The prologue to Wolverhampton Wanderers excellent season under Gary O’Neil begins with Julen Lopetegui leaving his post as Wolves manager six days before the season began away at Old Trafford.
Lopetegui had been on Wolves’s radar for years and after finally landing the Spaniard, he was gone just eight months after steering the club clear of relegation having arrived with Wolves seven points adrift of safety.
By Dharnish Iqbal
The club initially spent a whopping £175m to help aid the former Real Madrid manager in his bid to save Wolves from the Championship.
He then grew frustrated at the lack of funding after Wolves survived, as from his point of view, it was expected financial backing would continue so he could help Wolves grow into a team fighting for the European spots.
The Wanderers needed to balance the books with FFP as they informed Lopetegui of the financial constraints, he made his frustrations public in an interview with Guillem Balague. Wolves had spent the summer budget on staying up: “We came here believing in a different project.” This wasn’t what Lopetegui signed up for and he didn’t want another season fighting relegation, so he left.
The club had also ripped out the soul of the team in a necessary clean-up to meet FFP rules. Out went lynchpin Rúben Neves, Nathan Collins, Conor Coady, Raúl Jiménez, João Moutinho, and Adama Traoré. In came almost no one.
Club chairman Jeff Shi even wrote a letter to fans before the season began explaining Wolves would have to be cautious. It sounded like a club in crisis. A departing elite manager, a squad ripped at the seams, and a board battling financial constraints.
Which makes the job O’Neil has done even more astounding in the circumstances. Wolves are six points off Manchester United in sixth and above Newcastle and Chelsea in the table, they also made it to the last eight of the FA Cup.
O’Neil is taking Wolves in the direction Lopetegui wanted to and he didn’t need to spend £100m to do it. Wolves have already beaten Chelsea twice, Spurs away and claimed a huge victory over defending champions Man City at home. This was meant to be a doomed season. A damage limitation job of scrapping for relegation rather than flourishing.
Wolves have benefitted from high-profile players leaving as opposed to the outgoings being a detriment as other squad members have shone.
O’Neil has managed to get the best out of Matheus Cunha with the striker scoring nine, but crucially being a vital player out of possession. Marking off the opposition’s midfield when needed and carrying the ball out of pressure frequently.
The tireless Mario Lemina and João Gomes are proving to be a tough, sturdy defensive midfield partnership. Pedro Neto remains one of the league’s exciting attackers in creating something out of nothing. Whilst Hwang Hee-chan has scored more goals than he ever has with Wolves (10).
It’s impressive to see just how tactically versatile Wolves have become under the former Bournemouth manager. Often switching formations this season from a back five or back four depending on the opposition, as O’Neil recognises modern football management is about the constant need to adapt to the opposition and innovate.
When Wolves play a back five they can use their fast wingers in Cunha and Neto to carry the ball from deep and break quickly in transition when opposition attacks break down.
When playing four at the back, Wolves press high to turn the ball over as they’re one of the highest-ranked teams in the league for goals scored from pressing high. O’Neil has transformed the attack with an emphasis on being fast and direct. The full-backs overlapping in Nelsen Semedo and Rayan Aït-Nouri who both scored in the recent win vs Fulham add to this. Thriving in a 3-4-3 system making use of the spaces wide to stretch defences as much as possible and join the attack.
Goals were hard to come by for Wolves last season but they have already scored 22 more goals at this stage of the season in comparison to the last.
After the Fulham win O’Neil spoke about how this was his favourite. “Unbelievable win, in terms of what we’ve had to deal with, the position we found ourselves after 20-odd minutes (Bellegarde and Neto both went off injured).”
“Mentally for the players to lose the only attacking players we have left, I thought it was an unbelievable win.”
Similarly, in trying circumstances, Gary O’Neil at Wolves has done an unbelievable job. With Europa League qualification not out of the question, O’Neil is a manager who thrives on making the most of what he has.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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