Mario Lemina says if Wolves stick to gameplans like they did in Saturday’s win over Manchester City, they’ll have a more enjoyable campaign ahead of them.
Gary O’Neil got his tactics right as Wolves beat league leaders Manchester City and Lemina played a key role in protecting the defence and getting on the ball when able to. The midfielder says the group have always worked hard on the training ground, and he believes in the squad, but now insists the benchmark has been set.
On setting the standards
“It depends on us. I think we’ve got a really good team and I believed it from the first day I was here. It’s commitment we need in every game because the Premier League is tough, all the teams can beat each other, and Saturday was our day. We played really well and we’re going to try to be the team we have to be.”
On a big win over City
“To be honest, I think they are the best team in the world. They won everything last year and with all the struggles we had from the other games, we’ve been committed during training. We talked a lot between us and we wanted to have a good performance in front of our crowd, and that’s what we tried to do from the first minute of the game.
“We were all connected, the chemistry was going on, and we are really happy with this win. I think in terms of the whole game, we deserved it, we had better tactics to beat them, congratulations to all the boys. The fans were behind us from the first minute and we are really happy.”
Our home. Our support.
— Wolves (@Wolves) September 30, 2023
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On how O’Neil set the team up
“The thing is, if everyone is committed to the tactics, and because the Gaffer is really good on them, we’re not going to suffer so much during the season. Because of all the talks we had since the weekend, with the gaffer and players, we were really focused for this game. When everything is going in a positive way, like during this game, it looks like that.
“We tried to stick to our tactics, and it worked really well. We are really happy and we’re going to stay committed to the tactics and put 100 per cent of ourselves. We are very confident with that.”
On the atmosphere
“They are amazing, to be honest. They could give up on us but they’re supporting us, not matter what’s going to happen. Since I came in January, they’ve been amazing, I want to make them proud of us every time we play at home and that’s what we’ve done, and I hope they’re happy.”
On Hwang’s performance
“Hwang is one of our best players and is playing really well this season. I’m hoping he’s not going to have injuries. We count on him. We just care about our players and congratulations to Hwang because he’s one of the best.”