Craig Dawson praised both Gary O’Neil and the players for preparing and carrying out the perfect gameplan which saw Wolves beat Manchester City at Molineux.
The head coach changed his tactics and saw his players go toe-to-toe with the reigning champions and come out on top thanks to Hee Chan Hwang’s second half strike. Wolves moved to a back three, which worked to their benefit, and learned from the loss to Liverpool by bouncing back to conceding an equaliser and going up the other end to win the game, which delighted Dawson.
On winning for O’Neil
“It was a massive win and it was great to see this place bouncing. A lot of credit has to go to the manager for getting us so organised, with the game plan, and getting us fully prepared for the match, which he has done for every single game. That win goes down to the manager.
“It’s clear at times we were man to man and the players stuck to that task brilliantly and stuck to the game plan for the full duration of the game, which is great for the lads. It was all about concentration and keeping focused and credit to the manager for preparing us, getting us organised, and today we stuck to the plan and managed to get the victory.”
On the change in formation
“It worked really well at times. We were man for man, but everybody put a right shift in and worked ever so hard, and we kept them quite quiet, even though they had a lot of possession, which we knew they would have. Credit to the manager to tweaking the tactics and credit to the lads for sticking to the plan.”
On maintaining the levels
“It’s very tough and you have to be on it for the full duration, otherwise one second and it’s a goal with the quality they have. The lads put a real shift in and it’s a great result, but we have to keep building on that.
“We knew the last game at home was similar, so it was important for us to stay strong and when we conceded the goal we kept going, kept pushing for the second. Great performance.”
On an electric atmosphere
“It was nice [when Hee Chan scored] – everyone was up and that’s the atmosphere we need, and hopefully we can create, with more performances like today. The lads are working ever so hard on the training pitch and the manager’s working us hard with different tweaks.”
