VITOR PEREIRA’S PRESS CONFERENCE: WOLVES V WEST HAM

Good to see you. I just wanted to start by asking about the team, because you had a lot of players on international duty. Have they come back fit and healthy?

Yes, no injuries, no injuries at all.

It’s good. A lot of players. Of course, of course.

One of those players on international duty was Matheus Cunha. Over the weekend, I’m sure you’ve seen his comments about being ready to leave the club. I wanted to ask for your thoughts. What sorts of conversations have you had with Matheus?

He knows his potential as a top player.

For me, it’s normal that he has the ambition to fight for titles. This is natural. It happens with other players in our club.

But the most important thing is to be committed, to help the team achieve our targets. This is the priority at this moment. At the end of the season, we’ll see.

What reassurance can you provide regarding next season? 

I don’t know if I’ll be here tomorrow. It’s better to wait. The focus is, believe me, the focus is on the next game. The focus is on the team, and Matheus is part of the team.

Not for this game, but my focus is on my team at this moment. In the summer, we’ll see what happens. But in my opinion, it’s normal for a player with his potential to have ambition.

Is he still feeling positive after your conversations with him?

Of course, of course. He’s committed and will try to help us for sure.

This is the present. The future? I don’t know. The future doesn’t exist or maybe it does. I think not. Let’s not look too far ahead to the future. Let’s focus on tomorrow when we play West Ham.

You’re coming up against former captain Max Kilman. You’re next to West Ham in the table, but there’s still, I think, eight points between you. How much are you looking forward to that challenge tomorrow?

A big opportunity for us to get three more points.

To keep fighting. Keep fighting with our supporters and make them proud. Play with passion. That’s all.

How do you maintain the momentum and safety you’ve created now that you’re nine points clear of the danger zone? I’m just thinking about your thought process going into tomorrow.

A big opportunity for us to get three more points.

To keep fighting. Keep fighting with our supporters and make them proud. Play with passion. That’s all.

How do you maintain the momentum and safety you’ve created now that you’re nine points clear of the danger zone? I’m just thinking about your thought process going into tomorrow.

I imagine it will be different from that huge win against Southampton. What is your thought process going into tomorrow?

The players, the team gives me confidence, and I’m very confident.

I’m confident that tomorrow we’ll compete for sure for the three points. Next game, we’ll compete again for three points. This is the spirit I want to see in my team.

One of those players who has shown a lot of confidence is Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, who feels like he’s really stepped up. He’s shown what he can do. How pleased have you been with his performance?

Very happy for him.

He’s a player who deserves to be a team player, and I like this kind of player. At the beginning, I had doubts about his position in the system.

But now he can play in different positions and perform well. He can play as a midfielder or as a forward, in between the lines. He’s a worker.

You’ve spoken a lot about taking risks when playing football as well. Improving your identity and strengthening the squad defensively. Do you feel those risks are starting to pay off now?

I believe that in football, players are not machines.

I don’t want a robotic team. I want a team with brains. We have moments in the game when we must take risks.

We must take risks. At other moments, we don’t. There are areas on the pitch where we can take this risk. I want the players to have the confidence to appear in the box, to play one-on-one. Even when defending, at some moments of the game, we are playing one-on-one. They must have this confidence because we have our goalkeeper behind.

The libero, I don’t know if that’s the right term in English, to cover the space at the back. And that’s all. Sometimes taking risks and at other times playing safe.

This is football.

We are now into the last nine Premier League games. I wanted to ask what your main objectives and aims are personally for these last nine games?

To do our best.

To get the best results we can. Keeping the focus, the humility, the spirit, the team spirit, and playing with confidence.

A final one on Cunha’s situation. Is that now a difficult process for you? Hopefully, this will be the final one for you. Is that now a difficult process for you to manage, knowing that potentially 90%, or whatever percentage you want to put on it, a player may or may not be here next season? You’ve got players potentially waiting in the wings who are more likely to be here next season. Does that mean more game time for those players over Matheus, or what’s that process like for you to manage?

For me, it’s very easy.

If training gives me the confidence to play Cunha, I will play him because he has the quality to help us. He has helped a lot with goals and assists. I will see.

If he comes in this moment and has the right mentality to be focused and with us, for us, it’s very easy to manage. If not, I’m here to decide.

Sticking with forwards, how is Strand-Larsen’s hand issue? Has that done him a favour by withdrawing from international duty?

He cannot play volley, but I think he can play football.

How impressed have you been with him? You talked about momentum earlier, keeping momentum with individuals. He comes off the back of his brace last time. How have you kept that desire in him ready to go again tomorrow?

You must have your motivation.

I usually say that motivation comes from inside and sometimes from outside. Because if we feel that our supporters… Do you know why I like to be with the people? I’ll tell you. I go to a pub to be with the people, with the supporters, because I want to charge myself with energy.

It’s like I’m charging myself with energy and happiness. This is very important for me. It’s vital.

I need to be with them to feel that we are doing something to make them happy. This energy, in a sense, is like I put my charge there and then I come home, I come to the club with a lot of energy, a lot of strength to fight. This is very important.

I want players with this spirit.

How charged are you feeling now?

Powerful. Powerful.

Let’s hope you feel powerful tomorrow. 

I can imagine. Regarding the West Ham game, they tend to drop where they can, like Bowen. Not exactly a straightforward front two in many ways. A lot of dropping deep, trying to pull defenders out of position. We also hear that Fullkrug is available for them. What type of West Ham do you prepare for, and what are the interesting roles of players like Doc in that back three?

We face a strong team, technically and tactically.

The coach’s work is very good. It’s a team with confidence, with the ball, and players with high quality. But I have a fantastic team in a fantastic city.

Fantastic weather. Tomorrow, we’ll compete. We will compete for sure.

And fantastic pubs. The pubs, the people, the people.

Best of luck tomorrow. Thank you.

Hello, Vitor. What use is an international break to a club football manager? Can you get any useful work done?

You work with eight players, plus four or six from the academy. I had the opportunity to arrange two games against the academy, to see the players and understand the potential we have. This is what we did.

Rest a bit. Now, of course, after a game and international break, the problem is always getting them on the same page. They come from different games and different styles of play.

Now we need to get them on the same page.

That’s quite tricky, I should think, because what’s the gap? Two or three days? They come back at different times. That’s quite difficult.

Of course. They travel. Some of them come back very tired, with jet lag and problems sleeping. But this is football. We cannot complain.

We must be happy with our lives, happy to be here, and happy to have the chance to stay in the Premier League and keep fighting together.

When you looked at the academy players, perhaps you haven’t spent much time looking at, were you impressed? Did you see encouraging things?

I see some players with quality.

They need to work because they are young, but we have some players with quality.

OK, that’s all. Thank you.