Christophe Berra says Wolverhampton Wanderers must cope with Premier pressure

Dec 4 2009 by Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

CHRISTOPHE Berra says Wolves have proved they can handle pressure before and must now prove they can do so again.

The Scotland international has frequently been an inspirational figure at the heart of Mick McCarthy’s defence but even he admits that life near the bottom is tough.

Wolves can leapfrog third-bottom Bolton with a victory at Molineux tomorrow.

“No matter what team you are in there’s always pressure and, in fact, you always put pressure on yourself as a professional and take pride in your own performance,” he said.

“There’s pressure on every game but the pressure down the bottom is obviously not as nice as the pressure at the top.

“We handled it all last season when we were put under pressure at one stage and hopefully we can do the same again this time.

“If we just keep on doing the right things and working hard we will pull through.”

Wolves have gone nine games without a victory and lost three successive matches after three straight draws appeared to give them hope.

Berra is remaining optimistic about their chances this season.

“If we can get some consistency at the back then hopefully the results will come,” he said.

“Our next aim as a defence is to keep a clean sheet which is not just down to the back four but the whole team.

“If we can do that it will be a big positive and give us a good chance of winning the game.”

It could be argued that it was the manner of last weekend’s defeat to Blues which was almost as damaging as the result.