Palace head up to Molineux to face a Wolves a couple of places below in the table. To get the inside track as to how Wolves fans are feeling, TEB had a chat with Harry Mansell from Wolves 77 Club Podcast.
TEB – Hi Harry, are Wolves feeling safe?
HM – Yes, I think we are. The loss to Leicester was disappointing. A win or even a draw was probably enough to secure safety. I think one more win in our remaining games will be enough. (fingers crossed!)
TEB – Do you feel confident for the future with Lopetgui in charge? What’s the verdict on him so far?
HM – Lopetegui has been a breath of fresh air. The players took to him well and you can tell he’s a great man-manger from the clips that have been shown on the wolves YouTube channel.
We were bottom of the league on 10 points when he took over, we now sit on 34 points! Our results since he took over has been roughly top 8 form so if we do stay up next season could potentially be very exciting!
I must point out though he hasn’t been perfect by any means. He has chopped and changed the team a bit too much and can get substitutions during the game wrong.
TEB – Assuming you stay up, what are the priorities for the summer?
HM – If we stay up the priorities are replacing the likes of Ruben Neves, Moutinho and Adama Traore. Joao Gomes and Sarabia have come in who could be potential permanent replacements but we do need more players too.
Another big area is up front, we’ve struggled to score goals again and the likes of Raul Jimenez, Diego Costa and potentially Fabio Silva will leave so we need to find a proven striker who can score goals at this level.
TEB – Who’s been your player(s) of the season so far? Are they also the key to ensuring safety?
HM – Ruben Neves has been our player of the season. Other players I’d like to mention are Mario Lemina, Semedo and Craig Dawson. Lemina and Dawson joined in January and it’s no coincidence our performances improved dramatically when they did.
Q – Which Palace player would you most want in your team / squad?
HM – The first Palace player that comes to mind is obviously Wilfried Zaha, but I also really enjoy watching Eberechi Eze! So yes, we’ll take those two please if you’re offering! (TEB – £250million each and we can discuss!)
TEB – How are you likely to line up and where is the game going to be won and lost?
HM – The last three games we’ve settled for a 4-4-2 formation with Cunha and Costa up front and it’s worked well. Neves returned for the Leicester game but couldn’t get back in as Lemina and Joao Gomes have been outstanding in midfield. So my guess is the same starting line-up we saw away at Leicester depending on Injuries.
Cheers Harry, you can hear more from him and the other lads who run the Wolves 77 Podcast by following their YouTube stream.
