Julen Lopetegui: My mistakes cost Wolves against Man City
Julen Lopetegui has admitted he made a mistake with his starting XI as Wolves fell to a convincing defeat away at Manchester City.
With a front three of Hwang Hee-chan, Adama Traore and Raul Jimenez, Wolves attempted to break on the counter attack while City dominated possession.
However, Wolves struggled to get any foothold in the game and as they trailed 1-0 at half-time, Lopetegui hauled his attacking trio off with three changes from the bench.
In the end, Erling Haaland’s hat-trick was the difference, and Lopetegui admitted he made a tactical error.
The head coach said: “We didn’t do what we had in our mind with the game plan.
“In the first half we weren’t able to arrive in their box. Against this kind of team, when you are only defending, in the end you are going to suffer a goal.
“They have big quality. It was a pity because we tried to do different things.
“Maybe because when you, as a coach, make three changes (at half-time) it’s your fault in the line-up or your fault in the game plan. This is not about the players that I have changed, it’s about me.
“We tried to change the situation to be more aggressive with the ball. We changed the system. I think we started better, that was my impression, but the first time that they arrived in our box it was a penalty against us. We didn’t have time to show we can improve.
“We tried but it was more difficult. In the end we shot 10 times, they shot 13, but we didn’t score any goals.
“I hate to lose but we deserved to lose, in my opinion.
“I prefer to lose in one way, by trying to damage the opponent, and we have to improve in this. We have improved different things and I am happy with the commitment of the players. It will be a very long and hard race and we have to be ready.”
Wolves had some uncomfortable moments as they consistently tried to play out from the back, before they were finally punished for Haaland’s third goal.
Goalkeeper Jose Sa played a dreadful pass into Riyad Mahrez, who set Haaland up for an easy tap in, but Lopetegui is certain that the shot-stopper will get to grips with Wolves’ system.
When asked about that mistake, Lopetegui added: “We want to take good decisions.
“Sometimes the good decision is to play long and sometimes it’s to play short.
“We don’t want to take risks to suffer a goal but sometimes you have to build the play, by playing short.
“Of course, we need to do it better. It’s not about playing short or long, it’s about making good decisions.We have to improve all of this. This kind of mistake happens to all players and in this case we have to help Jose to improve and be able to overcome this situation. I am sure he will do better.”
