In the Portuguese’s first game in charge of the Old Gold, Wolves ran out 3-0 winners over Leicester City, but with Manchester United to come on Boxing Day, Semedo understands that there are still improvements the team needs to make if they are to put a consistent run of victories together and pull themselves out of relegation danger.
On building on the Leicester win
“It's important that we go game by game. We can all ‘go to the heaven’ when we have one win, and we cannot put ourselves down when we lose one game. We have to be balanced.
“Obviously, it was a really good start for us and we've been training a lot since the new coach came in, trying to get into his ideas, and we did really well against Leicester. I think it was the was the perfect way to start but we’ve got to keep working and keep improving.”
On Goncalo Guedes and Rodrigo Gomes’ impact
“Guedes is already a very experienced player and he can add a lot to the team with his experience, with his movement, because he’s really a guy that moves a lot, that likes to have the ball, that has a good finish as well, and he also wants to help the team.
“When it's like this, you will see a Guedes that we saw on Sunday. And for us, it's perfect, because he's a really good player. I’ve known him for about 10 years already, and I'm really pleasured to have him here today.
“It's really good to see [Rodrigo score his first Wolves goal], because I know how hard he works. He’s a good kid that came to help us, and obviously, it's really hard to come to the Premier League, but he's doing really well.
“We’re going to see more from him because he works hard, he listens, he wants to learn, he wants to improve, and then you can see his energy on the pitch. He doesn't stop, until he gets tied, he doesn’t stop. He’s up and down, up and down, and that's the same every day, so we’re really happy for him.”
The pitchside view of Rodrigo's first Wolves goal 🫶 pic.twitter.com/2qIRUcctOH
— Wolves (@Wolves) December 23, 2024
On having a Portuguese head coach again
“Those of us who understand Portuguese, we can see what he really wants, and then we can explain it to the other guys. But he speaks really good English as well and his staff speak with good English.
“But even before the arrival of the coach, we had Brazilian players that talk Portuguese, Portuguese players as well, but we try to communicate in English, and everybody has a good relationship with everybody.
“Everyone tries to communicate in English, but what made the difference for us was the little changes we had. A new coach brings new energy, and everybody was trying to give his best to help the team to start in the right way. I think that was the main thing and I think that's why we look more like a team.”
On taking in Pereira’s instructions
“He’s tried to improve in the little details and we saw that on the pitch. Obviously, we have a lot to improve as well, and we want to improve even more, because it had only been three days [of training with Pereira before Leicester].
“We did a lot of a lot of topics and we had to rush a little bit, but it looks like we came into his ideas, we're doing well, and we're going to get more confidence to play more. That is the thing that he wants us to do and is the thing that we have quality to do as well.
“We know we need to get better defensively, even after this game, where we didn’t concede, but we can do even better.”
On a Boxing Day Molineux meeting with United
“On Sunday, we played against Leicester who were higher than us in the table, but we still did a good performance. We know United is a good team, with very good players, and we know they can be really dangerous for us, so we know we have to be in our best level again to win the game.
“But it will be hard for them as well, because we will be giving our best, we will be playing home, at Molineux with our fans, so it will be really hard for them as well.
“I'm glad we're playing at home so we don't have to travel. We’ll have training early in the morning early, and then we have some time to spend good time with the family. Then on the 26th, we’ll be back to work.”
On being teammates with Amorim at Benfica
“Ruben is a really good coach. He probably doesn't even remember this, but when I first started to play, and got into the Benfica first-team, me and Guedes were both on the team with him and I trained with him a couple times.
“I don't know if he’s going to remember this, but I remember because it was a special moment for me, as a kid, going up to the first team. But he’s a very good coach with very good ideas and I wish all the best for him – apart from when he’s against us, obviously, I hope he doesn’t have the luck then.”