"We’re afraid and scared to win" - Wolves defender's criticism amid team's slump
Matt Doherty admits Wolves look 'scared to win' as he tries to put his finger on the club's dreadful run.
Another defeat to Brentford at the weekend made it 10 consecutive Premier League losses and no wins from 17 matches this season.
Doherty concedes that Molineux has been a difficult place to play due to the fan frustration, but he calls on his team-mates to show more and find a way to get that first win.
He said: “We’re not finding it easy at all. We’re very hurt, but we need to show up, we need to act. It’s easy to say all these things, that we’re hurt, but we just need to show more on the pitch.
“We were in the game for 60 minutes, we feel like we’re doing OK, and then we concede the goal and it just feels that we conceded the same goal again after that. It’s just a bit too easy for them. It’s just not good enough.
“You can see the stadium is nearly empty at the end, it’s not full at the start, but we’re just lacking belief that we can actually win the games. We’re afraid and scared to win the game, almost nervous about actually going ahead in the game and having to try and hold on. I don’t really know what else to say. We’ve just got to somehow keep trying to find something.”
On the Molineux atmosphere, he added: "When you’re playing at home in a situation like this, that’s where you’ve got to show real character, when the atmosphere isn’t great, and the energy is not in the stadium – and we completely understand why.
“But that’s where you have to show your character and come out and want the ball and be brave. Even if you’re not confident, getting around the pitch, running hard, pressing people. As a professional, there’s loads of weeks where you don’t have it technically, where you’re just a bit off on the day, but you can still run around.
“And we’re doing that for about an hour. We’re in every game almost until an hour and then we concede a goal, and then we just never look like getting back in, which is obviously disappointing. Then you concede another and it’s like we’re watching the same game back every week.”
Jorgen Strand Larsen missed a second half penalty in the defeat and has come in for intense criticism for his performances of late.
But Doherty believes his 'strong character' will get through the tough spell.
He added: “You have to be 100 per cent in this league. Even for myself, carrying a lot of injuries this year as well, you’re just not going to get that many results if you’ve got a few players carrying stuff, but at the moment, we’ve got no choice.
“This is the squad that we have, lads have to play. Jorgen’s a very good striker, he’s obviously suffering, probably from our lack of creativity, but we know how good he can be. We know the goals he can score and he proved that last year in Premier League. The hardest thing to do in the Premier League is score goals, so we know that he’s got it in him.
“Missing the penalty is not the reason why we lost the game at all, so he’s not to take any blame for that, but he’s going to be fine. He’s a good character, he’s a strong character, so he’ll be able to get through this, I’m sure.”
