A really good end to the game Roy, you must be pleased with that?
Yes, I thought it was a good beginning and end. It was a good 95 minutes from us.
I mean given that the score was goalless with ten minutes to go?
Yes, it was goalless, but not for the want of trying on our part, or dominating possession in our opponents' half of the field. I think that is something which deserves a lot of praise for the team.
The team performance was good, and what's more, we were playing against a team that is in excellent form, and have come off the back of beating Tottenham 3-1 on Saturday. So to come here against a team with such confidence and doing so well in the league, to play the way we did and to win the game, in my opinion, deservedly, I have got to be very satisfied.
You must be pleased for Jordan, he has had a long wait?
Yes, but he has done a lot of good work, and he did a lot of good work tonight before the goal. I thought his defending and his stretching of the defence, and his hold up play when we got the ball up to him, all of those things were good.
But when you are a forward you do need goals, if people are really going to regard you as a good forward, and he has had to wait for that goal.
But if anyone deserved that goal tonight, it was him, and he took it extremely well.
And he deserved to be brought back into the side?
I think so, yes. To be fair, we have had difficult games. The games against Manchester City and Chelsea, you sometimes modify your line up, or system at times. We stick to the same principles, but we are lucky enough to have that flexibility to sometimes play with one, two or three up front, like we did today.
Occasionally, he gets sacrificed in those moments when I decide it will be Wilf and Andros up the front, but it was good to bring him back in the team tonight and it was good to see Wilf and Andros do so well in the wide positions.
It is out there now about Dominic Solanke. Is that dead?
Yes, it seems to be. Unfortunately it is a club decision.
We were interested of course. We think he is a good player. But it turns out there were complications, a lot of factors involved in it, and the club decided it wasn’t the right moment for us to be doing it.
I do feel a bit disappointed for the player, because he had made his mind up in our favour, so it looked as though it was going to work out, but it didn’t work out in the end.
These are things that you accept as a manager, because there are always elements that are beyond certainly the coach's control.
Is it on to plan B now to find another striker?
Well, we have got one coming back in Christian Benteke. We hope he will get fit and train with us tomorrow, and be hopefully back with us over the course of the next week. He is probably technically able now, but if he gets himself match fit that to some extent will be like a new signing this year, because we haven't really seen him at all.
If there are other players the club can bring in, I certainly won't be averse to that because we have a very small squad and we don’t have a lot to back us up, and there is a risk that one or two players in the squad may be going out.
We are on the look out of course, and the chairman Steve Parish, and technical director Doug Freedman, they are anxious to do what they can to give me and my coaching staff more support. But it is not easy, it is not an easy transfer window, certainly when you have limited financial resources.
Was it an injury issue with Dominic Solanke?
I am not prepared to go into more detail than what I have done. It was a club decision. The club looked into it and decided in the end that it wasn't going to be a possibility, so if you want to know more, he is a Liverpool player, not a Crystal Palace player.
There was no Jason Puncheon tonight. He has been linked with a move to Huddersfield. Can you tell us anything about that, or was there another reason for his absence?
The reason for his absence tonight was because he has been linked with Huddersfield.
I don’t know exactly where the two clubs are in that respect. I have had a conversation with Jason Puncheon and he is keen to get regular first team football, especially in the Premier League.
So really this is now a matter between the two clubs. I have told Jason that because I haven’t been able to give him anything like the amount of playing time that he would like and probably deserves, I won’t stand in his way if the two clubs reach an agreement.
But I'm afraid I can't tell you where we are. I don't have any information to give, but as soon as there is any information to give, we'll give it.
They are quite good, Doug Freedman and Steve Parish don’t tend to bother me before a match with other issues on a match day, they tend to wait until the game is over.
Could Christian Benteke be available for the weekend?
No, he hasn't trained with the first team yet.
You are now six points clear of Southampton, who are third from bottom. Are you looking up the table rather than down?
We have been looking up the table since the start of the season, because we started the season with a team that I think can quite happily play in the middle of the table. You saw that tonight, and you saw that at Manchester City, and in many other performances.
Of course, if we are going to get there, we are going to need to score more goals to get higher up the table. We are aware of that. The players are working and trying their very best to put that right.
I am always hoping and believing that, given the performances we have given in games this season, our position in the table is a little bit false. And I think we proved that tonight by coming here, a difficult place to come against a team that is doing so well and deserve all the praise they have been getting. And to come here and win, it shows it is not wrong for us to look up the table.
But on the other hand, we remain modest and we remain humble. Our aim this year is to avoid that relegation zone, and then hopefully in the months to come, or years to come, the club will get more and more stable as a Premier League club and we will be able to improve our squad on a regular basis.
The Wolves manager said a lot of their success has come from out wide. Was that a big part of your game plan to neutralise that?
Of course. We do our homework and I am pretty certain every team does, it is not difficult to see where success has come from and the patterns the team likes to employ to use their strengths to the fullest advantage. We made sure our players were aware of that and we set our stall out to frustrate them and make it difficult for them in those areas. But of course, at the same time, you also try to exploit any areas you think you can exploit, because it is like anything else, sometimes your strength going forward can be a weakness for you when you lose the ball.
