SUPER MARIO’S BROS.
Lemina hails the ego-free squad pulling together to defy odds under O’Neil
TOTTENHAM 1 WOLVES 2
MARIO LEMINA believes the key to Wolves’ success rests on there being no stars in the dressing room. But if midfield partner Joao Gomes and chief creator Pedro Neto continue to glitter in gold, that theory may soon be debunked.
Gary O’Neil’s team, among the pre-season favourites for relegation, have now completed the double over Tottenham and Chelsea in addition to beating Manchester City at home.
Gomes was being watched by Brazil boss Dorival Junior at Spurs, while Neto is being talked up as an Arsenal target with an expectation that Wolves must sell to fund summer signings.
But asked what makes them such a fearsome prospect for the richest teams, Lemina insists it all comes down to humility.
“There are no stars in our dressing room,” he said. “We’re all working at the same pace at the same level. There’s no one player above another one.
“We respect each other, we work hard for each other and that’s going to make us as strong as ever.
“That’s what we want to show to the people. When you play on the same page, it’s really hard to beat, you know.”
Lemina would rather call the headline-grabbers “big players” and “crazy attackers” after Gomes struck twice, the second teed up by rampant Neto’s ninth assist of the season.
Tottenham were poor, lacking ideas up front and bullied in midfield by Lemina and Gomes (inset, scoring his first), but Wolves’ latest underdog win was no fluke.
“When we play against these types of teams, they want to control the game all the time and we have to stay together and believe in our strength,” Lemina said.
“We have crazy attackers
and we know when we find them, they will make trouble for the defence.
“That is what we see with the winning goal. We use our strength defensively. We have big, big players defensively.”
Wolves, who have scored eight more goals in 25 fixtures than the whole of last season, remain in with a chance of a Europa League spot.
Yet the frequency with which players still mention last summer’s relegation predictions suggests that proving doubters wrong remains a motivator – and talk of a continental tour has been banned in the dressing room.
“We don’t want to talk about it,” Lemina said. “At the beginning of the season, a lot of people said that we were going to be relegated. But we are showing that that is not the case.
“I mentioned relegation but I don’t care about it because I knew the team we have and, if someone trusted in us, I knew what we would achieve.” Recent results and performances have carried added weight for the 30-yearold. He was granted two weeks of compassionate leave when his father, Mario Sr, passed away in December.
Since then Wolves have signed one of his brothers, Noha, on loan from Paris StGermain.
And at full-time in North London, the more established Lemina brought his younger sibling over to the travelling supporters to join the celebrations.
“It’s really important to be with him in this tough moment for our family,” he added. “My mum is really happy, my brother is happy.
“He is settling in well in Wolverhampton and we’ll see what happens next.”
TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1): Vicario 7; Royal 6 (Lo Celso 85), Romero 6, Van de Ven 7, Davies 6; Bissouma 6 (Werner 71), Sarr 6 (Bentancur 71); Kulusevski 7, Maddison 6 (Hojbjerg 85), Son 6; Richarlison 5 (Johnson 71)
WOLVES (3-4-2-1): Sa 6; Kilman 7, Dawson 7, Toti 7; Semedo 7, Gomes 8, Lemina 8, Ait-Nouri 7; Neto 8 (Doherty 90), Sarabia 6 (Bellegarde 73); Hwang 7 (Traore 88)