Wolves v Stoke: Cesar Peixoto eager to start work on 'Fortress Molineux'

Cesar Peixoto has declared the “season starts now” and urged Wolves to begin making Molineux a fortress.

Wolves head into Saturday’s lunchtime clash with Stoke aiming to extend their unbeaten start to the season and make the perfect start to a hectic period of seven matches in 22 days, prior to the first international break.

Peixoto is pleased with the progress made by his team so far following three wins in the opening four matches, including back-to-back victories on the road at Preston and Sheffield Wednesday.

But he also knows there is plenty of work still to be done if he is to shape Wolves into promotion contenders and the importance of strong home form is not lost on the head coach.

Wolves only avoided defeat to Blackburn in their opening match courtesy of a stoppage time Raul Jimenez penalty.Peixoto said: “There is a lot of work to do, a lot to improve.

“The season starts now. There are a lot of games and we need to stay focused, keep our foot on the floor. We need to stay humble and to win on Saturday.

“It is important because it is the next game in our home. I think it is important to win in our home and make our fans happy.

“It is important to have a strong record for us this season in front of our own supporters.”

The performance against Blackburn was comfortably the poorest of Wolves’ season but Peixoto believes there was some mitigation, due to the injuries sustained by Kieran Trippier and Yerson Mosquera, together with the face some players were still getting up to speed following the summer.

“We know what happened, we analysed,” he said. “We worked on it during the week. There is a lot to improve.

“Not everything is done but looking back at Blackburn, not everything is bad either. It’s important we stay consistent in the games and work hard to improve.”

The visit of Stoke starts a hectic run of matches which culminates with the first Black Country derby of the season at Molineux on September 20.

It will be Peixoto’s first real taste of the Championship’s relentless schedule but the boss claims to be ready for it and is confident his staff will put players in the best position to cope.

After making eight changes to the team for Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win in Sheffield, he is likely to revert to a similar line-up to that which started last weekend’s win at Preston.

Peixoto hinted Jordan James, who made his first start for the club at Hillsborough, will require more time to get up to speed.

Asked how much he personally was looking forward to the weeks ahead, Peixoto replied: “I am ready. I have managed the situation and we have staff with a lot of quality who can help us recover the players as soon as possible.

“We have things organised with the technical staff. We try to put all the time the best team together, the best players to stay competitive in all the games, try to fight for the three points.”