“We’re good enough to stay in the league and we will stay in it,” Wolves boss Gary O’Neil stated after Sunday’s 2-1 injury-time defeat by Manchester City
That confidence belies Wolves’ position in the Premier League given they sit bottom after eight games with just one point.
Sunday’s heartbreaking loss came after a virtual assistant referee (VAR) call overturned an offside decision. That allowed John Stones’ headed winner to stand and left O’Neil questioning “sub-conscious bias” against “smaller clubs” from officials.
He was, however, calm enough to avoid combusting – learning the lessons of last year’s VAR frustrations which led Wolves to push for scrapping the technology completely.
Now, Wolves must regroup for Saturday’s trip to Brighton – a fixture which means they will have faced seven of the current top eight in their opening nine games.
They have had the most difficult start to this season of any Premier League club, according to data company Opta, with their solitary point coming in a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest.
But performances have not been wretched. Wolves have competed well in the majority of their games.
“It isn’t a lot to turn around,” said O’Neil last week. “I’m absolutely fine. I bumped into quite a few people around the town as well and everyone is unbelievably supportive.
“They understand the difficulties and they know the full situation with the fixtures and the transfer funds.”
Sporting director Matt Hobbs has also been a balanced presence, being more visible during difficult times in a show of support to 41-year-old O’Neil, who signed a four-year contract in the summer.
Hobbs, 44, has maintained an important sense of perspective of where Wolves are and remains focused on the long-term development of the club.
Chairman Jeff Shi has been reassuring to O’Neil – he described him as a “very young, talented, capable and outstanding manager” in August. And there is a sense once Wolves start winning the suffering will have been worth it, and the level of trust deeper.
Jack Wilson’s departure as set piece coach this month underlined the backing O’Neil has been given as he was the driving force behind the decision.
Wilson only joined in the summer from Manchester City but it was a failed experiment for a tight coaching team, one which O’Neil works extremely close with, spending most of the day with them as a hands-on head coach.
There was an acceptance a specialist would be useful and help Wolves keep up with the times but they have conceded seven goals from set pieces this term, having shipped just 10 in the whole of the last campaign.
The players remain loyal to O’Neil and another VAR decision going against them after last season’s issues could galvanise the group further.
Wolves may be bottom but there is a concrete belief they can survive although there is also the knowledge they must start winning.
Home games against Crystal Palace, Southampton and Bournemouth next month are crucial and no matter how much support there currently is, it will be tested if Wolves fail to pick up points.
Managing an emotional squad
O’Neil has spoken about how he has needed to manage an emotional squad, highlighted by Mario Lemina’s tears after September’s defeat by Liverpool.
It has meant the head coach has kept a steady hand on the rudder and has been able to handle some of the more impulsive reactions.
Last season Wolves felt – with some justification after penalty awards for Sheffield United and Newcastle were later ruled incorrect – refereeing decisions were going against them.
That led to Wolves formally submitting a resolution to the Premier League in May asking for VAR to be scrapped. The proposal failed with Wolves unable to garner any support from the other 19 clubs.
O’Neil managed the fall out from some of the initial decisions and stopped his players from potentially losing the moral high ground.
The fuming squad wanted to protest and refuse to shake referees’ hands before games, while also debating wearing t-shirts with ‘respect’ written on them.
Doing that, O’Neil argued, would lose them public support given the decisions were there to be judged by everyone and they still had the backing of fans and neutrals.
That said, O’Neil did eventually lose his cool and was given a one-match touchline ban in March.
Key to the emotional management has been club psychologist Martin Littlewood, who joined under Julen Lopetegui having previously worked at Leicester, Rangers and Aston Villa.
Littlewood, a familiar face at the club’s Compton training ground, has been central in helping to forge the culture and forming O’Neil’s messaging to the squad.
He has helped them channel their emotions more effectively, with the coaching staff eager for the players not to lose their identities and the club investing in looking after them as people.
Now it is about being able to guide a passionate group through rocky waters and convince them they are in a relegation battle when the belief from the squad was they would challenge for the top 10.
Transfer buy-in as club shifts direction
O’Neil said himself if clubs sell their best players and do not replace them they will be weaker.
Hindsight is not really an issue when knowing defensive reinforcements were needed, even before Yerson Mosquera’s season-ending injury last month, after the £40m departure of Max Kilman to West Ham in July.
Pedro Neto followed him out, joining Chelsea for £54m, as Wolves continued to lose their top stars, having sold Ruben Neves to Al-Hilal for £47m last summer.
Neves’ departure, along with Matheus Nunes’ £53m transfer to Manchester City helped balance the books and ensured Wolves avoided any profit and sustainability charges.
The immediate priority is a centre-back in January and the club’s strategy requires buy in.
Neto took four years to mature into a £60m player while left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri is four years into his development at Molineux.
France Under-18 defender Bastien Meupiyou underlines the club’s policy of buy low and sell high – similar to the success Brighton and Brentford have had – while they look to develop players and improve their academy.
A £4m signing from Nantes in the summer, although injury has stopped him from featuring in the first team squad yet, there is hope he could, in time, make the same impact Wesley Fofana had at Leicester, the defender joining Chelsea for around £70m after just two years at the King Power Stadium.
It means the days of spending more than £30m on a player are likely to be over; Wolves were unable to beat Ipswich to the £15m signing of Burnley defender Dara O’Shea in the summer.
That strategy can mean, like their current run, short term results suffer for the long-term success of the club. Many of Wolves’ players are either at the start of their process – like 18-year-old defender Pedro Lima – or still developing like Matheus Cunha.
It takes the pressure off a head coach and there needs to be an acceptance Wolves cannot compete with the top 10 right now but are striving to again in the future.
Yet there is a fine balancing act to developing youngsters for long-term success and ensuring the here and now – staying in the Premier League – does not fail.
