Vitor Pereira admitted Wolves’ clash with Bristol City in the FA Cup was “training” for his side, with the busy fixture schedule limiting the amount of time he gets on the grass with his team.
The Robins fell at the first hurdle in this year’s competition as they were beaten 2-1 by the Premier League side at Ashton Gate on Saturday to end a four-match unbeaten run in all competitions.
Liam Manning’s Reds fell behind early when Rayan Ait-Nouri bundled home a cross with just 10 minutes on the clock and the away side quickly doubled their lead as Rodrigo Gomes chipped past Max O’Leary following some impressive build-up play from his teammates.
Scott Twine gave City hope of a comeback when he excellently curled home a free-kick on the stroke of half-time, but the Robins were unable to truly test Sam Johnstone in the Wolves’ net again. Although the Reds could have forced extra time, Pereira felt like this weekend’s game was a good opportunity to gauge how his side has improved after the festive period.
“To be honest with you, because we don’t have time to train in the team, this is training for us, very important training for us,” Pereira admitted in his post-match press conference. “If you have only one session of training to work with intensity, we need to check if we are improving or not and we need to check on the game.
“We play after four days, I believe it is possible to play at a good level. My worry is about the players that we need to recover from injury because we feel that at 70 minutes we need to change something. I understand you need to have solutions to keep the level, but at this moment it is a bit difficult because we have players with injuries. [Matheus] Cunha’s out, [Nelson] Semedo’s out, Toti [Gomes] out, [Craig] Dawson out and [Boubacar] Traore. We don’t have a lot of solutions.”
Pereira only took charge at Molineux in December. The Portuguese boss succeeded former Bristol City midfielder Gary O’Neil in the Wolves’ dugout and has impressed in the early stages of his Premier League career, beating Manchester United and Leicester City, whilst also drawing with Tottenham away from home.
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Though the Black Country club currently sit level on points with Ipswich Town who occupy the final spot in the relegation zone, there appears to be confidence among players and supporters alike that Wolves will have enough to dodge the drop into the Championship this season.
Of course, the FA Cup is by no means a priority for Pereira and his players this season, with full focus on Premier League survival. But the 56-year-old’s first taste of the oldest cup competition in the world against the Robins has shown him that he cannot afford to take it lightly, even against Championship opposition.
“What I realise is it is very difficult,” explained the Wolves boss. “If we come here just to enjoy, we need the right mentality to win a game because they have the level, they have the intensity, they have the physicality.
“We start strong because if we didn’t start strong and they won the confidence, it would be very, very difficult to win the game here. I realise that the Championship has quality and the games are very, very difficult. It’s a special competition with the tradition. Our priority is the league for sure, but in this moment, because we don’t have time to train and I want to increase some behaviours, it is important to use the games to do it. I think we’ll have time to recover for the next game.”