Wolves supervisor Gary O’Neil says he understands the anger from his personal fanbase in direction of him – however defended his report at Molineux after the stress ramped up following defeat at West Ham.
Wolves suffered their third straight loss on the London Stadium to stay within the relegation zone on 9 factors – and an additional 4 from security.
Sky Sports activities Information reported final week that Wolves have been doing due diligence on numerous candidates in current weeks, as stress grew on O’Neil – who nonetheless believes he has the backing of the hierarchy regardless of the poor run of kind.
“The people above me are supportive,” O’Neil, who joined the membership in August 2023, informed Sky Sports activities after the sport. “But of course the supporters want their football club to be successful.
“I perceive them pointing the finger at me and it is my staff and I’ve to take duty, however after I arrived at this soccer membership they’d picked up simply [41] factors within the Premier League (the earlier season).
“Since that second, we now have managed to make £200m in participant gross sales. We’ve got bought an terrible lot of gamers if you happen to return to Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Daniel Podence, Adama Traore, Raul Jimenez, Diego Costa, Pedro Neto and Max Kilman.
“After which we’re not now buying in that market, we’re in search of the opposite ones who’re for the long run that may assist us within the now.
“As we’re finding in the Premier League, it’s a ruthless league. The group are doing everything we can to get up to speed. But I’m really proud of them.
“I do know we now have solely 9 factors and we’re in a troublesome spot within the league however they’re giving every part. So I hope the supporters are nonetheless proud from the gamers though they hate the place we’re in. They will not hate it greater than me. I am proper there with them, whether or not they realize it or not.
“We won’t give up and we’ll keep pushing. A big game against Ipswich is coming. And hopefully a few of the little bits, our bits, the bits from the officials go our way.”
Carragher: O’Neil is not holding them again – I do not see a greater supervisor
Mario Lemina was dragged away at full time following a scuffle
Sky Sports activities’ Jamie Carragher believes O’Neil just isn’t the foundation of the issue at Wolves – and {that a} new supervisor is not going to rejuvenate issues at Molineux for the remainder of the season.
Carragher additionally sympathised with O’Neil’s argument that he’s coping with a much less skilled squad having bought many key gamers to large golf equipment.
“It’s a group of players we felt would be in and around these positions right now,” Carragher stated. “The worry for Wolves is not so much being in the bottom three, as the fact it looks like there’s a three or four-point gap between themselves and Leicester.
“You look at the three promoted teams – and the three promoted teams struggled last season – and you think it might be tough for Southampton this season, maybe even Ipswich, but Leicester have made the change, with Ruud van Nistelrooy getting four points from the last two games. That will be in the Wolves hierarchy’s minds, there’s no doubt about that.
“I do not see a supervisor change that’s going to rejuvenate this entire squad or that Gary O’Neil is holding this squad again and they need to be reaching extra – I do not actually see that.
“There are undoubtedly areas the place O’Neil will suppose they have to be higher. I feel what he did final season and what he is doing now, if you happen to take a look at that as a physique of labor over the past 18 months, I feel he is performed a great job for Wolves.
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Issues bought heated after the full-time whistle between Jarrod Bowen and Mario Lemina
“Where they are now, I think most people feared last season. I don’t think it’s a manager holding a group back who should be doing more than what they are doing.”
O’Neil: We must always have had two penalties – and ‘loopy’ that West Ham’s winner stood
O’Neil took one other swipe at VAR – claiming West Ham’s winner by Jarrod Bowen shouldn’t have stood on account of a “blatant” foul on Santi Bueno within the build-up.
As Wolves defended a free-kick, Dinos Mavropanos challenged Bueno within the air with the on-field referee not giving a foul. Eleven seconds later, Mohammed Kudus arrange Bowen to coolly slot house the winner.
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Jarrod Bowen scores with a shocking strike to regain the lead for West Ham
VAR claimed it couldn’t return and penalise Bueno because it was a brand new part of play – though there have been simply 11 seconds between the alleged foul and Bowen’s strike crossing the road.
“It’s crazy that,” stated O’Neil. “Santi Bueno is going to head the ball away, so it’s irrelevant [that the VAR said it’s a new phase of play] as we’d have cleared the ball.
“It is a blatant foul on Santi Bueno and there is no method it is a totally different part. The ball remains to be in the identical space.
“They will find reasons, and of course they will, and I get there will be grey areas and the wording of the rule can be interpreted in many different ways. But that’s a blatant foul on Bueno in the seconds before the goal. That’s a blatant foul.”
Later in his press convention, O’Neil claimed Wolves ought to have been given two second-half penalties. VAR checked fouls by Emerson on Goncalo Guedes and Mavropanos on Jean-Ricner Bellegarde within the second half – however caught with the on-field resolution of ‘no penalty’ on each events.
VAR selected to not punish an alleged foul by Emerson, already booked, on Goncalo Guedes
“I understand how difficult the job is for the officials but you need some of that to go your way,” added the Wolves boss. “Some really big calls there we didn’t get to go our way.
“I do not suppose Guedes is exterior the field. The contact undoubtedly continues into the field. Undoubtedly. I am going to evaluation it and have an trustworthy dialog with them [PGMOL].
“It’s probably not clear and obvious, [Bellegarde]’s, but he is tripped up twice, I think the on-field ref should give it, the same as the first one.
Later within the sport, VAR checked a Dinos Mavropanos journey on Jean-Ricner Bellegarde – however turned down the choice of a penalty once more
“I think the Guedes one… Emerson is also on a yellow card so that would have been a big turning point in the game.”
Wolves had been additional aggrieved because the nook for West Ham’s first objective clearly got here off Hammers defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka – so shouldn’t have counted as effectively.
“A lot of things went against us,” stated O’Neil.
