Lopetegui's notes | 'We all need to work together'

In his programme notes ahead of Wolves' FA Cup meeting with Liverpool at Molineux, head coach Julen Lopetegui has praised supporters for helping his players earn three vital Premier League points against West Ham United three days ago.

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Good evening and welcome to back to Molineux as we turn our attention to the FA Cup once again.

We are very pleased to return to our home stadium and have the opportunity to play in front of our own fans, as we face another difficult match, so will need your support once again.

It’s aways a good thing to play in front of your own fans because the support you have given the players has been vital, and against West Ham, I really felt the environment at Molineux was fantastic.

You helped us a lot and because of that, we gained an important win and an important three points, so I thank you all for your support. An atmosphere inside the stadium like Saturday helps all the players in the difficult moments we will face this season.

As I’ve said before, if we are to achieve our aims, we all need to work together – the players, the fans and the club. It’s going to be a hard task, so we need to so this if we are to have the best chance at succeeding.

We had a very tough match against Nottingham Forest less than three days before facing a very physical and technically good team as West Ham. They had six days to recover from their last match, so I must highlight our players’ commitment, effort and character to overcome this.

When you are playing matches every three days, every player needs to be involved and we need them to be ready. All of them have to feel that in each key moment, they are going to be the main actors and can make the difference. That is why we have tried to share the minutes in our recent games, and why I have full trust and belief in every member of the squad.

We have been working a lot and fighting hard to achieve these points, and on Saturday, I was also pleased for us to keep the first clean sheet in the Premier League since I’ve been here. But we have to continue working because we have another very hard match against Liverpool this evening.

I would like to offer a warm welcome to Jurgen Klopp, his staff, players and supporters who have travelled from Liverpool today. I said before we met in the match at Anfield how good Liverpool are. For me, they are one of the best teams in the world, so we have to be ready again for another very difficult and different match to the one we experienced 10 days ago.

All teams are different, and Liverpool will again be different to what we faced against Nottingham Forest and West Ham, but we are going to try everything we can to try to progress in the competition.

Thank you for your support and enjoy the game,

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 Liverpool, in the latest matchday programme, which is available to purchase here for just £4.

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