Wolves boss Nuno hopes Willian Jose’s positive approach will be rewarded

The Brazilian thought he had opened his account when heading in Daniel Podence’s cross at Fulham last time out.

Having been congratulated by his team-mates, though, the tightest of offside calls – against Podence – saw the goal chalked off.

It means the 29-year-old has gone 12 games without finding the net in gold and black, but Nuno is optimistic for Jose going into tonight’s clash with the Blades.

“His mindset has always been good,” said Nuno.

“The way he joined us and immediately helped the team in a tough, tough moment, when we didn’t have too many options, he integrated very well in the group.

“His mindset has always been very positive.

“He is working hard, knowing that this is football.

“He achieved a good goal. They took it away, but he knows that he was there and has to be there again to put it inside the net.

“But besides that, the job and the work he does for the team is very, very good for us.”

Jose, on loan from Real Sociedad, is hoping to impress enough over the final seven games to earn a permanent deal.

Wing-back Rayan Ait-Nouri and playmaker Vitinha – on loan from Angers and Porto respectively – are also in the same boat.

The squad as a whole has been rocked by another injury this week, with Pedro Neto having knee surgery.

Nuno, though, says they are focused on improving and having as good an end to what has been a challenging 2020/21 as possible – to set themselves up nicely for next season.

“We still have a long way to go during this season and we have to compete well,” he said.

“We trust the squad that we have available now.

“We have to keep improving and try to find better ways to compete, better than we did previously.

“We want to improve and make good games that can be useful for us in the preparation for the future.

“We’re still working on this season. The best way to prepare for the future is deal well with the present.

“We have to play. The good things we did against Fulham, we must try to repeat.

“But at the same time there were a lot of mistakes in the game we must improve on.”

United, meanwhile, come to Molineux knowing – barring a miracle – they will be relegated to the Championship.

Paul Heckingbottom is in caretaker charge after the departure of long-serving boss Chris Wilder last month, and they have lost all four games since.

If Newcastle get a result against West Ham this afternoon, a loss would seal the Blades’ fate.

But Nuno insists the visitors are a team full of ‘character and determination’.

“Sheffield United are a good team. They’ve shown that to everybody before,” said Nuno.

“I know Paul and one thing is for sure, the character and determination is there.

“We can look at Sheffield and see they’ve had a difficult season, but we expect a very tough match.”

Nuno will not have Raul Jimenez (skull), Fernando Marcal (groin), Ruben Neves (Covid-19), Jonny Castro Otto (knee) and Neto (also knee) available tonight.

He is, though, set to welcome back Willy Boly after he completed his period of self-isolation.

Nuno has also confirmed under-23s forward Theo Corbeanu – who scored on his international debut for Canada last month – will be in the squad as well.

“Due to the players that are outside now, Theo is going to join us,” he added.

“It has to do with absences in the first-team squad.

“If we consider we can use them during the game, we will because we trust them.”