen that during the last few weeks in the World Cup, and we know the feeling of the cups here in England. In the cup, anything can happen.
We are going to try to bring all of our daily work on to the pitch, but we also need to be aware of the danger that this kind of competition brings.
For me, the biggest difficulty is to play against a team that has nothing to lose.
I have experiences of competing against teams from lower divisions and that is why I know that it is more difficult to play against a team that you don’t know as well.
We have to be aware of this and be ready to compete and to overcome this difficult test. But above all, tonight I want to see the things that I have in my mind, the things that we have worked on during the last two or three weeks, and we want to put our vision and the ambition we have for this cup into this match.
I would like to welcome Neil Harris, his staff, players and the Gillingham supporters to Molineux this evening, and we look forward to a very competitive game.
Gillingham have their strengths and I have seen how his team overcame Brentford, so we have to be ready and understand that we have a very hard match and a very difficult task ahead of us.
We have to be alert, we will have to be patient and continuous in our work, while always looking forward to overcome our opponent.
But at the same time, we have ambition, we have a vision, and we want to translate this onto the pitch, to be ready to have the right answer for the opponent. That is what I want to show in this match.
We know it will be a hard task, but we have worked a lot to put the best of us into this match. We have to believe in the players, who need to have more confidence in themselves.
To you, our fans who are going to be supporting us for the first time at Molineux this evening, I can only promise that we are going to give the best of us. We will work 24 hours a day, seven days a week to be ready to compete.
We are going to be fully focused because we have a responsibility and a commitment to manage and to drive this new era, which we want to start tonight.
Thank you for your support and please enjoy the match,
Julen.
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Supporters can find the head coach's notes, as well as a host of bespoke content for the visit of Gillingham, in the latest matchday programme, which is available to purchase here for just £4.
