Vitor Pereira says a good energy is something Wolves staff, players and supporters must work together to achieve at Molineux on Saturday.
The Old Gold are winless in their past three Premier League matches and host second placed Arsenal on Saturday, and head coach Pereira is striving for a change in momentum for his side.
The Portuguese is set to welcome back defender Toti from injury, and during the 90 minutes he wants his team to play their own game, rather than react to how the Gunners approach the clash at Molineux.
On the team spirit after recent results
“I believe in my players. I believe in our work. I have confidence. Of course, we are facing very strong teams, but we’re still together. We still believe and tomorrow we'll play at our best level. I want my team to play in the way that we should play. The last game, in my opinion, was not a good game from us because we changed a lot of our behaviours, and this is not what I want from my team. I want identity. I want us to try to play in our way, not to react to the other team.
“This is a very difficult league. We improve as a team with time, but it’s important to believe in ourselves, to believe in what we are doing, and to play in the way that we work every day.”
On making his players believe
“I need to pass them confidence, hunger to win, fire in the eyes. This is my work, and this is what we are doing. It’s not only tactical work, but also confidence to play. In the last game we felt that we could play better football. This is another aspect that I like in football, but football is not only tactical. Sometimes they are full of good energy, because we are energy, and sometimes we are empty of good energy, and sometimes we have bad energy. This is something that we need to create together, a good energy with our supporters and to be our best version.”
Back on home turf on Saturday. ⏳ pic.twitter.com/BDfDDRTa9f
— Wolves (@Wolves) January 22, 2025
On how to approach Arsenal
“Against Arsenal we must show tactical maturity, because they are strong, for sure. But I have confidence in my players. I have confidence in our work. We are working to improve our game. We don't have a lot of time to do it, but we are trying to do this.
“Tactical maturity is when you know everything about the system, the offensive dynamics, the defensive dynamics, and you know how to face the problems that the opponents put to us. If you know everything about the system, about the game model, you know how to manage the dynamics, defensively and offensively to face the opponent, if even when the opponent is a strong team.
“They are a strong team, but we need to look at ourselves. In the last game, I felt we didn't have the intention to play our game. This is what I don't want to see again, because I want my players to have the confidence to try to play based on our principles.
“We need to have confidence to try to play our game, not every time with long balls, every time waiting for the second balls or attacking second balls, because this is not our work.”
On wanting to show the team’s progress
“Tomorrow is a chance to compete and to win the game. It’s a chance for us, 11 against 11, of course we’re facing a strong team. But I like to see courage in a person and as a player. I like to look in the eyes of my players and to feel that their eyes are on fire for the game. This is the team that I want to see tomorrow, a team that really believes it’s possible to win the game.”
On Agbadou settling in
“When we bring a player, the player and the team needs time to coordinate him with the team, and the team to coordinate with him. We don't have a lot of time, and in between the games we need to recover. It’s difficult without work that demands physicality, a lot of movements is difficult, the coordination, because he came with different concepts and now he needs to understand our concepts. We are trying to create the right coordination.”