Julen Lopetegui has heaped praise on Wolves striker Raul Jimenez after his superb display in the 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur. Jimenez was integral to Wolves’ improvement in the second half after being introduced in the 28th minute as a replacement for the injured Diego Costa. The Mexican forward, 31, played his part in Adama Traore’s winning goal. Jimenez wasn’t the only player Lopetegui hailed in his post-match press conference. He also gave special mentions to Nathan Collins, Jonny Castro Otto and Joao Moutinho for their roles in a crucial win.
Julen Lopetegui said: “I want to highlight a lot of players. For example, Nathan Collins hasn’t played in the last matches and he was ready when I looked for him. Jonny hasn’t played a lot of matches and was ready. Joao, when he went into the pitch, he was ready. And, above all, Raul Jimenez has played a fantastic match in my opinion. It’s good news for him and for us. He didn’t score but he was very important in a lot of facets of the play. It’s important. Sometimes we analyse the forwards for the goals that they score but they have a lot to offer to the team. I have to review the match, but in my opinion he has made a very good match.”
Collins and match-winner Adama were brought on at half-time as Lopetegui switched formation to mirror Spurs’ 3-4-3 shape. Mario Lemina and the returning Pedro Neto made way.
Julen Lopetegui added: “It was tactical. We started playing in the back three and tried to do different things and I want to highlight that it was important to have resilience in the bad moments in the first half. We were resilient and kept going, knowing we would have one chance. The changes are about the players. Sometimes I make changes, like in the last match against Liverpool, thinking we are going to be better and in the end we were worse. The merit of the change is about the players.”
