Wolves made it back-to-back victories at the ideal time on Saturday and the Matchday Live team were there for every kick of the win over Brentford.
Diego Costa and Hee Chan Hwang goals helped Wolves put daylight between themselves and the bottom four and Mikey Burrows was joined by Andy Thompson and Lee Naylor in the Molineux press box.
The two former Wolves full-backs were full of praise for the attacking display they saw, with Matheus Nunes and Joao Gomes earning praise in the latest Matchday Live episode available below.
On another important the win
Thompson said: “We’ve always said, it’s about the results this time of year. Where we were, fighting relegation, struggling, couldn’t score, so it was all about getting results and that’s what they’ve done in the last two weeks, getting the victory over Chelsea and today, and drawing at Forest which was an important result. They’ve gone into today knowing they’ve got to get a result. It wasn’t their best performance, it wasn’t the best game, but it’s all about getting results and the three points.”
Naylor said: “For me, it was about the effort. I think we have more quality than Brentford, but the effort needed to be there, and it was. I thought if we had that, we’d be OK today.”
On the system working
Naylor said: “I think the balance was brilliant. He’s got the team working from the front, defending from the front when we haven’t got the ball and when they’re doing that at the rate, they’re doing that, with a dogged midfield that want to work hard for each other, and they’re putting a shift in, it pays off.”
On what’s changed recently
Thompson said: “The manager’s got them organised. He’s got them how he wants them set up. I think he’s been working on the training ground in and out of possession, which is important to what they need to do, for the shape when they have and haven’t got the ball.
“It comes from confidence, you saw today two good goals, coming from good build-up. Individual performances to create chances. We haven’t created a massive amount of goals, but what they’ve done which we said before, be more clinical when you get opportunities. They’ve done that better over the last few weeks. It comes from a manager who wants to instil everything into them.”
On the attacking performance
Naylor said: “It’s positive. When we had space to go and drive into in the past, we tended to turn out. Now the manager must have turned it around and told them to drive into there and make something happen. The Nunes run and Hwang goal, that was all made through that run – he just went for it, saw gap and made something of it. He’s a powerful runner, he’s got a brilliant change of pace, and he made it happen. I’m all for making your own luck and when you work hard it pays off.”
On Nunes stepping up
Naylor said: “He’s been absolutely outstanding. We always knew he had the quality, that’s why he was getting attention from top, top Premier League teams. He’s gone and proved it in these last two games, he’s gone and put himself back on the map.”
Thompson said: “I was a bit concerned with how he was playing. For the amount of money he’s come for, the tag. There was no doubt about it that he’s got ability. We said we’d not seen. The last two games, for whatever reason, has it come from the manager? I don’t think it would come from Neves not playing, but it seems like he’s a lot more confident. You see for the second goal, how he’s run with the ball, and we saw it first half, he’s very hard to stop. You think you’ve got him, but he’s a lot quicker than you think.”
On Gomes’ performance
Naylor said: “He was outrageous in the Chelsea game, he blew me away. I thought there was six or seven Man of the Matches, but I thought he put the tackles in that people don’t like doing. You always say in the dressing room that they’re the unsung heroes, the ones that don’t get the accolades that the centre forwards get, but for me he was the standout against Chelsea.”
