Wolves vs Ipswich: Liam Keen and Nathan Judah preview

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00:00Hello, I'm Nathan Tudor. I'm here with Wolves Reporter. It is Mr. Liam Keane. Liam, we just

00:12heard from Gary O'Neill ahead of the huge game against Ipswich on Saturday and that

00:18was a big press conference. It was a long press conference and there was plenty happening.

00:22Let's start with the big news and that is big news and it is huge news. Nelson Samedo

00:27is the new Wolves club captain. Mario Lamina no longer. Obviously we saw the ugly scenes

00:32which I think has prompted a change after West Ham on Monday night and yes, look at

00:39the big news. Yes, massive news. Gary has openly said that the scenes at the end of

00:45that West Ham game which we both said were very unsavoury and embarrassing really for

00:49Mario Lamina sparked a conversation that he had with him. Gary has taken ownership

00:53of the decision. He said it was his decision to make but he had a conversation with Lamina

00:58to get his thoughts on it and obviously they came to a final decision to take him off the

01:03captaincy. He will remain a key leader in that dressing room. He will remain part of

01:07a group of players that are important to that but he is no longer club captain. Nelson Samedo

01:14who is very fondly thought of by the club, by Gary, plays every week, has been very strong

01:20under Gary O'Neill now with the new captain and it's probably, it's not someone who is

01:25a particularly loud character but it's someone who is a calm leader, experienced and they

01:31probably need a little bit of calm. Yes, a presence that you need I think at this moment

01:34in time because like you say, those scenes cannot happen again. At the same time for

01:38Mario Lamina, he'll be hurt, he'll be hurting, he'll be frustrated. We haven't seen the best

01:42of Mario Lamina by a long shot and I think Gary O'Neill said this is as much a change

01:47for him to take him out the line but also to get him back to the Mario Lamina that we

01:51know and love from last season. But, he spoke glowingly and we spoke to Mario Lamina, delighted

01:57in pre-season to get that job, to get the captaincy from Max Killman and yes, he's lost

02:02it in 15 games. That's going to hurt you as a professional. Yes, of course it is and he's

02:06got his own pride as well. It's going to hurt him to have that taken away or to be part

02:10of the process of that being taken away. At the same time, he's been nowhere near the

02:15levels that we know he can be in a wolf shirt. We know how good he can be, he's been nowhere

02:18near that. Gary has made it pretty clear in there that he's actually quite excited by

02:25what Mario Lamina can produce and what he's expecting him to produce tomorrow. In a massive

02:32game at home against Ipswich, he's expected him to put in a massive performance. If Mario

02:37Lamina goes out there and puts in a vintage Lamina performance in a wolf shirt, we'll

02:42all be in hindsight saying this is a fantastic move. It's down to the player now to go and

02:46prove how good he is. You can see with this fan base as well and how they support their

02:50players, Mario Lamina putting in, like you say, a vintage Mario Lamina and I can see

02:54now Super Mario ringing around more than you, getting behind him because they'll know as

02:58well that this is a tough decision. Mario Lamina, how old is he now? 31? Yes, I think

03:03so. Probably likelihood is that he won't be captain of a Premier League team again. That's

03:09tough on him, but like you say, he's got to respond now. He's got to respond. He wants

03:14the best for this football club, but he'll have to put in a performance tomorrow and

03:17Shaogom is suspended. We'll come on to the team in a little bit, but Gary Neill's basically

03:21said that Mario Lamina will be starting tomorrow, as we thought. The next bit of news, I think,

03:25before we go on to Ipswich, is the talk of January and it's really hotting up now and

03:29you can understand wolves need new recruits. I say recruit or recruits, but Gary Neill

03:35seems quite confident. There's obviously been discussions there and he didn't mention

03:39names, he didn't mention positions. Of course, we know centre-back is one of them from previous

03:42discussions, but that these will be different signings from where they went down in the

03:50summer with a lot of youngsters signed for the future. This is going to be someone or

03:54people who are going to come in ready to play first-team football straight away. Yes, that

03:58was the Marks difference and that's the message that Gary Neill has tried to get across. What

04:02we will do in January, and I think he hinted that it will be very different in terms of

04:06wolves not going to go out and spend hundreds of millions, but I think there'll be certainly

04:10more money available than there has been previously. Needed, obviously. Alongside that, it'll be

04:16a Marks difference in the type of character we're talking about. We're talking about players

04:19that will be experienced or experienced enough to come in and impact this starting XI straight

04:24away. Centre-back being a key one, as we all know. Wolves need that. This group needs help.

