Ireland played a major part in the 2-0 Boxing Day win over Stoke that said goodbye to home games in 2009 in style.
“It is really important now that we don’t let the last two home wins go to waste,” he urged.
“The manager has stressed over and over since he arrived that we have to stay switched on and that concentration is vital.
I think we showed against Stoke that we had taken that message on board and it is a good base from which to go to Wolves and attempt to back up that result
...Stephen Ireland...
“Villa losing and Spurs dropping points at Fulham means that league table has tightened up again and it is time we won away from home again in the league.
“Morale has gone up massively after that win on Saturday and we are looking forward to the game.
“For a first game under a new manager I thought we did well. We were quite comfortable. Everyone had a few question marks about how it might go but we worked hard and everyone was buzzing after the game.”
Mancini will be pleased his words have hit home so early in his reign and will be looking for more of the same at Molineux as the Blues seek three points on the road for the first time since they visited Portsmouth at the end of August.
“It is important that we recover well because it will be another hard game at Wolves. I want us to play in the same style on Monday night,” declared the manager.
We have momentum on our side but we have to continue doing the things we did well against Stoke and I am sure if we do so then we will keep improving
...Roberto Mancini
Mancini takes the same squad to Molineux that was on duty at CoMs on Saturday. It will be Kolo Toure’s last for a while as he leaves straight afterwards for the African Cup of Nations.
“Kolo leaves us after Monday night and that is a problem because he is a fantastic player and we have injuries in that position but that is football,” shrugged the manager.
