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‘Do we want to be remembered as cowards?’ – Matt Doherty calls out his Wolves teammates

‘Do we want to be remembered as cowards?’ – Matt Doherty calls out his Wolves teammates after Wolves’ 15th league defeat of the season.

Keane Lewis-Potter scored twice in Brentford’s 2-0 win over Wolves, with home fans inside Molineux protesting against the club’s hierarchy in the 18th and 77th minute, marking the club’s formation in 1877.

Keith Andrews’ side climb up to 12th in the Premier League table with 23 points from 17 games played. Wolves have lost 10 in a row, six coming under Rob Edwards.

Speaking to Premier League Productions after the 2-0 home defeat by Brentford, Doherty said:

“We’re not finding it easy at all. We’re very hurt, but we need to show up, we need to act. It’s easy to say all these things, that we’re hurt, but we just need to show more on the pitch.

“We were in the game for 60 minutes, we feel like we’re doing ok, and then we concede the goal and it just feels that we conceded the same goal again after that. It’s just a bit too easy for them.

“I need to see it back as I haven’t seen them back, but it feels like the ball just took a bounce or something but there is not much to say other than it’s just not good enough.”

On his lowest point at Wolves

“When we were in League One, we were winning every game anyway, but obviously when we got relegated into the Champ, I was only kind of around towards the back end of that season, but you were still winning games in between some losses.

“I remember when we went down then [into League One] and that was a terrible feeling. I was around, but I didn’t play that much and this is the worst I’ve felt in a long time.

“You can see the stadium is nearly empty at the end, it’s not full at the start, but we’re just lacking belief that we can actually win the games. We’re afraid and scared to win the game, almost nervous about actually going ahead in the game and having to try and hold on. I don’t really know what else to say. We’ve just got to somehow keep trying to find something.”

On coming into the game with confidence

“We have had a better two weeks in training where the intensity and the energy and everything looked really good, and you could tell with our performance against Arsenal, we were definitely better. But when you’re playing at home in a situation like this, that’s where you’ve got to show real character, when the atmosphere isn’t great, and the energy is not in the stadium – and we completely understand why.

“But that’s where you have to show your character and come out and want the ball and be brave. Even if you’re not confident, getting around the pitch, running hard, pressing people. As a professional, there’s loads of weeks where you don’t have it technically, where you’re just a bit off on the day, but you can still run around.

“And we’re doing that for about an hour. We’re in every game almost until an hour and then we concede a goal, and then we just never look like getting back in, which is obviously disappointing. Then you concede another and it’s like we’re watching the same game back every week.”

On Strand Larsen’s penalty miss

“You have to be 100% in this league. Even for myself, carrying a lot of injuries this year as well, you’re just not going to get that many results if you’ve got a few players carrying stuff, but at the moment, we’ve got no choice.

“This is the squad that we have, lads have to play. Jorgen’s a very good striker, he’s obviously suffering, probably from our lack of creativity, but we know how good he can be. We know the goals he can score and he proved that last year in Premier League. The hardest thing to do in the Premier League is score goals, so we know that he’s got it in him.

“Missing the penalty is not the reason why we lost the game at all, so he’s not to take any blame for that, but he’s going to be fine. He’s a good character, he’s a strong character, so he’ll be able to get through this, I’m sure.”

On signing new players in January

“It’s not hopefully, it has to be. We’ve got no choice, we’re going to need something, whether that’s in the loan market, or whatever. People who can see our situation and still want to come and want to help. We’re just going to need something. We’re going to need some fresh energy.

“I’m not saying what positions we need, but we need something. I’m sure the club will be looking, I’m sure they’ll be working behind the scenes, and from what I remember, the club has always been proactive in the market.”

On players taking accountability

“We’re going to need everyone who’s here now also to find the level of where we were last season, because a lot of us are still here from last season, and last season, we got ourselves to a good level of performance to stay in the league, because we were in a tough spot this time last year as well. Obviously, this is a lot worse, but we need to find the levels, myself included.

