Gary O’Neil says he’ll enjoy his Christmas Day, after his group left everything out on the Molineux pitch to see off Chelsea on Christmas Eve.
Mario Lemina and Matt Doherty found the back of the net after the break, as Wolves fought their way to a seventh consecutive unbeaten afternoon at Molineux. Injuries and illness left O’Neil’s squad light, but those available left the head coach proud come full time, as the Old Gold delivered an early Christmas present.
On a great Molineux afternoon
“To get every last bit out of everybody available, and for them to dig in and be together, and not scrap a win but to be comfortable for most of it, is huge credit to the group. I’ll enjoy Christmas Day tomorrow after that.
“I thought it was a tough day for us today, we lost 3-0 at West Ham and nobody was happy. I had a call early this morning from the doctor. Jean Bellegarde not feeling well, Craig Dawson not being 100 per cent from his virus. We had to call up young lads to make sure they were available this morning.
“It was a tough day for a group which is small, but with what we had out there, I knew if we got to our maximum level, especially here with the fans behind us, we could hopefully cause Chelsea some problems. First half we turned over the ball a bit too much, but apart from that I thought we were very good.”
On improving after the break
“We were a little bit sloppy with the ball first half and gave Chelsea some joy, sloppy turnovers, and we managed to be a bit better with that second half. I thought we deserved to win, I thought we were fairly comfortable apart from the last five minutes when we gave them a really soft goal. Another big home performance and they can enjoy their Christmas now.
“We changed halfway through the first half to try and give us a bit more security with the ball, which worked well, and some stuff to do with shape. I wanted the lads to be a bit calmer with the ball, and have slightly better options, because we got caught trying to attack too quickly and we needed to find moments where we kept the ball and make good decisions.
“It’s part of the process that we’re in. Incredible win with what we had available to us – injuries and three young lads on the bench against a team and squad the size of Chelsea, with what they had available to throw on late on. For the lads managed to dig in, fight and find a way to beat a talented Chelsea group is an incredible effort.”
On the substitutes making an impact
“’Doc’ scores a lot. He gets in the box an awful lot. When he comes on, you know he gives you a goal threat. It was difficult but I didn’t have too many attacking players on the bench, apart from Sasa who didn’t get on, then the rest were young lads. We have three games in six days, so trying to manage the group, looking at who was tired, so I had no real choice but to make the subs that I made.
“Doc and Tommy Doyle are senior pros, who I know when I put them on the pitch when I’m going to get from them. Santi has worked his socks off to make sure he’s ready for when he’s needed, and I thought all the subs had an incredible impact.”
On momentum building at Molineux
“Really pleased. We need to do a bit better away from home, the performances haven’t been bad at Arsenal and Fulham, and we probably should have taken something from them. Here, we’re creating something, you can feel it with the fans and players, they love playing here.
“To be able to play against a team like Chelsea and not just sit in but go toe to toe was a big effort. I have big belief I the group around what they can achieve. Sometimes that’s why we turn the ball over a lot, because I ask them to do complicated things, and to behave like a big team and today we were able to compete with one.”
On Dawson’s injury
“It a really deep cut on his knee. He should be fine, he’s all stitched up, but where it is, every time he bends it hurts a little bit, but the physios and doctors assure me he’ll be OK for the next game which is important to us.
“Big shout for Santi. He’s improved so much since he arrived, around English football, understanding it, and he looked at home in the middle of the defence. Hopefully ‘Daws’ will be fine, but Santi did really well when he came on.”
