Ahead of Saturday’s visit to Craven Cottage, the head coach – who admits some of his players are facing late fitness tests after the squad regroups following the international break – hopes Wolves can build on on their first win of the season last time out against Southampton. picking up three more points against a Fulham side that features some familiar old faces from Old Gold.

On Bueno’s withdrawal from Uruguay

“Santi has done some grass work, he will travel with us and we hope he can make it.

“We have a few to check, but I hope it all works out.” I am confident that we can build a strong team tomorrow. There are a few checks and I don’t want to say too much today, but I hope everything goes well.

Based on an invincibility streak

“It’s been an interesting season for us so far in this journey, not the results, just the performances which I was really happy with for so long at the start. I know you don’t want to keep saying that because we didn’t get enough points, but we had tough opposition.

“We put Liverpool at the end, we should have taken something away from Newcastle, we were the best team at Villa for a long time so there were some really good performances in that. But for some reason when we are came to Brentford, we fell well below the level It was probably the first game that people from outside here would have said: “You’re not playing against one of the big guys now. fell well below the level and we do not We’re given absolutely no chance of getting anything out of this game with the way we approached it.

“A lot of work was done then to try to understand what we needed to do to give them a better chance of taking points in games. We have tried to do that in the last few weeks and so far, in terms of points, it has helped us. I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement, and it’s going to be a really tough test.

On the balance between scoring and keeping clean sheets

“It’s just about how much you give up to protect the goal and we have to try and find the right mix. We look like we’re scoring goals, and before I came in Wolves struggled for years and years to score goals They were one of the worst scorers in the league for a very long time, and we always seem to score now, and there aren’t many games where we don’t. we can’t score. it’s about trying to find the right balance between that and making sure we’re strong enough.

“We certainly don’t want to lose our status as an attacking team, because some of our best moments come from the freedom of Matheus Cunha and the progression of the players. But we have to find a way to be solid. We have to help the boys to understand how to better defend the goal. The advanced players must protect them better, it’s all as a team.

“The team needs to be better out of possession, and that’s a priority. Sometimes you’ll hear me talk about Matheus (Cunha), because he’s incredibly talented, and he wins us games all by himself, but he wants me to be tough on him, and he wants me to make him better off. of possession, and I work on it with him every day. But it’s the same for everyone.

“We have some real talented players, but we have to work really hard to be a good team without the ball, because it’s not easy. Premier League teams test you, and we have to be a good unit, well organized and hardworking at all times when we don’t have the ball, and we work very hard at that.

On André’s lack of involvement in recent weeks

“He works very hard, but I think central midfield is one of our strongest areas. I was very impressed with him in his first appearances, but the work against Manchester City perhaps didn’t suit him as well, and then he ended up losing his space at half-time, and from then on – there, we managed to be undefeated.

“Having had a really good performance in that game against Manchester City, then going to Brighton, I played well, I played against Crystal Palace, I played against Southampton, so it’s just a of these moments for him. But he always works hard, he always shows his quality and he always adapts to the difference.

“If you talk to him about the difference in football, the speed of football and the way it’s played, it’s a completely different game than he’s used to playing, so he’s adapting to it always. But he’s going to be important for us and we’ll use him sooner or later, he’ll have a huge impact on the team.

Facing Fulham in the capital

“Fulham are one of the teams in form, especially at Craven Cottage, it’s always a tough test, so we’ll have to be excellent. But we’re in a decent moment – as strange as that may sound, compared to our situation in the league – five points from three Premier League games is always good, especially with the pressure that was on these two home games before the international break, and taking four points from them was important, and we will try to. carry some of that momentum into the next match.

“They have made good progress. I think they had a really good summer, I like the signings they made and I think they recruited really well. I’m a big fan of Marco Silva and I think he’s a great coach. He spent a lot of time there but he used it very well. You can see there’s a very good understanding and style in what they do, and it’s also very consistent, in the sense that the players they recruit fit perfectly into what they’re doing. they want to do.

“It’s an impressive little transition that they’ve gone through, because I remember I was involved at Bournemouth when we played them in the Championship, and from then on they continued to grow and get stronger. Like all Premier League matches, it will be another real test for us.

By facing Raul Jimenez and Adama Traoré

“I’m really impressed with the level that some of their players have managed to reach, and I think how much stronger they can become later in games when they make substitutions. If Adama doesn’t start and if he starts Reiss Nelson and Iwobi, then you’ll have Adama and Harry Wilson coming in, who have an incredible impact on football games.

“The depth they have in a lot of their areas, if it’s Jimenez’s day, Munoz will come in and is a great number nine. That’s what I mean with their recruiting and how well they have managed to line things up Not only is their starting 11 very strong, but as soon as someone comes out, they replace them identically. If Anderson is injured, Diop replaces him, so it’s a well-balanced team. well constructed.

“But we are going there with high hopes and we can give them some problems. We have to be very good, of course, but with high hopes, great focus on ourselves and trying to maintain this little series that we managed to create from a difficult situation, and an opportunity to do it tomorrow .