Munetsi ups the ante

MARSHALL MUNETSI says Wolves are placing a strong emphasis on an identity and structure this pre-season, which is both his and Vitor Pereira’s first at the English Premiership football club.

The Zimbabwean midfielder was a January signing from Reims and played a key role in the Old Gold’s turnaround last season, bringing energy to the side while performing in a number of different roles.

The 29-year-old was one of a handful of players who played 90 minutes in Saturday’s training ground match with Burnley in Portugal and feels the hard work in Pereira’s training sessions is already visible in matches for the Old Gold.

On the latest step of pre-season…

“I think it was much better than the first game [against Santa Clara]. We have more minutes in the legs, and we had much more time to prepare. We made a couple of changes, but I thought the first half was really good. We implemented the things we’ve been training on with the coach, so I think we can take this when we go home for the next friendly match.

“It was tough, but this is the right time to push the body to the limits, so when the season starts, we’re ready. The coach looked at some of the guys who’d been with their national team, but I’d had much more time to rest, so obviously now I’m ready to play 90 minutes. We’re looking at different combinations, trying to implement different things. Some guys played 60, but in the next game will probably push to play 90.”

On the message from Pereira

“It’s getting combinations, understanding each other. We have lost a couple of important players who were starting in the first 11, so now we have to get to know each other better. The players coming in, the players already here, the academy players who’ve been promoted — this is the perfect time to understand what we need to implement and to check the good things we did last season. We had a couple of good runs, so I think we can continue pushing from there.

“It’s been more about the structure — to have a good identity for the team. Last season we didn’t start well and we conceded a lot of goals, so he’s trying to really implement how we defend and keep what we’re doing going forward — wolves.co.uk/Sports Reporter.