After Saturday’s action, Vitor Pereira made a comment that ruffled a few feathers in the Sunderland support.
Following the match, Vitor Pereira was grilled by the press about what another Premier League loss means for his future at Wolves.
It’s hard to look at Wolves’ performance against Sunderland and come to any conclusion other than that the better team on the day won.
And yet, that seems to be what the Wolves boss is attempting to do, to the displeasure of the opposing fans, of course.
Vitor Pereira’s post-Sunderland comments
Before a ball was kicked, the pressure was on Pereira after an international break in which this game was built up as make-or-break.
Wolves couldn’t get the job done, looking more like the side that opened the campaign than the improved version we have seen in recent weeks. There is a case to be made for the scoreline being harsh after Ladislav Krejci’s unfortunate spillage into his own net, but Sunderland deserved the win.
Pereira sees it differently, though.
He said after the match: “In the end, 2-0 is painful because, in my opinion, they didn’t play football to win 2-0 today, but they scored and we missed the chance to score. That’s why they won the game and congrats to them.”
As you can imagine, that hasn’t gone down all that well with Sunderland fans.
Sunderland fans react to Vitor Pereira’s words
Many supporters on the winning side read Pereira’s comments and were understandably defensive. After all, however Sunderland might have performed, they were worthy winners.
One fan says: “They are easily the worst team we have played this season. We were poor but they were embarrassing. I can’t see them staying up at all.”
Another added: “We should play like them and be bottom of the league with 2 points.”
Pereira’s words certainly got under the skin of some Sunderland fans: “He’s right we should copy his football and be winless after 8 and sat rock bottom on 2 points!”
The players were catching strays as well. This fan calls out the Wolves attackers too: “Vitor can go away and teach any of his forward players how to hit the target and then maybe they wouldn’t have lost.”
Admittedly, reactions on social media can be quite visceral at times.
There were a rare couple who agreed with Pereira, like this fan: “No other Sunderland fan will admit it but he’s right. Literally couldn’t get out our half especially 2nd half and they missed multiple chances from crosses. The manager has us playing far too defensively, we have the pace to counter teams but don’t seem to use it”
And at least partial agreement here: “For all Wolves possession they never looked dangerous to me. Toothless upfront. We admittedly didn’t play well today but still had enough to take 3 points.”
Overall, though, a strong — and somewhat angry — reaction from the Sunderland support. Luckily, there isn’t much chance of Pereira seeing it.
As he revealed before the weekend: “I don’t feel the pressure from outside because I don’t read or see anything and I don’t watch TV. I live in my world – and my world is about me and my team.”
No harm done then.