Julen Lopetegui felt Wolves’ inability to capitalise when they were dominating during the first-half against Leicester City was the reason his side came away from the King Power Stadium empty handed.
Wolves were well on top after Matheus Cunha had put his side ahead on 13 minutes, but allowed the Foxes to get back into the game after Jose Sa clipped Jamie Vardy in the penalty area before Timothy Castagne added a winner for the hosts late on, and Lopetegui was left ruing his players not taking advantage of their supremacy in the opening half hour.
On Leicester defeat
“When you’ve lost, it’s a bad feeling, always, because you play to win or to get any positive thing you can. Today, it was a very important match for us and we have lost. But it’s done and now we have to be ready for the next challenge.”
On dominating the first period
“It’s true that in the first-half we started playing well. We had clear chances, played football, we scored, and we avoided their counter-attacks when they are a very strong team.
“I think we have had 15 minutes playing well. When you play well and have chances, but you don’t score, you are very close to conceding a goal from one counter-attack – and it happened.
“It was a pity because we suffered from a penalty in a dangerous situation from them.”
On Leicester’s penalty
“It's not the time to talk about individual actions. It’s about the team and when the team win all of us win and when we lost, all of us lose. It’s not about one or two players, so I will not talk about that. It wasn’t only about this situation.
“When you dominate the play and the match, maybe you go a little bit low and you focus your attention on the counter-attack and the position, and we have suffered from this counter-attack.”
On a second-half with few positives
“Mario Lemina was playing very well but he has a little hamstring injury, and we changed. The second-half was going to be different, a different way to play and different moments. It was balanced and we made a worst match.
“They scored because they made more than us in the second-half, and we didn’t get anything positive from it.
“I don’t think we did enough or created enough chances in the second-half. They had more and when they scored it was easier for them because they are a very good team on the counter-attack. It was more difficult for us, but we tried.
“Now it’s done and today we can’t do anything more. We have to be ready for the next challenge.”
Thank you for your support in Leicester today 👏
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 22, 2023
A chance to bounce back on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/H6HJFoyp8u
On bouncing back against Palace on Tuesday night
“To be out of the relegation and stay in the Premier League is a very big aim, but we’re going to have to fight a lot in all of the matches. Until the end, it’s going to be a very long and hard race. I repeat this a lot.
“We are only in the middle of the battle, so a lot of people when you’ve won two matches [think it’s over], but it’s not enough.
“We have to be ready for the next challenge, to recover well from today which was a very hard match, very physically and mentally demanding, but tomorrow we have to start again with a good face, recover and be ready for another big challenge that is Crystal Palace.”
