Vitor Pereira said the difference at St James’ Park on Wednesday evening was chances being taken in Newcastle United case, and not by Wolves.
The in-form Magpies were clinical in front of goal, firing in three without reply, despite Wolves having a series of chances throughout the night to change the course of the game.
Instead, the contest ended with a comprehensive look to the scoreline, and while he sympathises with how his team were caught out when pressing for a way back into the game, the head coach knows his group’s finishing must be more clinical.
On the difference on the night
“The difference in the game, in my opinion, was that they scored when they got chances, and we missed when we got chance, because we got maybe six or seven chances to score, and against this team playing home, if we don't score, they win the confidence and they scored three goals. The difference between us and them in my opinion, the first half was very difficult to play and for us to have the ball, because they become strong to press. But even in first half we had some chances to score. Second half we had chances to score. In the end, they scored three goals.”
On the defending for the goals
“Very difficult. When you start to have some risks to score a goal against this team and they counter attack, it’s not easy to stop them because they are very fast in the attack. We tried our best, the team tried to be every time with balance to stop the counter attacks, but sometimes is not possible, it was not possible. I think the second goal was a punishment very hard for us, but in the end I'm proud of my players, proud of the team, because we tried everything. I saw commitment. I saw they played with team spirits. They ran a lot. We tried everything to score a goal, and in the end the result is not a result that expresses what happened on the field.”
On the need for resilience moving forward
“I believe that one day we’ll start to score the chances that we create. Today, Larsen doesn't have the luck, because it was a very good shoot, and in the end the goalkeeper defends. This is something that we need to increase with this kind of experience. Facing this kind of team, we need to be compact every time, because when you do one mistake, they score because they have the quality, high quality. For us, try to press when we should press, try to be compact when we should be compact, try to score more goals, increase our quality with finishing. This is the way.”
On Cunha’s fitness
“I'm not a doctor, so I must respect the directions of the medical department, and they said to me it's not possible for him [to play 90] because he stopped with the injury,. 45 minutes today, next game, I think he will be fit to start.”
