Wolves have mercilessly sacked manager Vitor Pereira following Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Fulham. Despite signing a new contract with the club in September, the Portuguese has failed to win a single game in 10 Premier League attempts and has been shown the door by West Midlands outfits.
Pereira made nine significant changes to his starting XI on Wednesday night from the squad that played in the Carabao Cup against Chelsea. But his tweaks didn’t spark victory at Craven Cottage.
Saturday’s defeat in west London leaves Wolves languishing at the bottom of the league, a daunting eight points from safety. Pereira’s side played more than half of their game against Fulham with 10 men after Emmanuel Agbadu was sent off in the 36th minute, but were already 1-0 down.
Harry Wilson then added an early goal for Ryan Sessegnon before a Yerson Mosquera own goal sealed the rout and ended the manager’s 11-month tenure.
The former Porto manager will replace Gary O’Neill at Molineux in December 2024 and successfully guided Wolves to safety last season. However, the departure of star player Matheus Cunha was a huge blow after Manchester United activated his £62.5m release clause.
Wolves are currently searching for a new manager ahead of Saturday’s game against Chelsea (8pm). Pereira said he was disappointed after being sacked after the defeat to Fulham.
“I’m disappointed. I’m not proud of my work and the work we did because I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s because mentally we put a lot of energy into the last game against Chelsea until the last moment,” he confessed.
“But what I noticed[against Fulham]was a very difficult game for us, tactically, technically and physically. We probably played one of the worst games we’ve ever played. Even though we played 11 against 11, we didn’t have the energy to move, attack and press from the first moment.”
“After five minutes, we started to realize that something was missing. But the game was balanced, because they still weren’t playing at a high level. But after the goal, we tried to do something, but it wasn’t at our level. After the red card, it was very difficult for us.”
Asked about his future at Molineux, he replied: “I’m trying everything. I’m trying everything to keep the team mentally ready to compete. I felt very good from the last game, especially from the second half, but I don’t think two days were enough to recover for this game. But that’s on me.”
“I’m not a manager who puts the blame on the players, but we have to sit down together and take responsibility together as a group because we can’t accept this level of play. I’m a fighter. I’ll never give up. I’m not that type of person. I’ll do my best in the next training session to mentally restore the team and tactically restore the organization we need for the next game.”
“But it’s a difficult game with this rating. If you look at the remaining 45 minutes against Chelsea, you can say they are united. They are fighting. They are fighting to turn the situation around and I can’t do it.
“We have to reflect on what happened here because it wasn’t the team’s fault. If you look at the games before this game against Burnley and Sunderland, half the time we were playing at a good level and the other half we were struggling and not playing at our level. You can’t play half the time at your level and the other half at a different level. We have to be consistent.”
“Here in my heart I was thinking we were going to change some players and go there, and we thought we would show consistency for a full game, but that wasn’t the case. I would be happy to say I’m happy, I’d be proud if I said I was proud, but I can’t express that (against Fulham). I’m not proud. I’m not satisfied. We have to play at a better level and we have to answer in the next game.”
