VITOR PEREIRA PRESS CONFERENCE: FA CUP BOURNEMOUTH V WOLVES

Good afternoon. Just looking ahead to Bournemouth team news, I have a similar question to what I asked you last Friday. How are the four: Agbadou, Hwang, Rodrigo, and Guedes?

They are recovering.

I think for this match, we’ll have Hee-Chan , he has recovered well. For the others, we must wait a bit longer.

How long do you think for the other three in terms of their recovery? Do you hope by next weekend?

You know what he said in Saudi Arabia. Inshallah. I hope so.

Following on from the Fulham loss, how much do you need to see a reaction from your team against Bournemouth?

We need to be different. The levels of concentration need to improve; we cannot start a game with a goal and then start the second half with another goal against us. That’s impossible. Here, they punish you with goals. This is a league where we cannot make these kinds of mistakes.

You can’t go there asleep. But the team knows we can play better football. We can be more aggressive. We can play with better quality, making movements and attacking the space. We need to stop losing possession and apply pressure in the right way. There is a lot to correct to be better than in the last game. Each game for us must be a lesson. We must learn something, even when we win.

Tomorrow, you’re facing a team you beat just over a week ago in Bournemouth. Do you anticipate it to be a different type of game because it’s a cup match rather than a league game?

No, because they have a clear game model. I say every time: it’s not a model game; it’s a game model. They have a very clear style.

They are a difficult team because they play their way. We are trying to create our identity to play our way. We must face them by playing our style, not theirs. If we play their way, it becomes difficult for us as we won’t recognise our work on the pitch. We will face a strong team for sure; they are aggressive on the ball. We must play to our level and focus on our qualities. My focus isn’t on Bournemouth; it’s about our team and correcting what we must from the last game.

It’s going to be a very interesting game.

A bit of a tangent I want to ask you about: Ramadan is hopefully going to start tomorrow. You have been coached in Saudi Arabia. Wolves have a few Muslim players as well. I just wonder, does it affect or change preparations for games for those players? 

I’m sure our medical department will have a plan for these players because they need a special approach to face the training and matches.

From your time in Saudi and managing players who fast, do you see a difference in training levels positively? They want to prove that fasting doesn’t impact them, that they can still perform at a high level. Do you see any impact on their performance?

They are used to it.

For me, if I tried to do it, it would be very difficult. But they know how to manage it. They sleep a lot at that time and eat a lot at night. It’s a different world because they live at night. During the day, it’s hard with the weather. Here at our club, we are very professional. The medical staff and nutritionists will certainly be on it.

Absolutely. Finally, the club had a lovely video this week with Mateus Cunha visiting a young fan named Junior. His celebration against Bournemouth was in tribute to him. It was a lovely showcase of what footballers can do for the community beyond football. They don’t always get the recognition they deserve for making that time. It was a lovely gesture as well.

Of course, I agree. God bless him.

Thank you.

Hello, Vitor. You’ve come through a couple of rounds of the cup now. I don’t know whether you’ve had much time to talk to Wolves fans, but it’s been a long time since this club won the cup. It has a big history in it. Has it come across to you how big a deal it would be to go all the way in this cup?

Tomorrow we have a chance; it’s an opportunity for us to move forward. We cannot think about drawing. If you draw, you cannot move forward.

We need to win. In our minds, we must go there with the intention to win the game and move forward. I cannot speak about dreams. It’s not about dreaming; it’s like in life. If you have a lot of dreams and don’t do anything to achieve them, they remain just dreams. But if you start looking and know there is a target, we must take steps to achieve it. The first step is to win the game tomorrow.

It’s challenging, of course, but it’s something we can do. Yes, it’s possible.

Of course, we don’t know whether Bournemouth will change their team because it’s the cup. You know if you’re going to, but we don’t know. So when you’re preparing to play them, you saw them last week. Is it more difficult to prepare when we don’t know what their team will be like tomorrow?

I’m not worried about which players they use. I focus on understanding the problems they create and how we can create problems for them. Each game is a lesson, and we need to learn something from it.

I learned something from the last game against them. It’s easy to understand this team. I know why they are positioned the way they are in the table. They are very aggressive with and without the ball. They are a vertical team. When you lose the ball while in possession, they can score in an instant.

They can score from long balls or second balls because they are strong. They excel in second balls and attacking spaces. A long ball behind our defence needs careful timing to control. They are also strong in set pieces. We want to build our identity to compete with this type of team.

So you might not know which players will play, but you know their style.

Yes, of course. I believe they have a good squad. If they change one player, it won’t affect them because they have quality throughout the squad.

OK, thank you. That’s it for the broadcast.