Mario Lemina believes the chemistry and leadership that has developed within the Wolves squad has been a key reason for the team’s improvement under Gary O’Neil this season.
The Gabon midfielder returned to the team on Saturday following suspension and fired his first goal for the club to start a fightback against Newcastle United, and although he felt Wolves deserved more than the point they were able to get out of the game, Lemina was pleased with the character on display, especially in front of a raucous home crowd under the Molineux lights.
On fighting back for a point at home
“It was a really good game against a tough opponent, but we put a shift in, and I think we deserved much more than we got. I really felt that we could win the game because we were showing ambition, but it is what it is and we’re really happy with the result that we’ve got.
“They’re a tough team, a Champions League team, so a draw against them is a good result, but we need to think about the next game against Sheffield and get a point from them.”
On his first Wolves goal
“I’m really happy with the goal and to get back to the score because they were winning and we wanted to draw at half-time and that was really important for us, but then they score again.
“But we’ve been together and the chemistry is going on now, and we’re really positive, we want to win the game against every team and that’s what we showed.
“We showed the mentality that we’ve been working on and we can see there’s a lot of leaders now in our group, there’s a lot of players who want to be playing, with a real positive attitude, and that’s what we want.”
On Hwang’s seventh of the season
“It was a really great goal. We’ve been pushing really hard to get the second goal and it was really great work from Toti. I didn’t know he could dribble like that, but he’s got skills now.
“After that, Hee Chan, he is in a great moment right now and he’s giving us the draw and we’re really happy for that.”
Heading home at Molineux! 💪
— Wolves (@Wolves) October 30, 2023
🇬🇦 @LeminaM_13 pic.twitter.com/qPgsRZutCX
On Neto’s injury
“The only thing we’re not happy with is Pedro and we feel really bad because he was in a great moment. He’s a big cost, I’m not going to lie because he was helping the team a lot.
“We’re all with him right now and we’ll see what’s going to happen during the week, but obviously we hope it’s not so bad.”
On team’s improvement under O’Neil
“From the first week, we saw what he wanted to do with us, but of course we were not going to get that from the first week, it was hard, but we’ve just kept working and working on it and he works really hard with us, and we can now see that it’s working well.
“We’re going to try to keep these moments, keep this mentality, and to get points from every team.”
On making Molineux a fortress
“It's really important because the supporters and the fans are really pushing hard to give us this mentality to not lose at home. That’s why we tried to put a shift in to it and we’ve got the result that we deserved at home, and that the fans deserve also.
“We are really happy to play like that and to make them happy from the shift that we give on the pitch. It’s really positive for us.”
