Tommy Doyle: Wolves points more vital than performances

An improved display against Manchester City ultimately ended in defeat, leaving Wolves bottom of the table on one point from eight games.

Wolves travel to Brighton tomorrow before back-to-back home games against fellow strugglers Crystal Palace and Southampton – and the midfielder insists the team must now start putting points on the board.

He said: “We still want to play good football and feel good and improve as a team, but at the point that we’re in now, we’ve got to understand that we need to find wins, however that may be. We need to do it.

“Obviously, that comes from the staff and the manager, and we’ve got to go and put it into practice now.

“That’s all I’m focused on. Of course, I want to play, but the main thing is we get three points.

“That is what the mindset has got to be – nothing less than that. We’re coming into a nicer run of fixtures, but we also understand that these games can be very tough.

“We can’t take our eye off the ball and just expect us to be able to turn around and get good form, because football doesn’t work like that.

“We’ve got to take these games like we’re playing the likes of City, Liverpool – that’s the mindset, that’s the preparation and the focus that we’ve got to have, because if not, you don’t win those games.”

Doyle has had to settle for a place on the bench so far this season and is yet to start a top flight game.

He was introduced at half-time against his former club City at the weekend, however.

Doyle added: “There’s a lot more belief around it, but we’ve always got the belief. When you have these times when you’re not winning games, it’s difficult to find that belief, but we’ll keep going, keep working hard, keep listening to the gaffer and do what we do every week and go and put it in into the game.

“We’ve obviously got to be a lot more resilient, have a bit more passion, a bit more fight, but also improve on the ball. We’ve got to be better in all aspects and I think the way we were at the weekend would be a turning point.

“Defensively, we were really good, although it’s difficult when you get the ball, because you’ve been defending for that long, so it’s hard to then attack, but hopefully in these next fixtures where we’re playing teams more in and around us, we’ve got to turn that around, and there is an expectation now for us to turn that around and we’ve got to do it.

“We have to be top in all aspects, especially with where we are now because you switch off for one minute, you get punished, and that’s the way it is.

“We’ve felt that all season – if we’ve not played too well or not been switched on, we’ve been properly punished. But that’s the way it is. We’ve got to take it now, how we played, and put it into Brighton.”