Gary O’Neil has full confidence in himself and his group that they can turn Wolves’ poor start to the season around in the coming weeks.
The Old Gold have one point from seven matches and have been unfortunate on a number of occasions this term, but the head coach made no excuses around the performance at Brentford last time out and hopes it’s a learning curve.
After two weeks without a match, O’Neil worked with the players remaining at Compton Park, and he says his squad knows exactly what to expect from a Manchester City fixture at the weekend.
On reflecting on the start
“Points wise, it’s obviously bad. Very bad. I'll be the biggest critic of my team, I know we will face criticism from outside, but I'll have the most critical opinion and I felt a real need to be critical of them after the second half against Chelsea, the second half against Aston Villa and the 90 minutes at Brentford. I thought we were below our own standards in those, but the rest of it we've given a good go against some tough opposition, and come up a bit short.
“We sit here now, seven games in with one point, which, if you don't look into the depths of how and why, it sounds like a disaster, and there's two very tough games coming up in the next 10 days as well. But if you look into the situation and the fixtures, and how the team has performed, you will see that there is enough there to have a real clear view that we can turn this around. I have 100% faith in myself and in the playing group that together we will show everybody that we're more than capable of competing at this level. Of course, the longer it goes on, the more urgent it becomes, but I’m really confident that I can help the group in this moment and turn it around.
“We’ll try to beat Manchester City, we’ll try to beat Brighton, Palace and Southampton before the break, try to win all four and see where we get to, but I'm really confident that the lads understand the importance of the next few weeks. Then we need to put some points on the board.”
Taking on the champions next.
— Wolves (@Wolves) October 16, 2024
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On remaining calm inside the camp
“It’s important that we have an understanding of where we are and what we're trying to do. I understand that one point from seven isn't good enough, we're better than that, but we need to show it, and we need to prove it, and that tipping point will come soon. We can't keep saying we’ve had tough games and lost a couple of important players in the summer. Now what? Come on, then let's go.
“At some point that's going to come, and we need to get it going. It’s been a good two weeks for me to look at all the games, look at where we got to structure wise. We signed a few players late in the window in areas that maybe we hadn't prepared for and tried to move a few things around. So, it was a good window for me to have a look at where we're at and try and get us back to something that I think will give us a real good chance in the next few weeks of picking up some results.”
On learning from the Brentford trip
“The Brentford game was a real shock, and maybe a shot in the arms for everybody. If we're not at it and we're going to make mistakes, it's not just the top teams that are going to beat us in this league. If you turn up and you just make unbelievable mistakes for goals, everybody in this league is going to beat you. So that can't happen. Maybe off the back of a bad run you see Brentford come in at the end of it and you think, ‘OK, let's go to Brentford and let's win’. It's never, ever going to be that easy. You need to take care of all the bits around your game.
“We conceded some goals that were almost unexplainable, and it did then just snowball into an afternoon where the game never really got going for us. We were always chasing, and you end up opening up and causing some problems to yourself. So, a bad day for us, the Brentford day, but one that hopefully lets the lads realise that no matter who we play at this level, we need to be 100 per cent on our game.”
On the work across the international period
“Most of them were away. The ones that we have worked really hard. Let's not throw everything away that we've done, because there's loads in there that was good. So, we need to look at what we can do to improve it. Obviously, this week's different because it's Manchester City, and the preparation for a Manchester City game is different to most other weeks because it's a hell of a lot of focus around what they're going to be and what we're going to have to do to stop them.
“It’s slightly different this week, but the team have a good understanding of where we're trying to get to. They understand what the Manchester City game may look like, and they know what's coming in the next few weeks. We need to make sure that we're in a place mentally where this run hasn't affected how ready we are for the next challenge.”