Yes, I thought it was a good beginning and end. It was a good 95 minutes from us.
I mean given that the score was goalless with ten minutes to go?
Yes, it was goalless, but not for the want of trying on our part, or dominating possession in our opponents' half of the field. I think that is something which deserves a lot of praise for the team.
The team performance was good, and what's more, we were playing against a team that is in excellent form, and have come off the back of beating Tottenham 3-1 on Saturday. So to come here against a team with such confidence and doing so well in the league, to play the way we did and to win the game, in my opinion, deservedly, I have got to be very satisfied.
You must be pleased for Jordan, he has had a long wait?
Yes, but he has done a lot of good work, and he did a lot of good work tonight before the goal. I thought his defending and his stretching of the defence, and his hold up play when we got the ball up to him, all of those things were good.
But when you are a forward you do need goals, if people are really going to regard you as a good forward, and he has had to wait for that goal.
But if anyone deserved that goal tonight, it was him, and he took it extremely well.
And he deserved to be brought back into the side?
I think so, yes. To be fair, we have had difficult games. The games against Manchester City and Chelsea, you sometimes modify your line up, or system at times. We stick to the same principles, but we are lucky enough to have that flexibility to sometimes play with one, two or three up front, like we did today.
Occasionally, he gets sacrificed in those moments when I decide it will be Wilf and Andros up the front, but it was good to bring him back in the team tonight and it was good to see Wilf and Andros do so well in the wide positions.
It is out there now about Dominic Solanke. Is that dead?
Yes, it seems to be. Unfortunately it is a club decision.
We were interested of course. We think he is a good player. But it turns out there were complications, a lot of factors involved in it, and the club decided it wasn’t the right moment for us to be doing it.
I do feel a bit disappointed for the player, because he had made his mind up in our favour, so it looked as though it was going to work out, but it didn’t work out in the end.
These are things that you accept as a manager, because there are always elements that are beyond certainly the coach's control.
Is it on to plan B now to find another striker?
Well, we have got one coming back in Christian Benteke. We hope he will get fit and train with us tomorrow, and be hopefully back with us over the course of the next week. He is probably technically able now, but if he gets himself match fit that to some extent will be like a new signing this year, because we haven't really seen him at all.
If there are other players the club can bring in, I certainly won't be averse to that because we have a very small squad and we don’t have a lot to back us up, and there is a risk that one or two players in the squad may be going out.
We are on the look out of course, and the chairman Steve Parish, and technical director Doug Freedman, they are anxious to do what they can to give me and my coaching staff more support. But it is not easy, it is not an easy transfer window, certainly when you have limited financial resources.
Was it an injury issue with Dominic Solanke?
I am not prepared to go into more detail than what I have done. It was a club decision. The club looked into it and decided in the end that it wasn't going to be a possibility, so if you want to know more, he is a Liverpool player, not a Crystal Palace player.
There was no Jason Puncheon tonight. He has been linked with a move to Huddersfield. Can you tell us anything about that, or was there another reason for his absence?
The reason for his absence tonight was because he has been linked with Huddersfield.
I don’t know exactly where the two clubs are in that respect. I have had a conversation with Jason Puncheon and he is keen to get regular first team football, especially in the Premier League.
So really this is now a matter between the two clubs. I have told Jason that because I haven’t been able to give him anything like the amount of playing time that he would like and probably deserves, I won’t stand in his way if the two clubs reach an agreement.
But I'm afraid I can't tell you where we are. I don't have any information to give, but as soon as there is any information to give, we'll give it.
They are quite good, Doug Freedman and Steve Parish don’t tend to bother me before a match with other issues on a match day, they tend to wait until the game is over.
Could Christian Benteke be available for the weekend?
No, he hasn't trained with the first team yet.
You are now six points clear of Southampton, who are third from bottom. Are you looking up the table rather than down?
We have been looking up the table since the start of the season, because we started the season with a team that I think can quite happily play in the middle of the table. You saw that tonight, and you saw that at Manchester City, and in many other performances.
Of course, if we are going to get there, we are going to need to score more goals to get higher up the table. We are aware of that. The players are working and trying their very best to put that right.
I am always hoping and believing that, given the performances we have given in games this season, our position in the table is a little bit false. And I think we proved that tonight by coming here, a difficult place to come against a team that is doing so well and deserve all the praise they have been getting. And to come here and win, it shows it is not wrong for us to look up the table.
But on the other hand, we remain modest and we remain humble. Our aim this year is to avoid that relegation zone, and then hopefully in the months to come, or years to come, the club will get more and more stable as a Premier League club and we will be able to improve our squad on a regular basis.
The Wolves manager said a lot of their success has come from out wide. Was that a big part of your game plan to neutralise that?
Of course. We do our homework and I am pretty certain every team does, it is not difficult to see where success has come from and the patterns the team likes to employ to use their strengths to the fullest advantage. We made sure our players were aware of that and we set our stall out to frustrate them and make it difficult for them in those areas. But of course, at the same time, you also try to exploit any areas you think you can exploit, because it is like anything else, sometimes your strength going forward can be a weakness for you when you lose the ball.
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