Nuno Espirito Santo
Nuno Espirito Santo insists he has no regrets following Wolverhampton Wanderers’ exit from the FA Cup. Nuno made six changes to his starting XI from the weekend with Adama Traore, Pedro Neto and Willian Jose among those benched for the fifth round clash with Southampton. The Saints punished Wolves’ much-changed side with Danny Ings and Stuart Armstrong netting the goals in the second half to seal a 2-0 win. In making so many changes, Nuno was clearly prioritising the Premier League game versus the Saints at St Mary’s on Sunday. Explaining his decisions in his post-match press conference,
Nuno Espirito Santo said: The schedule, the game, what we have in front of us, solutions for the team’ were the reasons behind it. It was about trying to find other options inside of our shape. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t work out. Today it didn’t work out. We have to have all the games in mind and give the young players chances to make them grow. There’s many things that we have to assess.”
Many supporters watching on from home were left frustrated that Nuno fielded a weakened team with a place in the quarter-finals at stake.
Nuno Espirito Santo said: “It’s not about regrets,” he said. “It’s how you decide it. We want to find more things for our team. Playing with four midfielders showed a clear intention to control, but at the same time give moments to young players that can then give us better performances in the future. It’s not about regret, it’s about knowing the intention that we had. This is my responsibility of course.”
