Wolves boss Gary O’Neil says he understands his fans’ anger towards him – but defended his record at Molineux after the pressure mounted after the defeat to West Ham.
Wolves suffered a third successive defeat at the London Stadium to remain in the relegation zone with nine points – and a further four from safety.
Sky Sports News reported last week that Wolves had been carrying out due diligence on a number of candidates in recent weeks as pressure mounted on O’Neil – who still believes he has the support of the hierarchy despite a poor run of form.
“The people above me are supportive,” said O’Neil, who joined the club in August 2023. Sky Sports after the game. “But of course fans want their football team to be successful.
“I understand that they are pointing the finger at me and it is my team and I have to take responsibility, but when I arrived at this football club they had only collected (41) points in the Premier League (last season).
“Since then, we’ve managed to do £200m in player sales. We’ve sold a lot of players if you go back to Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Daniel Podence, Adama Traore, Raul Jimenez, Diego Costa, Pedro Neto and Max Kilman.
“And then we’re not shopping now in that market, we’re looking for the others that are for the future that can help us in the now.
“As we find in the Premier League, it’s a ruthless league. The club is doing everything they can to get up to speed. But I’m really proud of them.
“I know we only have nine points and we’re in a difficult position in the league, but they’re giving it their all. So I hope the fans are proud of the players, even though they hate the position we’re in. They won. I hate it more than me, I’m there together them, whether they know it or not.
“We’re not going to give up and we’re going to keep pushing. We’ve got a big game coming up against Ipswich. And hopefully some of the little bits, our bits, the official bits will go our way.”
Carragher: O’Neil isn’t holding them back – I can’t see a better manager
Mario Lemina was recalled to full-time after a fight
Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher believes O’Neil is not the root of the problem at Wolves – and that a new manager will not revive things at Molineux for the rest of the season.
Carragher also agreed with O’Neil’s argument that he is dealing with a less experienced squad that has sold many key players to big clubs.
“It’s a group of players that we thought would be in and around those positions at the moment,” Carragher said. “The concern for Wolves is not so much that they are in the bottom three, but the fact that there seems to be a three or four point gap between them and Leicester.
“You look at the three teams that got promoted – all three teams that got promoted struggled last season – and you think it might be difficult for Southampton this season, maybe even Ipswich, but Leicester have made the switch, with Ruud Fan Nistelrooy to take four points from The final two games will be on the minds of the Wolves hierarchy, there’s no doubt about that.
“I don’t see a change of manager re-energising the whole team or Gary O’Neil holding this team back and they should achieve more – I don’t really see that.
“There are definitely areas where O’Neil will think they need to improve. I think what he did last season and what he’s doing now, if you look at it as a body of work over the last 18 months, I think he’s done a good job for Wolves.
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Things heated up after the full-time whistle between Jarrod Bowen and Mario Lemina
“Where they are now, I think most people were afraid of last season. I don’t think he’s a manager holding back a team that should be doing more than what they’re doing.”
O’Neil: We should have had two penalties – and ‘crazy’ West Ham winner stood
O’Neil took another swipe at VAR – claiming West Ham’s winner through Jarrod Bowen should not have stood due to a “flagrant” foul on Santi Bueno in the build-up.
As Wolves defended a foul, Dinos Mavropanos challenged Bueno in the air with the on-field umpire not giving a foul. Eleven seconds later, Mohamed Quds set up Bowen to coolly tap home the winner.
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Jarrod Bowen scores with a stunning strike to regain the lead for West Ham
VAR claimed it could not go back and penalize Bueno as it was a new phase of the game – even though there were just 11 seconds between the alleged foul and Bowen’s shot crossing the line.
“This is crazy,” O’Neill said. “Sandy Bueno will head the ball away so it’s irrelevant (that VAR said it’s a new phase of play) as we would have cleared the ball.
“It’s a flagrant foul on Sandy Bueno and there’s no way it could be a different phase. The ball is still in the same area.
“They will find reasons, and of course they will, and I understand that there will be gray areas and the wording of the rule can be interpreted in many different ways. But this is a flagrant foul on Bueno in the seconds before the goal. This is a flagrant foul” .
Later in his press conference, O’Neil claimed that Wolves should have been awarded two penalties in the second half. VAR reviewed Emerson’s fouls on Goncalo Guedes and Mavropanos’ fouls on Jean-Ricner Bellegarde in the second half – but stuck with the “no penalty” decision in both cases.
VAR chose not to penalize an alleged foul by Emerson, already penalized, on Goncalo Guedes
“I understand how difficult the job is for the officials, but you need a bit of that to get your way,” added the Wolves boss. “Some really big calls there we just couldn’t get our way.
“I don’t think Guedes is out of the box. The contact definitely continues in the box. Definitely. I will look into it and have an honest conversation with them (PGMOL).
“It’s probably not clear and obvious, his (Bellegarde), but he stumbles twice, I think the umpire on the field should give it, same with the first one.
Later in the game, VAR reviewed a trip by Dino Mavropanos on Jean-Ricner Bellegarde – but again ruled out the penalty option
“I think Guedes… Emerson also has a yellow card, so that would be a big turning point in the game.”
Wolves were made even more miserable as the corner for West Ham’s first goal was headed clear by Hammers defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka – so it shouldn’t have counted either.
“A lot of things went against us,” O’Neil said.
