Gary O’Neil insisted Wolves’ players need him after their 2-1 home defeat to fellow strugglers Ipswich that left the boss under serious pressure.
Jack Taylor scored with the last attack of the game to plunge Wolves and O’Neil into further trouble as Ipswich landed a huge 2-1 win.
Wolves have now lost their last four Premier League games, winning just two of 16 in this season’s competition, and O’Neil afterwards acknowledged that results must improve if he is to keep his job.
But he vowed to fight on, saying: “That group need me to get them in a place where they’re ready to go and I’ll keep fighting for them. And that doesn’t mean I’m not going to get sacked. For every result, the chances of me losing my job will heighten, that’s nothing new – it doesn’t concern me.
“When I speak to Matt [Hobbs, sporting director] and Jeff [Shi, chairman], they’ll tell me I’ll need to do more otherwise they’ll replace me. That’s the same message for the players, you need to do more to compete at this level or you’ll get replaced. That’s how the business works.
“I’m not interested in my own position – I know the work I do every day and I know the situation we’re in. To get this group to perform the way they did took a lot of work today. People can point the finger at me but some of the responsibilities have to land on the players in those moments. When we get in good positions and we spoon the ball off the pitch – I can’t help them with that.”
‘Ait-Nouri needs to learn to control himself’
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Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Rayan Ait-Nouri had to be dragged away from a full-time scuffle following their 2-1 loss to Ipswich.
For a second week running – after Mario Lemina was involved in a full-time row at West Ham – the defeat for Wolves sparked angry scenes as Rayan Ait-Nouri, who was shown a second yellow card after the whistle, had to be dragged down the tunnel by team-mate Craig Dawson after clashing with Ipswich’s Wes Burns as boos rang down from the stands.
O’Neil was left frustrated he is having to deal with more disciplinary problems within his squad: “I was disappointed he wasn’t able to control himself as we need him. We are short enough in areas of the pitch and now I need to find a left-back for next week. The players need to understand the importance of making good decisions in the game and after the game.
“Disagreements with opposition players after the game can happen and Rayan [Ait-Nouri] needs to handle it better and doesn’t cross the line. We deal with things like that last week very seriously and this will be no different once I’ve seen it. It’s annoying. We’ve got enough to do and fix without trying to fix things that happen after the game. The players need to take responsibility.”
O’Neil a desperate man on the brink
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Ipswich’s win against Wolves in the Premier League.
Sky Sports’ Lewis Jones:
O’Neil was speaking like a man who knew there is probably no coming back from this. He challenged his players directly, saying: “Come on guys this is the Premier League. [Dara] O’Shea booting down the pitch for [Liam] Delap and us not dealing with it, that’s not me. I can’t fix that. That’s the lads. I’m really comfortable as myself as a coach and my standards as a coach.”
He was using the example of the opening Ipswich goal where Nelson Semedo was completely outmuscled by Delap. In fairness to Semedo, not many defenders in this league could’ve done much to stop the rampaging Ipswich striker. But there was a frustration in the voice of O’Neil who has seen this story before where his team’s lack of physicality has been the catalyst for their many downfalls.
Wolves have now conceded 74 goals in 34 games in 2024, working to an average of 2.18 per game. And they have conceded two or more goals in 11 of their last 13 Premier League games.
