Nuno: Wembley grief made Wolves stronger

Wolves were leading 2-0 at Wembley, but ended up losing 3-2 to Watford after extra-time.

The agonising loss came following a stunning victory against Manchester United in the quarters.

And as Wolves prepare for third-round action tomorrow, against United again, Nuno took some time to reflect on just missing out on the final.

“We overcame that. But that was a couple of days of grief. It was very sad,” said Nuno.

“You need to make grief. When you lose someone (or something), the best way is to grieve.

“Not only me, I think that everybody involved felt that sadness. But it made us really stronger.”

Wolves, certainly, did not let the pain from Wembley get to them long-term, though.

They finished seventh in the top flight last season – and are in the same position now.

They also made it to the Europa League – and are now in the knockout stage of that competition.

“I grieved a long time ago, I’m not grieving now,” said Nuno.

“After (the defeat in the semis), we played at Southampton, and we didn’t perform well.

“Clearly, we were in that situation, we were sad, and we weren’t able to raise ourselves again.

“But then we went away for a couple of days, we made our grief, and we came back stronger.

“One thing that happens in life is you go low, and then you stand up and fight again. This is us.

“Let’s play. We want to compete to play good. That is what we enjoy the most.”

United are coming down to Molineux without midfielders Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay, who are both injured.

Wolves have an injury of their own, though.

Diogo Jota will miss out with a problem sustained in the 2-1 loss at Watford on New Year’s Day, when taken down by Christian Kabasele – initially awarded a yellow card but then changed to a red after a VAR intervention.

Nuno added: “We have a small squad and every time a player is not an option, it causes you problems.

“But to problems we must find solutions, and that’s what we are looking for now.”