Gary O’Neil used the words “determination, focus and unity” when asked what his side will need if they are to beat Ipswich Town on Saturday afternoon.

The Old Gold are locked on nine points alongside the Tractor Boys, and while the head coach knows his side have the capacity to hurt their visitors, he also knows their performance must be complete. O’Neil, who confirmed Nelson Semedo has taken over the captaincy, cited the win at Fulham and the poor side of the performance that led to an eye-catching win as his goal for this weekend.

On Traoré who is getting closer

“Everyone did well this week. Jose Sa still won’t make it, Pablo won’t quite make it, and obviously the longer-term players, Bouba and Yerson, won’t make it. But other than that, everyone is fine. Everyone is trained, they will be checked after training and I hope there will be no problems during today’s session.

“We hope he (Traoré) will be back at the end of the month. Depending on how the next few weeks go, that could mean just a return to training, or it could mean that if he’s able to ramp it up, we might be able to fit him into some teams, but he still has still a little time to play. go.

“It’s getting close and you can see the excitement on his face when you pass him around. He’s doing a lot of work to get back into shape and he’s someone we’re really looking forward to welcoming back into the squad as he can definitely add something.

On the need to do the dirty side

“We have to find our own level of concentration to ensure we achieve victory. Of course, we have the ability and quality here to cause big problems for Ipswich tomorrow. But it will take more than skill and quality. This will require real determination, concentration, solidarity and a willingness to suffer in moments if necessary.

“Then, as we were able to do against Southampton and Fulham, people will remember the great goals and the fantastic football at Fulham, but there was good defending and good defending together, which was important for us, and we will need everyone. it starts again tomorrow.

Ipswich preparation pic.twitter.com/ESuAwHiYjQ

– Wolves (@Wolves) December 13, 2024

On what he expects from his players

“We need to make sure that we are as together and we are as ready to fight, that we are as humble and that we pay real respect to Ipswich because they are a good team with a good manager. They have recruited fantastic players, Liam Delap is having a fantastic season up front, he seems to be a real threat, always against big and strong central defenders. That’s the first thing, real respect from us to Ipswich.

“What this respect should improve is our concentration and our level, I don’t mean that we stay away from them and let them do what they want. What I mean , is that we arrive tomorrow as if we were playing against a top team, and we have to be at our best, and that is very important for tomorrow’s group.

“Winning matches in the Premier League is very rarely comfortable. There will be times tomorrow where we will have to dig and fight and be together, and we will have to defend in the stages, and then when we have our moments in the game we will have to use the quality that we have to make the difference.

On connecting with fans

“The results are what really determines the relationship with the fans. Let’s be honest, last year when I came in, the reason we were able to connect so well was because we beat Man City, Chelsea twice and Tottenham, and we had fantastic wins, four goals at Brentford. So that helps. Of course, the results this season are far from the same. So the relationship between me and the fans is obviously going to take a hit, and that’s just part of it.

“My feeling about them is exactly the same. I love standing there in front of them. I love representing their football club. I’m sure that’s the case with all managers, but I give them everything to try and help this group be as good as possible.

“What I’m proud of is how loyal they have been to the players, because I’ve never seen them after a match not always being right behind the players, which is really important. The players appreciate that, I know that, and they look forward to doing justice to the fans tomorrow and next week at Leicester, and continuing the season.

On stage work

“We work very, very hard on them. Lots of work on it again this week. Really disappointed with West Ham, because we found a way to be much more solid in the match. We had managed to calm the crowd down, and we were getting to a stage of the game where we could really try to attack it from then on, and we gave West Ham a very gentle game.

“Giving away goals like that makes such a big difference to the feel of the performance and everything that goes with it. The guys have worked very hard in meetings and on the training pitch, and I am confident that the work we are doing will definitely help turn the defensive situation around.