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4 months ago
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Gary O’Neill has been a real surprise package.
Getting the job as caretaker boss at Bournemouth and then permanently when Scott Parker was sacked after a handful of matches in the 2022/23 season, he performed minor miracles to keep them up.
Only for the new owner who came in mid-season to then sack him last summer. Very harsh on Gary O’Neill who looked to have done a great job in his first management role.
Wolves obviously thought so too.
With Julen Lopetegui having walked away as FFP restrictions were biting due to massive previous overspending, which limited his ability to spend, Gary O’Neill was offered the job and these past two transfer windows have seen Wolves generate around £65m profit on transfers, with some £80m spent as £145m worth of sales went out.
Despite this, Gary O’Neill doing another excellent job, Wolves into the last eight of the FA Cup and currently ninth in the table, ten points and five places above Bournemouth…
Maybe the most difficult thing for young players and young managers is getting the opportunity to show what they can do.
Talking ahead of the match at St James’ Park, I am really impressed with what Gary O’Neill has had to say.
Very complimentary about Newcastle United and St James’ Park overall, but it was his comments on injuries that particularly stand out, as he points out just how unprecedented the situation has been at NUFC this season, far worse than any other PL club this campaign.
It isn’t a case of expecting sympathy from another club’s manager or fans, that isn’t what I am referring to.
It is just the simple honesty that so many Premier League managers (and fans and pundits and journalists…) are incapable of, where they make out that these past four or five months at Newcastle United haven’t been crazy when it comes to the number of key players missing, week after week, month after month.
Good luck to Gary O’Neill for the rest of the season, apart from tomorrow and if we get drawn together in the FA Cup semi or final…
Gary O’Neill on the challenge of facing Newcastle United this weekend:
“I’m really looking forward to Saturday, because it’s an incredible place to go, St James’ Park, and it’s a real good test because they come at you with everything there.
“They’re really aggressive and hopefully the boys can show once again that we can stand up to good sides and give a real good account of ourselves.
“Newcastle have suffered really badly with injuries.
“I talk about ours, but ours have only ever been one or two, but because of the size of our squad, that always feels like it has a big impact.
“Newcastle have suffered far more than that and have had a lot of key players missing, which makes it extremely tough.
“They’ve had a tough time, especially with the extra games they’ve had to play in Europe, but a lot of players are coming back now – Isak is a massive plus for them, so they’ll be a threat.
“We go there expecting to face a Newcastle team who are very dangerous.”
Gary O’Neill on team fitness and availability ahead of facing Newcastle United:
“Hee Chan won’t make the weekend.
“There will be more assessments after the weekend, but for now, he’s been ruled out.
“It’s disappointing because I knew there were a few players who were a risk for the midweek game in the cup. Channy was feeling fine before, all his recovery had gone well, so he was one we felt was able to go again, but things like that can happen.
“It’s disappointing that we’ve lost Channy because we know how important he can be to us. We don’t have a time frame.
“We were just figuring out if we could use him for this weekend, firstly. He’ll have some more results after the weekend and we’ll know more about how long and what it will look like, but hopefully it won’t be too long.
“Joao [Gomes] came off with cramp and tightness in his hamstring, but he’s feeling fine today, but we haven’t done much between games with the short turnaround.
“We haven’t named the team yet, so we’ll get up to Newcastle this afternoon and then do a bit more with the lads up there, see how everyone is and then make our selections from there.”
Gary O’Neill asked about his side’s impressive form, winning four of their last five games against Chelsea, Spurs, Sheffield United and Brighton, with just the one defeat to Brentford:
“I’m extremely happy.
“I think that every single player in the squad should be really proud with what they’ve been able to produce because we know how small the group is and we have missed key players at most part of this season.
“We spent a long time without Pedro [Neto], a long time without Channy and Rayan also when they were away, and now a long spell without Matheus Cunha, and at all those moments, the lads have found a way to dig in, keep producing results and keep picking up points.
“This weekend is probably our toughest test so far in terms of the efforts the lads have put in over the last few days, and it will be the first time that we’re without two of our five main attacking players.
“I don’t think we’ve had to go without two of them before, so it will be a real big test for us, no doubt, especially with the quick turnaround, but the group have continued to surprise a lot of people this season, and I’m looking forward to seeing how we can respond to yet another challenge.”

 
