Wolves captain Toti Gomes has admitted that he is expecting a “tough game” when his side travel to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland this weekend.
Wanderers are yet to win a contest in the Premier League this season, and are currently rooted to the foot of the table with two points from their opening seven matches. Both of their draws have come in their past two outings, however, hinting towards a slight upturn in form.
For their part, Sunderland lost their last match prior to the international break, against Manchester United, but have largely impressed following their long-awaited return to the top flight, taking 11 points from their first seven fixtures.
What has Wolves captain Toti Gomes said about Sunderland ahead of Saturday clash?
With that in mind, Toti has suggested that Saturday’s meeting will represent a stern test for his side. Speaking to Wolves’ in-house media team, he said: “It’s definitely a different challenge. It will be the first time I’ve faced them and you never know what to expect, because there’s players that you’ve never played against, and playing in a new stadium.
“But this is the good thing about England. You always have the chance to play against these kind of teams, historic teams, so we know we’re going to have a tough game, but we’re going to go there with everything to get the three points.”
Addressing the need for Wolves to start turning draws into wins, he added: “Football is 90 minutes. You can start winning the game, but if in the last five minutes, the last 10 minutes, you lose your focus, then they can come and take your points. We need to keep working hard, like we’ve been doing.
“Of course, in the last two games, the team did very well, but it was just the last few minutes that we lost a little bit of focus. Sometimes it’s not even about losing focus, and sometimes you’re just unlucky with the results, because you feel like you did everything, but in the end, they got the chance and they scored. It felt a little bit unfair, but we need to work more on those little details for the next games that are coming.”
Elsewhere, Toti also reflected on his recent absence from Wolves’ starting XI – firstly due to tactical reasons and then because of illness – arguing that he is by no means guaranteed a return to the side against Sunderland, despite returning to full fitness.
He added: “I’m feeling better right now. The flu got to me and I was not expecting it to happen, but sometimes it can happen. We are in a season right now where it can happen often to the players, and it’s not good to be away from training and the games, and watching it from home. But now I’m feeling good and ready to help the team whenever the gaffer wants me to. The international break came at a good time for me as it gave me time to recover. Even while the other guys were away, I was still training, even at home, so it was a good time to recover and now I’m feeling good.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, nobody here can be comfortable with their position in the team now because we have very good quality in the squad. Everybody’s ready to play, everybody’s ready to help, and it’s good that we have a squad where we can make changes and everyone can have an impact.
“Sometimes you’re going to have to change when things are not going well, and the gaffer needs to do his decisions, but everybody’s ready. We have a very good squad, and we just need to keep working hard and everyone needs to come back from the international break ready to help.
“We’ve not had conversations about [his place in the team], but he just felt that he needed to change a little bit at the time, and we, as players, just need to respect that. I can’t say much about it. All I can do is just keep working hard so I can come back to the starting level. I just need to keep staying fit, and when the opportunity comes again, I need to go there and show it. But I think it’s because we have a very good squad too and everybody’s ready to play. We just want good things for the team, so we need to support whoever is playing.”
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