Vitor Pereira continued his fine start to life as Wolves new manager on Saturday, guiding his team to an important FA Cup third round win over Bristol City at Ashton Gate.
Pereira took charge at Wolves in mid-December after Gary O’Neil was relieved of his duties as the club’s manager following a pitiful first-half of the 2024/25 campaign. The Portuguese manager put pen to paper on an 18-month deal at Molineux while the club sat precariously in the Premier League relegation zone thanks to a run of five straight defeats.
The new manager has since managed to steady the ship at the Old Gold, taking seven points from his first four Premier League games in charge – a run which included a thoroughly impressive 2-0 win over Man Utd on Boxing Day.
Pereira and Wolves brought their improved form to the FA Cup on Saturday too, with goals from wing-backs Rayan Ait-Nouri and Rodrigo Gomes – who Pereira was full of praise for after the game – earning a 2-1 win over Championship outfit Bristol City in the third round.
Vitor Pereira laments Wolves’ wasted chances against Bristol City in FA Cup third round
While the result was exactly what Pereira was hoping for, and was enough to see Wolves through to the fourth round, speaking in his post-match press conference the new manager admitted that his team’s performance left a little to be desired.
Particularly, the Portuguese boss lamented his side’s inability to kill the game off at 2-0. Wolves missed a flurry of chances to put the game to bed after going to 2-0 up, allowing Bristol to find a route back into the game via Scott Twine on the stroke of half-time. Thanks to that lack of a clinical streak in front of goal, the second half proved to be much less comfortable than it should’ve been.
“The last five minutes of the first half we conceded some opportunities,” admitted Pereira. “We gave them confidence, from our throw in we lost one or two balls, and they scored at the end of the first half.
“In the first half, we had a chance to score more goals, and with 3-0 maybe we close the game, but for half-time they went with confidence, and we went with some doubts. To close this game we needed to score the third goal.
“Second half, we had two chance to score the third goal, but they have quality, and they started to believe, and we didn’t have the quality, in my opinion, to keep the ball with us, and in the game of transition it’s difficult to control the game. In the moment that we should keep the ball, we lost the ball. They have a good team, and it’s the cup, it’s a fight. We work it, we fight it, we suffer together, defending together, compact, and this is football. It’s not easy.”
Vitor Pereira gives thoughts on his first experience of the FA Cup with Wolves
Saturday’s third round clash was Pereira’s first experience of football’s oldest competition, having previously never managed in England before taking charge of Wolves.
When asked what his initial thoughts of the FA Cup were, Pereira replied with enthusiasm: “It’s fantastic, fantastic, fantastic.
“It’s like we’re in the Premier League. The pace of the game is the same. It’s a physical game, technical game, they have very good players. This is English football.”
Wolves will find out their opponent for the fourth round of the FA Cup on Sunday evening. The Old Gold will be ball number 11 during the draw.