Conor Coady: Wolves have suffered from ‘two year season’

Following the first coronavirus lockdown, Wolves returned to finish last season on June 20 and crammed 11 games into two months, including their final Europa League fixtures.

They then had a month to rest and prepare for the current campaign and after a mid-table display this year, Coady believes the squad has suffered from the hectic schedule.

He said: “It’s been tough. Really tough. It’s not been the season we wanted, to be honest.

“From a player point of view and a club point of view, it’s not been the season we wanted.

“We wanted to improve and get better. But if you take everything into consideration and what’s happened, we feel like it’s been a two-year season.

“Quite a lot of players will feel like that because it’s been non-stop, we’ve gone and gone. We had the Europa League last year and went quite far in that, so we never had much of a break.

“It’s been a really tough year and not something we wanted from a personal or club point of view.

“But it has been something we can learn from.

“We’ve had games this year that we felt we could have done better and done things differently. That’s something we can learn from for next year.

“The important thing now is we have three games left. Three games to build a little bit of momentum going into next season and hopefully we’ll improve again.”

Alongside the schedule, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side also lost several key players to injury, but skipper Coady refuses to use that as an excuse.

He added: “It’s the expectation that comes with the couple of seasons we had coming into the Premier League.

“It was incredible for us and then when you have a season like this it sits in your head. ‘we should be doing better’.

“There has been factors but it’s hard to say we’ve had injuries, because every club has had injuries.

“It’s been up to us on the pitch to put things right.”

By Liam Keen

Sports Reporter

Sports journalist at the Express & Star, primarily covering Walsall FC and grassroots sport across the Black Country and Staffordshire. Got a story? Get in touch on 01902 319456.