Nuno backing Wolves to get through rut
Wolves have enough leaders in their young squad to get through the team's poor run, Nuno Espirito Santo insists.
The head coach admits he's not sleeping as well as before Wolves began enduring a sequence of five defeats in six matches.
But he's backing his team to show their character and improve results, starting with tonight's visit of Chelsea.
"Of course it affects me," he said of Wolves' results. "But you have to face it.
"I'm sleeping well but not as well as before, of course. This is the reality and this is life in football.
"You have to be ready for anything and everything and accept everything the way things are.
"We have enough leaders. It's about us and we’re not going to solve it individually because we shout louder than others.
"The players are conscious of the circumstances of the reality. The core of the squad is the same that made all last season and when we started fantastically at the beginning of (this) season.
"Sometimes things are changed by the outside expectations and what is going on on the outside but the reality is not true.
"The truth is we had a fantastic moment that, now we are in a bad moment, still gives us something to hold onto.
“It’s not just the beginning of the season, it is last season as well, so we are talking about a lot of hours of work and this is what gives us the confidence to go and perform."
Wolves' last win came on October 6 at Crystal Palace and they've slipped to 12th place.
Nuno doesn't believe soaring expectations have got to his players.
"We cannot control expectations," he said. "What you can control is how you prepare for games and how conscious are you of situations.
"And we must solve it but we must not only think that a good performance or a fantastic result can solve the situation – no.
"In this moment we can go and find new solutions because it’s a building process. This is what I believe.
"Some people might call me crazy but this is what I believe and this is how we work.
"The outside decisions you can’t affect. Of course it affects us, it affects everybody in football.
"But you cannot control it. You realise it and focus on your job."
Nuno has been preparing to face Chelsea superstar Eden Hazard by getting his back-up players to replicate the Belgian forward's style.
"Even the players that are not playing realise how important they are to prepare for a game like this," he said.
"They worked themselves and transform themselves into Hazards to create situations.
"This is what you want from a squad, everybody working.
"I had Hazards doing one versus ones and this is the way we work.
"I just say to the players ‘just remember how we did things and how we want to improve on how we can reach higher standards even in bad moments'."
