Wolves defender Craig Dawson ‘can play for years’
Mario Lemina has backed ‘unbelievable’ Wolves defender Craig Dawson to play for ‘many more years’ at the top level.
The 33-year-old has been a mainstay in the Wolves back line since arriving just over a year ago.
Dawson has come under fire for the occasional error in recent weeks – despite having the most blocks for any player in the Premier League this season – and Lemina believes the experienced defender has what it takes to succeed in the top flight for years to come.
“Daws is an experienced player and he knows what he has to do,” Lemina said.
“We need this kind of experience in our team because he really talks to us and makes our shape like what the gaffer wants. We talk together all the time during the game and he’s really impressive.
“For me, age is nothing. If you stay in shape you can play until you’re 40 and at the moment he’s unbelievable.
“Sometimes you need these big players that have been around and playing for many years and understand the game really well.
“When he talks to us it’s always helpful for the team-mates around him.
“He’s giving everything and he deserves to be at this level right now because he’s a fantastic player.
“I think he’s going to play for more years, for sure.”
Both Dawson and Lemina played big parts in Wolves’ win over Spurs on Saturday.
In a game that showed Gary O’Neil’s and Wolves’ tactical prowess, Lemina believes his side played to their strengths perfectly in the capital.
“When we play against these kind of teams they want to control the game all the time and we have to stay together and believe in our strengths,” he said.
“We have crazy attacking players and we knew when we found them they would make trouble for the defence. We saw that for the second goal, Neto just kept running and we know he’s capable of that.
“We used our strengths. We have big, big players defensively and we had many chances to win this game earlier, but we’re really happy.
“We are all happy to work together and we know what we can do against these kind of teams.
“We have shown it many times now during the season and it’s an achievement for us and the coach as well, because he deserves his praise.
“We are really happy as a team and we’ll now go on to the next one.”
Wolves next face Sheffield United at Molineux on Sunday, before their crunch FA Cup fifth round tie with Brighton.
