Mario Lemina says the whole city has missed the winning feeling but insists now Wolves must build on their first win of the season.
Pablo Sarabia and Matheus Cunha fired the Old Gold to victory over Southampton on Saturday, after a frustrating beginning to the Premier League season. Captain Lemina has shown his emotions at times during Wolves’ frustrating winless run, so was a relieved man come full-time on Saturday, with those first three points on the board.
On the wait for a win ending
“We've been struggling a lot since the beginning of the season. We tried to find a way to win games, and sometimes it comes from scrappy games like that, when you have to be resilient. We did that for 45 minutes in the first half. It was really hard, but we were together, and we fought really hard. At the end of the game, when you feel this kind of resilience, you deserve three points at the end.
“We finished the game with a clean sheet, and it was even better for the confidence. After this international break, we're going to come back with a positive result. We’re three games unbeaten now and we finished with a clean sheet, and it's really good for us.
“It was really hard. We just believed since day one. We wanted to win. We had big targets in our mind with the team that we’ve got. It didn't come soon, but it did come now, and we need to enjoy it. We've been in a dark place where we've been sticking together since day one, and we did everything to win this game.”
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚 🤩🏠
— Mario Lemina (@LeminaM_13) November 9, 2024
Thank you fans for your support ! 🐺#M5RIO #Wolves pic.twitter.com/kabteq3bi2
On Cunha’s performance
“Creative player, key players, they have to be calm, they have to trust the team, and when they get the ball, they have to show that they are the best on the pitch. This is what he's doing right now, it’s amazing. He needed to stay connected with the team, to get the best out of him, and that's what he's doing. We’re really proud of him. He's a such a good player and needs to stick on what he’s doing right now.”
On the confidence boost it provides
“The whole city has been missing that sensation. We’re so happy right now, proud of our performance. The crowd were with us, and they're still with us at this moment. They're fantastic, to be honest. Happy for the city, happy for the club.
“To finish with this win, it’s going to be good for our mental health. To be honest, we were sad for the fans, sad for the club, but now we can build from that and try to get back. We're really good in a positive mentality.”
On playing for O’Neil
“We know our manager is doing everything. He's working so hard for us to make the best shape, the best tactical way to play the game. Sometimes it's not about him, it's just about what we do on the pitch. Saturday showed he’s a good tactical manager, and we stick together still, since the beginning of the season, until now we've been together. We've been working really hard. He never gave up, we never gave up and we deserved it, because, in a tactical way, we were very good. We have to stick together. The whole city, has to stick together, and that's what we did.
“He's a really good manager, and we know what he gives to us. Every day he's working really hard, trying to make sure that tactically we're going to be good and after the only thing that we have to give is 100% and our personality on the pitch, our character. We did both and he’s a really good manager.”
On keeping the clean sheet
“We start quite well in games, we score goals, it’s not a problem. It's more in the second half, we concede so many goals, and we wanted this clean sheet, so that was our main target. I believe in our strikers, they’ve been really good since the beginning of the season, and we wanted this kind of clean sheet to get back the confidence in defence as well.
“We scored the first goal really early, and we defended really well in the first half as well, but we wanted to make sure that we relax at half time, so we stayed calm all together. We've been really positive, and we got back on the beach, and obviously Cunha scored a banger, so it was good for our mind to keeping going, trying to defend really well. We take that every day.”