04:30It's a talented group, but it needs some fresh faces. It needs some additions. It needs

04:34a little bit more quality in depth. Yes, but before January, before that comes round, they've

04:39got four or five games, very important games, and this can run away with them pretty quickly

04:44if they don't start winning games and drawing games and getting points on the board. What

04:48they do not want to happen, and there's already a small gap there between 17th and 18th position.

04:53Wolves in 19th at the moment. They need to win tomorrow, really. They do. The draw isn't

04:57really good enough. They've got two huge games in Ipswich at home, and then Leicester

05:01City away. In terms of team news, what's the situation? So, Giao Gomez is obviously suspended.

05:07Not a shock. No. The two injuries that we had from the West Ham game, Jose Sara and

05:12Pablo Sarabia, Gary has said will both still not be available. Sort of hinted that Jose

05:18hasn't trained. He said that Sarabia won't quite make it, so he's sort of hinting that

05:22he's coming relatively closer, but expecting them not to be involved. But out of those

05:25two, you wouldn't expect them to have been starting. Giao Gomez, yes. So, team-wise,

05:32what are we thinking? I'm going to stick with what I said on the poddy. I'm to-ing and throwing

05:37a little bit, but I'm going to go with what I said. Johnston in goal, a back five, but

05:42with a caveat, which I'll get to. Doc, Samedo in centre-back again. Dawson replacing Bueno

05:46and Totti with Ait Nouri. Lamino and Andre, I think it's a shoe-in. As much as I like

05:53Tommy Doll, I'd be surprised if he just start. I'm going to go with Belagard coming in with

05:57Larsson and Kunja. My thought process there is that, as we saw against West Ham, which

06:01worked quite well, the ball's been fluid in the four, into the five. Doc playing very

06:05advanced. Right wing at times. Yeah, exactly. Allows Samedo to come across, and with Belagard

06:10there next to Doc, which is the role that Giao Gomez did against West Ham, he can tuck

06:15it a bit narrower, pick up the spaces in between the lines, hopefully start to impact the game

06:20from an attacking perspective, with Doc providing the width. And also, Doc's played very well

06:27the last two games, so to take him out would be harsh, and I think, provided it's a game

06:31plan that Gary now wants to go with, I think keeping him in would make a lot of sense.

06:34So that's what I've gone for. Santiago Bueno, bench for you? I think so. I liked lots of

06:42moments of what he's brought this season, but not the last couple of games. And I think

06:46Dawson has to come back in. Yeah, look, and Craig Dawson not covered himself in any glory

06:48whatsoever either, but at the same time, maybe that Wednesday game to the Monday night game,

06:52he didn't have a lot of rest, so if it was a 50-50 call between himself and Bueno, Gary

06:56probably would have gone with the younger guy. Craig Dawson, for me, need a win, if

07:01switched at home, you play Craig Dawson tomorrow. I'd be surprised if he doesn't. And Delap's

07:04a big guy as well, a dangerous forward. I think Dawson's the kind of centre-back I would

07:10want, marking him and looking after that situation. So for me, Dawson comes in, regardless of

07:14the fact that, yeah, look, he was poor, very, very poor against Everton, but I think it's

07:19the time for him to come back. You start to look at that defence, and if it's a back five

07:22or a back four, you know, it's a fluid situation. They've got a bit of goals in there, I feel

07:25there's a goal there. You know, like you say, Dock has scored on Monday night, Totti's always

07:28due a goal, Craig Dawson not being in a round there right now, nor has he got that chance

07:32to deliver, to get assists, to score goals. There's a little bit more the way you think.

07:35You can see a few players popping up with an odd goal, and the odd goal can be incredibly

07:38important. Yeah, and as you saw with the system against West Ham, and obviously the system

07:42or predicting that they'll go for again tomorrow, we get more out of Ait Nori, don't we? We

07:47saw him putting that cross in for Dock for the equaliser. We saw him put in another one

07:51that Dock, if the cross was right, potentially could have scored again. We saw Everton with

07:56the Larson one as well. We get more out of Ait Nori, and you are right, Wolves defending

08:01set pieces has been atrocious this season. Scoring from them, not much better. So it's

08:08certainly an area to improve, and Wolves have got the players to do it. Get a set piece

08:11coach in. Right, let's not go there. Luckily, we both know the score tomorrow, which is

08:17great. We both predicted the same score. We know that it's exactly going to happen. We'll

08:20finish it off. Wolverhampton 1-2. Oh, sorry, I'm doing that bit. Hopefully. For the build-up

08:26on this one, make sure you log on to expressandstyle.com.

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