“It’s easier to do that away from home, but you still have half your season at home. We need to do some soul searching and have a look in the mirror and just figure out what we want to be remembered for at the club

“Do we want to be remembered for fighting all the way to the end of season, or do we want to be remembered for being cowards and taking the easy option, maybe trying to leave in January, or not fighting and training, and letting other people take your position? We need to look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out how we want to be remembered at the club.”

Rob Edwards said on defeat to Brentford:

“It’s a similar story to what we’ve had in recent games. All six of the games since we’ve arrived here, we’ve been drawing at half-time, and then we concede around that hour mark, and today we self=-imploded.

“We were not in too much of a dangerous position, and we should deal with the ball that came in, and I can’t believe they’ve scored from that situation. The first goal is so important in games. Then after that, we tried to open up more, made some changes, and again we should deal with the second.

“We’ve got the bodies back and the numbers there to deal with the second goal, but it’s very difficult from there.”

On a lack of confidence in the squad

“You can see that, and at the moment, we’re probably getting some different performance in training to what we’re getting out there. It does inhibit one or two a little bit more, and there’s a few that are feeling that heat and that pressure, and it’s affecting their performance.

“The first goal is key. That’s obvious. But we’ve not been able to get that. There wasn’t loads in it, Sa had to make a couple of saves in the early period of that second half, and we tried to address that.

“But in a threatening position from the goal they scored that first one, and we managed to gift that and from there it’s tough for us at the moment.”

On Mane’s promising performances

“He’s beginning to look at home when he’s out on the pitch. I don’t think he’s someone who’s necessarily got some of the scars that one or two of the others are holding at the moment.

“It was a real positive performance again from Mateus.”

On the upcoming festive fixtures

“They’re difficult games, but they’re exciting games as well. They’re brilliant opportunities for us to go and try and do that.

“We’ve got two away games, but since we’ve arrived here, our two best performances have been away from home against two very good teams, so we look forward to the challenges.

“I said to the lads in there now that I’m standing up, I’m ready to fight and I need everyone to be able to do the same.”

On a change of chairman

“I was in a meeting yesterday where I was informed. But going forward, look, I think Fosun have always shown and said that they’re fully committed to this club and want to see it in the Premier League, and flourishing.

“There’s a big commitment from the ownership, and I met Nathan Shi over the last two days, and he’s someone that seems really committed to being aligned and working with us now in this process, and trying to turn things around.”

On transfer plans for January

“There’s a plan in place there, but January is difficult for the top teams, never mind teams that are in our position at the moment.

“A lot of people are working really hard on that so we can try and have an impact in the window.”

Fans reacted after Matt Doherty calls out his Wolves teammates…

@CJ_7171: Wolves fans just need to boycott every single home game now this season. It’s as simple as that #wwfc #fosunout

@matchdayben: Fair play Doc. Plenty in the dressing room could do with taking note. Sorry you’re part of this mess of a squad 🙏

@carlybaldwin88: Probably the closest thing you’ll ever see to a player speaking as a fan would.

@LG__88: Top from the doc. One of the few you can truly say are still trying their all. Doesn’t deserve this

@KarlBrownTV: He’s got potential to be a good manager one day. Over 30 years, never seen our fan base checked out so early in a season. Even last time we dropped out of the Prem or the slide into League One.

@BullseyeTips: Part of our best side in recent memory but now part of our worst. Feel bad for doc. He doesnt deserve to be associated with this lot. Never massively rated him but under nuno was massive to what we achieved. Basicallt admitted some players will take easy way out and leave in jan.

@troutbeckwolf: Fair play doc but this is easily the worst Premier League team ever

@WWFC_ST21: Blokes literally seen it all at this club, been here since 2010, bloke must look around and think yep it’s happening again and has probably seen it coming a mile off like all of us

@RyHoops83: As I said on Sky earlier. It’s not about being technically sound. Just give us character, give us fight, give us players that give a shit…

@SufferingWolves: This is a horrible interview to watch! But he’s spot on! Moore of messages in there about people hiding, players trying to get away in jan etc. This could have long running consequences for the club! So hard in 2 windows to rebuild this was quad for next season in the champ

@robbowwfc: Huge respect to Doc for calling these lot out. Massive cowards in this squad and we will go down with less than a whimper

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