Kilman: Wolves will miss defensive kingpin Saiss

After an impressive performance and another clean sheet against Manchester United on Monday Saiss departed for the African Cup of Nations, which starts on Sunday.

He will be missing for most of January and potentially into early February, depending on how far Morocco progress in the competition.

Saiss has been a key figure of the back three alongside Kilman, and the Englishman admits losing his defensive partner will be a blow they have to overcome.

He said: “He’s been brilliant. Him and Conor (Coady) have been fantastic this season and have helped me so much as well.

“He will be a big miss but we’ll see what happens. We’ll start preparing after this game as it’s the first time we’re going to lose him. We’ll go from there. We have fantastic players in the squad so we need to keep going.

“There’s a lot more to come from us and when he comes back he’ll come back into the side, but we need to be ready (for him leaving).”

Dion Sanderson has been recalled from his loan as defensive cover, while Toti Gomes has also been recalled to train with the squad but is expected to return to Grasshoppers to complete his loan unless Wolves have any Covid-19 or injury issues.

Alongside that pair, senior players Fernando Marcal, Leander Dendoncker and Ki-Jana Hoever can all play centre-back and could fill in for Saiss.

“There’s fantastic defenders and players in this team, so whoever is playing in that position can do a job,” Kilman added.

“We’ve built a fantastic base and foundation where everyone knows their roles. When they do get subbed in at any position they know exactly what to do and they do it like-for-like with the player they’ve replaced.”

Regardless of which defence Wolves put out, goalkeeper Jose Sa has proved to be an effective buffer behind them.

The 28-year-old made another big save in the final seconds to deny a Bruno Fernandes free-kick at Old Trafford and Kilman believes him, and the whole team, have contributed to their consistent clean sheets.

“It was a very important save at the end,” Kilman said.

“Sometimes a goalkeeper might not have much (to do) but when they do get that moment they have to stay fully concentrated, and he did that. It shows the sign of a top class ‘keeper.

“The clean sheets and conceding less goals comes from the whole team and from the front.

“We work a lot on defending from the front and from the strikers. Everyone knows their roles and is very comfortable.

“When Fabio comes on for Raul he knows what to do and how to defend. Credit to everyone, not just the defenders and the goalkeeper.”