Enzo Maresca admitted that Noni Madueke’s hat-trick would grab the headlines, but it was another aspect of the winger’s performance that pleased our head coach the most at Molineux.
Maresca watched his side take control of a thrilling game in the second half. With the score at 2-2 at half-time, Madueke’s quick three ensured we left the West Midlands with our first league win of the season. It was particularly satisfying when Joao Felix scored the winner on his second debut.
A social media post by Madueke ahead of the game saw him face the wrath of the home fans from the first minute, but he responded in the best possible way with his best performance in blue yet, as Maresca assessed afterwards.
“I can judge Noni’s performance, which was fantastic,” he said.
“Not only in the second half, but also in the first half, in the first 10 or 15 minutes, he always played one-on-one and created something.”
“Since day one I’ve said he’s the type of winger I really like. He works very well with us, but the best thing about Noni today wasn’t the hat-trick, but the way he defended the counterattacks for 90 minutes.
“That showed the right attitude that I demand from the players. That was the case with Noni, and with Christo Nkunku, who played five minutes. It was the same with Joao Felix. If we want to build something, we first need the right attitude, and that was very good with everyone.”
We were ahead twice in the first half, but when Maresca reconvened with his players in the dressing room, the score was 2-2 and the game was level…
“I said very cautiously that we need to play more precisely. We started the first 15 minutes very well. We scored a goal and had two or three more chances. Then we started losing easy balls, and when you lose easy balls you concede counterattacks and set pieces and lose confidence. That’s what happened against Servette recently.”
“I just said that we need to play a little more precisely to be able to play the way we want. We can lose the ball if they put us under a lot of pressure, but we can’t lose the ball by giving it away through wrong decisions. The difference between the first and second half was playing more precisely.”
Cole Palmer was involved in all six goals and opened his season goal tally…
“I’ve known Cole for four or five years. I had him in the second team at City for one season, then in the first team.
“He’s a special player, a special guy, a special person. The goals he scored last year, the goal he scored today and the assists don’t surprise me at all. He’s a top player.”
