Toti has stressed the importance of versatility inside the Wolves squad after injury and illness meant the defender was partnered with Mario Lemina last weekend during an impressive win at Fulham.
The Portuguese explained the difficulties which the players faced finding out he would be the only fit senior centre-back just a day before the visit to Craven Cottage, but Toti – who is well versed to flexibility having also played at left-back – praised how the captain was able to step in at short notice and work together to form a strong defensive partnership.
With AFC Bournemouth coming to Molineux this weekend, Toti knows that the way the players can adapt to different positions will be of benefit to Gary O’Neil’s squad.
On win over Fulham
“It was a really good win for us – a huge win for us. We really needed that. We knew it was not going to be an easy game because Fulham have been doing well, especially at home, and even thought we started losing the game, we worked our hardest for the comeback.
“Everybody was doing what the coach asked us to do, and the plan went really well for us, and hopefully the goals were coming too. It was a really good win for us, important, and the mood, of course, is getting better.
“We play for ourselves, of course, but for the fans too. We knew how important it would be if we would win the game like we did and win it for them. As you see at the end, they were really happy and proud of us.”
On playing in defence alongside Lemina
“We all know that was an incredible assist, it was like a quarterback, literally. But he did well there. We needed someone to fit that position, because we had some players injured or sick for that game, and he did very well. For me, as a centre-back too from this side, I tried to help him, and I think we did very well together, we were talking all game and the chemistry was really good.
“We found out he was playing in the last training session before the game. Santi [Bueno] was already injured from the national team, and obviously Yerson [Mosquera] was already injured, but Craig [Dawson] was sick. He got sick in the last training session and the gaffer had to adapt, change the tactics a little bit, but thankfully it went well.
“For me as a centre-back, I need to have the responsibility, even if I’m not being one of the oldest ones, I need to communicate with the midfielders, the strikers, and it’s one of my roles that I need to understand to do that, but it was ok.”
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On being versatile
“I've been adapting well at both centre-back and left-back and I’ve been working on them. When the gaffer wants me to play at left back, I'll do my best to do that position, if he needs me at centre-back, I will do my best as well.
“It’s two positions that I know very well and I’ve been doing them both since always – not even just at Wolves, but in my previous clubs too. With the gaffer, he’s always trying to help me with some little details, whether to go a little bit more forward, a little bit back, some little details that make different in the game, and that's why it makes it even easier sometimes.
“Playing with Rayan [Ait-Nouri], especially when he’s a bit more forward, it's important to be there and protect the back and protect that area. It depends which team we're going to face, as to what tactic we're going to play, so it really depends how we’re going to adapt it.”
On learning under O’Neil
“I’ve been learning a lot with him since he arrived – like a lot. It was because of him too that I went to the national team. But since I arrived here, I've been improving a lot.
“Personally, I’m someone who needs to learn and I like to improve myself too. If he talks with me and tells me to do this, I will work my hardest to do that. I've been grateful for the opportunity, because I’ve been playing many minutes, as I wanted, and I’ve been learning every day, every game and every training session.”
On Cunha’s recent performances
“He’s incredible. He's in form, he's been doing very well, and we've been trying to help him to do his best too, but this is not surprising for us. We've been seeing this since he first came here, he's been incredible for us, he's been helping us a lot, and we are all growing up together. Seeing him doing well for us is really good too, and I'm proud of him.
“[Improving off the ball] is something, the little details, that we work on at the training ground. Some stuff that the coach asks which is individual to each one of players, and that one is one of those for Cunha. We know what he can give us with the ball, and that's why the gaffer has tried to help him a little bit more without the ball. If he helps us without the ball, when we have the ball, it's going to be good for us.
“We know we can always trust on him to do some incredible stuff on the pitch. The goals he’s been scoring, the assists, the movement without the ball, even though he’s not one of the oldest players at the team, sometimes he looks like he is because the way he’s trying to help us through it and the way he works hard every day in the training ground and on the pitch, and it's really good for us.”
On facing Bournemouth at Molineux
“We’ve been working well and we know that they're one of the best teams at pressing in the Premier League. They are very direct team, and especially when it comes to counter-attack, they are really good at playing it forward.
“We need to respect them as a team too, but we need to know that we are a very good team too, and we're going to play at home, so we're going to do our best and keep our feet on the ground, be humble, but go with everything.”
