Wolves manager Gary O’Neil says he understands the anger from his own fanbase towards him – but defended his record at Molineux after the pressure ramped up following defeat at West Ham.
Wolves suffered their third straight loss at the London Stadium to remain in the relegation zone on nine points – and a further four from safety.
Sky Sports News reported last week that Wolves have been doing due diligence on a number of candidates in recent weeks, as pressure grew on O’Neil – who still believes he has the backing of the hierarchy despite the poor run of form.
“The people above me are supportive,” O’Neil, who joined the club in August 2023, told Sky Sports after the game. “But of course the supporters want their football club to be successful.
“I understand them pointing the finger at me and it’s my team and I have to take responsibility, but when I arrived at this football club they had picked up just [41] points in the Premier League (the previous season).
“Since that moment, we have managed to make £200m in player sales. We have sold an awful 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 now shopping in that market, we’re looking for the other ones who are for the future that can help us in 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 know we have only nine points and we’re in a tough spot in the league but they’re giving everything. So I hope the supporters are still proud from the players even though they hate the position we’re in. They won’t hate it more than me. I’m right there with them, whether they know 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 isn’t holding them back – I don’t see a better manager
Mario Lemina was dragged away at full time following a scuffle
Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher believes O’Neil is not the root of the problem at Wolves – and that a new manager will not rejuvenate matters at Molineux for the rest of the season.
Carragher also sympathised with O’Neil’s argument that he is dealing with a less experienced squad having sold many key players to big clubs.
“It’s a group of players we felt would be in and around these positions right now,” Carragher said. “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 don’t see a manager change that is going to rejuvenate this whole squad or that Gary O’Neil is holding this squad back and they should be achieving more – I don’t really see that.
“There are definitely areas where O’Neil will think they’ve got to be better. I think what he did last season and what he’s doing now, if you look at that 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 got 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 should have had two penalties – and ‘crazy’ that West Ham’s winner stood
O’Neil took another swipe at VAR – claiming West Ham’s winner through Jarrod Bowen should not have stood due to a “blatant” foul on Santi Bueno in the build-up.
As Wolves defended a free-kick, Dinos Mavropanos challenged Bueno in the air with the on-field referee not giving a foul. Eleven seconds later, Mohammed Kudus set up Bowen to coolly slot 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 penalise Bueno as it was a new phase of play – even though there were just 11 seconds between the alleged foul and Bowen’s strike crossing the line.
“It’s crazy that,” said 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’s a blatant foul on Santi Bueno and there’s no way it’s a different phase. The ball is still in the same area.
“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 conference, O’Neil claimed Wolves should have been given two second-half penalties. VAR checked fouls by Emerson on Goncalo Guedes and Mavropanos on Jean-Ricner Bellegarde in the second half – but stuck with the on-field decision of ‘no penalty’ on both occasions.
VAR chose not to 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 don’t think Guedes is outside the box. The contact definitely continues into the box. Definitely. I’ll review it and have an honest conversation 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 in the game, VAR checked a Dinos Mavropanos trip on Jean-Ricner Bellegarde – but turned down the option of a penalty again
“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 were further aggrieved as the corner for West Ham’s first goal clearly came off Hammers defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka – so should not have counted as well.
“A lot of things went against us,” said O’Neil.
