Craig Dawson believes the turning point in Wolves’ season is coming soon, with yet more positives to take from last weekend’s outing against Manchester City.
The Old Gold head to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday still with just one point to their name, but after showing positives in all games to date, the defender has called for them to bring all those positive together. Dawson featured in the middle of a back three last weekend, and impressed against Erling Haaland, but he was focused on what the group did as a collective and putting a first win of the season on the board soon.
On the turning point coming soon
“Obviously it's frustrating. We haven't achieved as many points as we'd like, but in parts of each game the performance has been quite good, so we just need to clump all that together and have a performance, keep the level like we were against City, and hopefully the points will come. The lads are working hard on the training pitch, it’s just a matter of time now.
“In some games we could have got more points, but it's the Premier League, it's the toughest league, and if you're not quite on it for the full game, you get punished just like in the City game. It's about us players now, raising our levels and staying concentrated for the full game.
“The quality of the players hasn't changed, the work rate hasn't changed, the effort on the training pitch hasn't changed. We've had a tough start, so I think it's just a matter of time until the points come.”
Putting bodies on the line 👊 pic.twitter.com/yy5NM5Fx0J
— Wolves (@Wolves) October 21, 2024
On the positives from City
“Obviously it's difficult to lose a game with the last kick of the game, it’s disappointing, but we've got to take massive positives from the detail we all played to and the commitment levels. It's not what you want to hear right now, we need points on the board, but as a group we've got to take a lot of positives from the game.
“You’re playing against Manchester City, the quality they have is easy for everyone to see, and the concentration, the level of detail, everyone sticking to the game plan was up there with one of our best performances. But unfortunately, we didn't quite achieve any points from the game.
“That's something we obviously we need to achieve, we all stick together and stick to stick to the game plan and for the whole game. In the City game we were unfortunate not to come away with a point for sure.”
On keeping tight as a unit
“You try and keep everyone in the right position, keep everyone on their toes. We work hard on that together to try and keep us all focused and together as a team. I think at the weekend we got that spot on really. I think we limited them to few chances, which was great as a side. So hopefully we can do that again.
“I think you have to be flexible depending on the opposition. You need to be able to change [formation]. Lucky enough, we can do that I feel. It's something we work hard on the training pitch.
“It’s probably where we are at the moment, the left back sticking it in the top corner and the centre half scoring a header, and we're keeping everyone else quiet. It's difficult, but it’d be nice if us defenders start scoring as well.”
On turning attention to Brighton
“The flexibility, we will need that against Brighton, because obviously they’re a quality side. A young manager with lots of ideas, so we need to be able to change in game. We know it's a tough place for sure. We know it's going to be a really tough game, and we need the level of performance to be the exact same as City the game to be honest.”
