WOLVES & NUNO WILL REFUSE TO PLAY SAFE
Ith my son in the garden) says Newcastle enforcer Matt Ritchie
Vitality Stadium: 3pm WOLVES boss Nuno Espirito Santo has laughed off suggestions that he has the safest job in football.
He has worked miracles at Molineux, winning the Championship title and then steering Wolves to the top half of the Premier League, with an FA Cup quarter-final thrown in just for good measure.
Nuno (above) is adored by the Wolves faithful and everything in the garden looks rosy as he prepares his side for the trip to Bournemouth today.
But the 45-year-old, who has also received strong financial backing from the club’s Chinese owners, says he has never taken anything for granted – and he isn’t about to start now.
Nuno said: “I don’t speak to anybody about longterm things – I don’t even speak to my wife about that!
“There’s no such thing. You just have to think about the next day and live in the moment. Only day by day exists for me.
“I’m OK. I say to the players, there’s tomorrow and then there’s the day after.
“When players are happy and sign a contract then it should go in the drawer and forget about it.”
He is delighted that skipper Conor Coady is one of three players, along with Matt Doherty and Romain Saiss, who have just signed EDDIE HOWE has warned his Bournemouth players they are not safe from relegation yet.
The Cherries are sitting pretty in 11th with 33 points – nine above the drop zone.
But Howe, said: “I never feel safe until we are safe.
“The danger is we talk about what is going on above us and don’t understand the importance of every point we are fighting for. new long-term deals. Coady has been inspirational in Wolves ascent towards the top and has attracted the interest of England boss Gareth Southgate.
Nuno believes his 25-year-old centre-back and leader is playing a crucial part in plotting the club’s forward drive.
The Portuguese coach added: “I see what Conor brings to us on a daily basis.
“He’s committed and is always trying to improve himself – everything you want from a football player.
“He is a natural leader who has developed with time.
“I think there are things he can still improve.
“Don’t ask me if I think Gareth should pick him.
“I want him to be focussed here. Here is where you achieve things.
“Conor leads by example and that’s important as a captain. You have to have it – and he has.”
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‘You have to do something special to get a well done from the manager’
There is no complacency from my side, there never has been and never will be. “Every game I manage is life and death for me – it is that important and you are desperate to win and desperate to get points.
“We have done nothing and need to maximise every game.
“Forty points is a number everyone throws at you and I think it is a very dangerous thing.”
‘Two or 3 wins can be the difference, we have to fight for every point now’