Mikey Burrows was joined by former old gold duo Andy Thompson and Claire Hakeman, discussing an eventful game post-match, after three of Lopetegui’s substitutes forced the equaliser, before another, Joao Gomes, scored a brilliant winner.
Thompson and Hakeman praised the head coach, as well as Joao Gomes and Adama Traore for their impacts off the bench for 10-man Wolves, who are gaining momentum under their Spanish head coach.
On a crazy afternoon at St Mary’s
Hakeman said: “What a second half. When our backs are against the wall, we come out with that team spirit and performance. We dominated possession with ten men all second half, it’s ridiculous. The impact of the subs yet again, for the second week running, Lopetegui is smashing the subs and the combinations.
“Adama I thought was excellent, he took the game to them when we needed him to, to take pressure off when we needed him to. The goal comes through a great bit of play by Bueno down the left-hand side, and Costa and Traore are involved. Then our fourth sub Joao Gomes goes and scores on his debut with a ridiculously composed finish. It was absolutely incredible.”
On Lopetegui changing the game
Thompson said: “We weren’t great first half, even with 11 men. I thought we gave the ball away cheaply to Southampton and encouraged them to come on to us a little bit by doing that. We went a goal down and got the sending off, but he brought on substitutes to change the game and got it so right. He got his team more advanced, upping the possession, and we took the game to Southampton. They looked terrified, they looked on their heels in that second half, because we started to push them back a little bit.
“Something clicked, it caused a big problem for Southampton, all of a sudden you saw the confidence drain out of them, and the confidence we saw from that, we went on, got ourselves that goal, it’s scrappy, but it’s come from putting pressure on them, then what a finish to win it. He’s had a shot at first, it’s come to him, and he’s got the ability and composure to put it in the corner, away from the goalkeeper. What a victory.”
On a dream debut for Gomes
Hakeman said: “What a story. It was his second bite, it didn’t fall naturally first time, but to not snatch at it, which would have been easily done in that pressure situation, it was absolute composure to slot it exactly where he wanted it, it was unreal. The sending off maybe did us a favour because we really had to step up, to show our team spirit and turn it around.
“Backs against the wall, down to ten men, we could have easily settled for a point after we came back with a scrappy goal, but to push on and get that second I think tells you a lot about the team, a lot about the spirit and a lot about the job Lopetegui has done in a short period of time.”
Thompson said: “He seems to be relaxed and controlled – you know what he’s doing. When there were situations around our penalty box especially, he had the composure to keep a level head, and he did that across the pitch. That’s what you want from your players, when it starts to get edgy and things are going against you, to get your team back into it, you need someone with composure. I know he’s only a young lad, but to have that composure and quality to finish that off is the reason we’ve brought him to the club.”
On the success of the recruitment team
Hakeman said: “The backstory to the Joao Gomes move was that he wanted to come for so long, he wanted it so much. He’s had to be patient and wait, but he’s taken his opportunity and there’s every chance we could see him start next week. It’ll be interesting the Bournemouth game. But we expected aggressive midfield play, the pit-bull, but we saw through balls, we saw a fantastic finish. You hope he could be the new cult hero, we want to see these players stay with us a long time, and push on. From Boxing Day, that first Everton win through to now, there’s so much optimism for us moving forward.”
On Lopetegui getting a song out of Adama
Thompson said: “You get a feel-good factor from the coaching staff, the players coming into the club, and it goes a long way. Being a manager, it’s not just about telling players off, it’s about being able to put an arm around a player and tell him he’s wanted. Everybody’s different, some need a telling off, but this manager is experienced, he’s managed the highest you can, he knows what he needs to do to get things out of his players. When he’s come on, he’s made a difference, but what I like about the manager as well, he’s not willing to wait, he wants to make the substitutions straight away because he knows how crucial it is to give players as much time as possible to turn the game around and he did in the second half.”
On Lemina’s red card
Hakeman said: “There wasn’t much in it. He’s a centre midfielder, he’s going to get involved in challenges, but it was so early in the game, it was the first foul he committed, so to go straight in with the yellow, I know refs sometimes want an impact themselves, but it seemed a little bit out of place. The second yellow, hearing it’s for him aggressively approaching the referee, we’ve all seen the replays and he had his back to him, so he didn’t really approach aggressively. The referee would have known he was returning to Southampton, that wasn’t the return he wanted on the back of a brilliant performance last week, but we’re going away with three points. We’re going to miss Lemina next week, but that second yellow, come out and talk about it.”
Thompson said: “Surely common sense has to take over when the panel look at that. The referee looks like he’s trying to make his stamp on the game, and he’s lost control of it, with the amount of yellow cards and the sending off. This is the Premier League and they’ve got to be getting the majority of the decisions right.”
