Matheus Cunha was named man of the match in last night’s defeat to Manchester United – and the star made an interesting suggestion involving Julen Lopetegui after the game.
Cunha was absolutely superb at Old Trafford.
The 24-year-old was selected to lead the line by Gary O’Neil.
The Brazilian was a complete menace for United with his dribbling and pace, and he had around four chances to score.
Sadly that clinical finishing just wasn’t there with Cunha, and it never really has been.
But it was definitely one of the best performances he has ever given in a Wolves shirt.
The whole team was excellent last night, and it was refreshing to see how bold everyone was being on the ball.
O’Neil has clearly already put his stamp on the side already.
But Cunha did make an interesting comment about Lopetegui after the game last night.
Matheus Cunha says Wolves will still use some ideas Julen Lopetegui had
Lopetegui left the club one week ago, after growing tired of the financial situation at Molineux.
Him leaving just days before the new season could make this a long old campaign.
But the Wolves players will have given the fans much encouragement with their performance against United.
He may be gone now, but Lopetegui’s influence may be sticking around at the club.
Cunha said after last night’s game (via Wolves official): “He’s (O’Neil) come with very good ideas and he’s helped us a lot. We didn’t have too much time to work, but he came with new ideas that we tried to put on the pitch.
“We’ve already learnt a lot with him in one week, but we also have the ideas from Lopetegui and his staff, and both of their ideas together are going to help us a lot on the pitch.
“We have a good mix of the old ideas and the new ideas so, even though it’s only the first game, I think we are in a good way.”
The right way to go
It is interesting to hear that Lopetegui’s ideas won’t be completely tossed out now that he has gone.
This is probably the right way for O’Neil to go about things.
At the end of the day, Lopetegui was a top-class coach and he did great work for the club during his nine months at Molineux.
Given O’Neil has come in so close to the start of the new season, it just makes sense for him to try and build on what his predecessor was doing.
He said before the United game that he obviously wants to put his own stamp on the side.
But for right now, he surely needs to be going with what the Wolves players have been working on in pre-season.
Gradually, O’Neil can get his own ideas across to the players and then put them into practice.