Gary O’Neil insists Wolves will be taking the FA Cup ‘extremely seriously’ as they look to progress into the fourth round at the expense of fellow Premier League outfit Brentford on Friday night.
The head coach admits the squad will be missing some key players due to compassionate absence, injury and international call-ups for the visit to west London, meaning there is not much room for rotation from the team which claimed a 4-1 win against the Bees in the Premier League less than a fortnight ago.
On maintaining the winning streak
“Hopefully we can continue that into the FA Cup. It’s a fantastic competition. It’s a tough draw though, a Premier League team away from home, so not an ideal third round FA Cup draw but it helps me a little bit because I did a lot of prep on Brentford already once this week.
“They are of course a team that changes a lot, but they’ve had some injury issues and have got a lot of players missing as well, so I wouldn’t expect they’ve got too many players to rotate at this time with the issues they’ve had, so we should know what to expect from Brentford, or something around what to expect, so I’m looking forwards to it.
“I’ve spoken to the players about the opportunity of having a cup run and it’s another game we want to win, whether there’s points at stake or a place in the next round, we just want to keep winning and keep showing what we are, so will take tomorrow very seriously.”
On going strong against Brentford
“There will be no rotation on our front. We’re going to be taking this game extremely seriously, as we always do, but numbers are a bit short anyway at this moment, so rotation would be tricky. We go there with as strong a team as we can.
“I’m not sure where Brentford will be with it, but they’ve proven over the last few years they’re a real tough team to beat, especially at home, they have a fantastic manager who has been able to overachieve with the group and the budget, so it will be a tough test. The 4-1 win a week or so ago will have no bearing on tomorrow.
“Brentford made a couple of errors that day and we were extremely clinical. I’m looking for a similar performance to that and what we managed to produce against Everton. I thought the team showed a real togetherness and understanding in both of those games, so I’m looking for that again, but it will be a real tough test.”
On allowing the fans to dream
“I’m delighted and I want the fans to be excited and I want them to talk about what we might be able to achieve and their hopes and dreams, that’s what I came in for. I came into a place that was a bit down and gloomy, and at this moment, it isn’t.
“We don’t stop trying to improve with the players because we’re on 28 points, so there’s not a real change in focus for us, there’s maybe a few more people looking up than looking down at this moment, but I know how quickly that can change. We’ve got to make sure we stay on top of the lads and we stay extremely focused on our goals.
“I want the fans and everyone connected to the club to talk about the ‘What if’s?’, the ‘Can we’s?’ and the ‘Maybe we can’s’, and let me and the team have a more clear focus on what we’re trying to achieve day to day, while the fans get to enjoy what we’ve achieved so far and what we can possibly achieve for the rest of the season.”
On thoughts being with Lemina
“Mario is still with his family. I don’t want to speak too much for Mario because things can change quickly with how he feels, but when I last spoke to him, he was still dealing with a lot of family stuff, so nothing has changed on that front on my perspective.
“He has my full support, he knows he can call me and message me at any time and I check in on him, but I’m also keen that he has his space and gets his time to do what he needs to do.
“After this game we have a little break before Brighton, so we're hopeful that, firstly, Mario and his family get themselves into a position where they're ready to move forward with things, then hopefully Mario will be back for Brighton, because he is a hugely important player to us.”
Wishing the best of luck to Rayan and Boubacar, who will now join up with their countries at #AFCON2023.
— Wolves (@Wolves) December 31, 2023
🌍🤝 pic.twitter.com/n2CSxFvxk7
On January transfer window plans
“January is a tough month to do transfers in. The summer’s a much easier window. Clubs don’t want to lose their better players, or any players really, in January, so it’s a tricky transfer market, plus the financial restrictions we faced in the summer are still firmly in place.
“There’s full focus on what we are and what we’re trying to be, while also trying to support the recruitment team. The guys are working really hard and it’s a really good recruitment team here and Matt is trying to do the best we can over the month to make us look stronger at the end of it than we did at the start of it.
“Then my main focus as head coach is to ensure the ones that are here at best placed to perform, firstly tomorrow, and then for the rest of the season. We’re working hard to try and improve the group.
“I was asked last week about how we would cope without Channy [Hwang] when he goes away and my answer was with the players we have. Whether that be people coming off the bench or whether we have injuries and it has to be 21s, then that’s what it is and we will get the best out of what we’ve got.”
On attacking additions this month
“We’ve been a bit short up front, but we’ve scored 30 goals and have 28 points, so we’ve coped well so far and it’s my job to make sure we cope with whatever situation comes up over the next four or five months.
“We will of course try to improve, but it’s going to be a tricky month, and with the financial situation we are in, it will be tough to [externally] improve this group. We’d probably have to do a few bits going out to help us do a few bits coming in, so there may be some movement on that, but that will be how the January will unfold. If we have to do a few bits that will free up some funds, then we might be able to bring one or two in.
“There’s interest in Sasa, but there’s a big game we have tomorrow that he will be involved in. At this moment in time, Sasa is with us, he’s fully committed to being with us and he’s working extremely hard.”
