Vitor Pereira says “the city is in a good mood” after Wolves recorded a sixth straight win in the Premier League at Molineux on Saturday afternoon.
The sight of the head coach and his players celebrating with Old Gold supporters has become familiar over recent weeks, and thanks to Matheus Cunha, Jorgen Strand Larsen and Rodrigo Gomes goals, that was the case once more this weekend.
The head coach says he saw his players perform with an identity and energy against Leicester City, and wants to keep this positive feeling going between club and Wolverhampton for as long as possible.
On another special afternoon
“We feel happy. I feel the supporters very happy. I feel my players very happy and confident and proud of themselves. The supporters are proud of the team. The city is in a good mood. This is a city that lives for football and my happiness is to see this.
“I’m very proud of my team. Very proud of our supporters. I like good football. I don't like to win a game without playing good football, with our identity. First of all, when we arrived it was about defending better than we were defending, and now I want more. I want a team playing football with the ball, not only without.
“I didn't see a team thinking the job is done. I saw a team that wanted to win the game. They wanted fast wins, fast free-kicks. They wanted to do everything fast, because they wanted to win, and this is the spirit of a team with ambition.”
On restoring belief in the group
“Since the first day, I said to them, I came here because they were quality, if not, I wouldn’t have accepted the job. This is the first message. After, I have a clear idea about football, and you must be open to start to play to create an identity.
“Since the first day, I felt that the players understood what we want from them, of course, but it's not about tactics, it’s about energy, also about happiness, about connection. We are very happy in this moment. Now it's time to improve our quality with the ball, and they are feeling this confidence to play with the ball and to be aggressive without.”
On Cunha’s performance
“Special player. Today he played a fantastic game, showing that is committed with us, and with the team, teammates, with everyone. He was himself, a fantastic player with the confidence, character and a lot of quality. What I see is he’s committed with us, committed with the team, with teammates, with the staff and his focus is to help us.”
On exceeding expectations
“It is difficult to imagine. Sometimes I lose my focus on the game because I want to thank them [the supporters], but this is the connection since the first game, and this is something special. I didn't expect it. Of course, before I had this experience at other clubs, but not like not like this.
“The secret is the energy that we share together. They send to us the good energy, we send to them the good energy and the energy at the end of the day is to feel proud of ourselves.”
On work still to be done this term
“First of all, we want to finish this season in the best position that we can, showing our spirit, showing identity, ambition, and we have the ambition to win the next game. I saw a lot of things in football with the true spirit, playing with identity, helping each other, and with confidence. Now it's time to recover, time to enjoy it a bit, and we come back.
“Don't forget about the criticism before, don’t forget what we suffered, and now is the moment to enjoy and to show our ambition. They know that it's not easy, because we'll face a strong team, but with attitude, with mentality, with commitment, with the tactical identity and with the energy and through spirit, we can do it.”
