Julen Lopetegui is relishing his first competitive game in charge of Wolves which will be against League Two side Gillingham in the Carabao Cup.
The former Sevilla boss replaced Bruno Lage last month and he has overseen several friendly matches against Birmingham City and in Spain.
The Spaniard told his first press conference as Wolves boss: “I think they are working very hard, focused, concentrating, trying to understand what we want to do.
“In the matches against Birmingham and in Spain against Empoli and Cadiz, step by step, I think they are understanding more about us, and in the same way us about them.
“We have to improve more in the next matches and tomorrow is the first important test because it’s the first official match.”
Wolves are without injured duo Jonny Castro Otto and Boubacar Traore, but Raul Jimenez may feature after appearing off the bench three times for Mexico in Qatar upon his return from injury.
“He’s working very hard, like the rest of the squad. He’s trying to improve his feet and his body to feel better to help more,” said Lopetegui.
“He feels better but not perfect. We are going to try to get him to feel better and be in the best way. Now, he’s trying to put his body in the best way and be fit for us.”
Lopetegui will be taking no chances against a Gills side who sit rock-bottom of the Football League, but who saw off Wolves’ Premier League rivals Brentford on penalties in the previous round.
“I know that they have eliminated Brentford and I feel they are going to be a very dangerous team,” added Lopetegui.
“In the cup, all things can happen because it’s only one match. We have to be ready, we are alert and we know the way they play usually and we have to be ready for tomorrow.”
READ MORE: Ranking Premier League clubs on how many minutes their men played at the World Cup
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football365…