Stale Solbakken: Wolves must bounce back
Wolves manager Stale Solbakken today insisted his side must bounce back against Mick McCarthy's Ipswich to repay the fans for the Boxing Day horror show against Peterborough.
McCarthy makes his first public return to Molineux since the pivotal 5-1 defeat to Albion on February 12 that saw him sacked the following day after nearly six years in charge.
But Solbakken is only concerned about the team McCarthy left behind, as he tries to avoid another huge letdown in front of an expected 28,000-plus crowd after the shock 3-0 setback to Posh following three wins in four games.
The Wolves boss said: "We all have work to do. In the circumstances we are in now, we have to bounce back straight away and show we can play good football in front of our own crowd.
"We have to put in a much better performance than we did on Boxing Day, because the fans deserve better and the players have shown they are much better than that."
The Posh defeat was Wolves' biggest under the Norwegian, who was visibly shaken by the loss and admitted he couldn't explain the poor performance.
But, after conceding three goals for only the third time this season in the Championship, Solbakken hinted at a 'back to basics' approach to keep the back door shut.
He said: "We have to pick a solid team so, if we don't score, we still keep a clean sheet at home. We can't let in such easy goals.
"The first was cheap and the second even cheaper – he was able to stand there for ages to stand and aim.
"We've been in this situation before and have come back but we are playing catch-up and that can be hard mentally."
