Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SHOULDER HARMS
TRAVEL For sad Traore it’s dislocation.. ...dislocation...dislocation
(quoting Mirror Offers)
WOLVES have been warned Olympiakos will target dangerman Adama Traore and his dodgy shoulder when they clash in the Europa League on Thursday.
Traore has dislocated his shoulder three times this season and was kept out of this game until Wolves needed him to rouse them with 26 minutes left.
He’d only been on the field 13 minutes when he complained to manager Nuno Espirito Santo that Brighton defender Dan Burn had tried to grab his weak left shoulder.
Burn denied that it was intentional and said: “He complained that he thought I’d done him, but I genuinely didn’t know which shoulder it was. You have to get as close as you can because if he runs against you and uses that pace against you, you are struggling.
“When Wolves go to play Olympiakos I’m sure it’s something that they will look at, they will exploit it as a weakness.
“It is something they’ve got to do, but everything within the law. If there’s a weakness they will go for it. If teams need to stop Traore then I’m sure they might look at it.
“But I do hope his shoulder gets better.”
Nuno admits Traore’s shoulder is a problem and he is in intense pain when it dislocates.
Traore is looking at an operation to pin the damage, but for the moment he has to soldier on.
He gave disappointing Wolves the energy they were missing. “His pace is a danger,” added Burn. “Not many players have got out-and-out pace like that and when he’s running at you it’s hard.
“It was particularly tough because I was on a yellow card and I couldn’t lay a hand on him. He is flying, doing really well. But I thought we dealt with him well.”
Brighton managed the whole game well, but their lack of a goal threat cost them a win. They have had six draws in their last nine league games and that is hampering their bid to pull clear of relegation – they are just two points above the drop zone.
“I hope it’s the old ‘ketchup effect,’ as they say in Sweden,” said Brighton boss Graham Potter, who made his name with Swedish club Ostersunds FK.
“It’s when you hit the bottle and eventually it all splurts out.
“We feel we can be competitive against anyone. We can’t have fear. We have to take the challenge on.”
Wolves will have to do better than this in Athens on Thursday to continue a Europa League journey they started in July.
Olympiakos, unbeaten this season, knocked out Arsenal to reach the Europa League last 16.
Brighton, with Yves Bissouma impressive, kept Wolves very quiet. “You saw a different side of us,” added Burn. “There have been comments that we’ve been a bit soft but I thought we showed a lot of character, a lot of togetherness. If we can put in a few more of those from now until the end of the season we’ll be OK.”