Express & Star

Raul keen to revive Traore link-up

Wolves star Raul Jimenez admits he is still trying to resurrect the potent partnership of previous seasons with Adama Traore.

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Before Jimenez fractured his skull in November and missed the rest of last season, the pair had been combining for plenty of goals as they struck up an understanding in each other’s game.

However, since the striker has returned, Jimenez and Traore are yet to recreate that collaboration and they struggled again in front of goal in the 2-0 loss to Brentford on Saturday.

Jimenez said: “We have to keep going and keep looking for it. We haven’t been linking really well but we did have an opportunity. He crossed and my header but it went out.

“By just working we’re going to get there again.

“This is football, sometimes it happens. We had some opportunities and bad look in the first half when Adama’s shot hit the post.

“In the second half, we had some opportunities and we didn’t finish as we’d want, but we have to keep working.

“We have to keep focus. We gave away a penalty but we have to keep focused on the game. We lost it in 10 or 15 minutes and didn’t know what happened. But we have to keep focused and keep going to look for the response. We have another game now in the middle of the week. An important game. So we have to keep going.”

Heading into Saturday’s game, most Wolves supporters were at least content after the team put in consistently good performances – despite only winning one of the opening four games.

But after the poor performance against Brentford fans made their voices heard as boos rang around Molineux at half-time and full-time.

Despite that, Jimenez believes the old gold faithful will still back the side in the weeks to come as they look to put more points on the board.

“They know how we play and the good team we are,” Jimenez added.

“They won’t be happy (with the result) but they’re going to be with us, supporting us. We are Wolves and we are all together.”

Meanwhile, in the aftermath of missing his header in the second half, Jimenez ripped his protective headgear off and threw it to the ground. He then played the final few minutes of the game without wearing it, despite doctors ordering him to wear it for the remainder of his career.

Head coach Bruno Lage would not say whether Jimenez will be spoken to about the situation, but did say it was just in response to missing the chance.

Lage said: “It was a bit of frustration because it was a good ball, a good cross, and it was a good chance for us. If we score we have plenty of time to come back in the game.

“I think it was just a frustration of missing the goal.

“Every day he is training with it. He missed the goal and he took that decision, it’s not a question.”