Gary O’Neil is relishing his first Molineux match as Wolves head coach and believes his group are in a good place to open their account against Brighton & Hove Albion.
The head coach revealed his team’s running figures from Monday night eclipsed each game from last season, showing the intensity and commitment in the performance, and that should stand his group in good stead moving forward.
Keen to remain level-headed however, after what was a defeat at Old Trafford, O’Neil has Wolves prepared well and hopes they’ll have a warm reception from the Molineux faithful come the first home kick-off of the 2023/24 season.
On taking confidence from Monday
“It was an important first step for us. When you take over a group, and the group gets the first few days with you, there’s a little bit of concern about what the first one might look like, because of the new messages, the expectation, the changes to training, so pleased we made a positive first step, but of course it’s just the first step.
“There’s a tough test coming tomorrow against Brighton, who are a long way along in their processes and are a very good side. The lads took real belief and heart from what they managed to produce at Old Trafford, but it doesn’t give you anything factual the next game, you start at zero and we have to prove ourselves again, but I’m looking forward to watching the boys have another go on Saturday.”
On recovering after a big shift
“Monday to Saturday’s still quite a quick turnaround because you lose Tuesday and even Wednesday is matchday plus two, so it’s still a recovery day for the boys. That was a big shift they put in on Monday, it’s the most they’ve ran and sprinted, with high intensity runs compared to any of the other 38 last season. A big physical effort from them, so it took a little while, you want to make sure they’re safe and well recovered. So not loads of times to do training sessions before the game, but two good days, lighter physically, but good for where we want to be. Hopefully the lads have took a lot of it on board again and give a good reflection of themselves on Saturday.
“Physical numbers are normally a result of how the game goes, or how you go about it. If we’d have gone low block, trying to counter, and played against Man United in a smaller area near our goal, the running numbers would have been lower. It’s probably a result of a slight change in style. When you get a spike in load, which the lads may not be used to, you need to respect that and give them enough time to make sure they’re ready to go again.
“I was really pleased with the numbers, they were fantastic. It’s not that I look at the numbers on their own, but in the performance, they were able to keep going and as the game went on, we got stronger and stronger. It’s something that will stand us in good stead, if games do get chaotic, the boys know we can get them in a place where we can go toe-to-toe physically.”
Building up to Brighton 💪 pic.twitter.com/orBktHe4qg
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 18, 2023
On his playing style moving forward
“I think Monday was a good snippet of what we hope to look like. Maybe a little more control at times, and a little bit more structure, but energy, on the front foot when we can. I think Brighton is always a different game to a lot of the others because of how extreme they are in what they do, so it could make the game look slightly different to the others.
“Still try to be us, pick our times when we want to be aggressive, pick times when we can attack fast and when we can get some control. Hopeful that we can see a progression from Monday. It’ll be a big test, but really excited to play a Premier League game in front of 30,000 of our fans. The home form was really important last year, so hopefully we can get off to a good start.”
On building a relationship with the fans
“I’d love to have a fantastic relationship with the fan base – I think they’re incredible. What I saw on Monday night was amazing, the way they backed the players throughout, and then afterwards after a defeat. A defeat we could take something from performance-wise, but it’s still a defeat, to see them after supporting the players was important.
“I appreciate how fortunate I am to be head coach of a massive club, with fantastic history, a fantastic playing squad and a fantastic group of fans. I’m hopeful we can work really hard as a group, me, the players and the staff, and the fans can see a team, like they did on Monday, that they can get behind and be proud. Let’s see what we can achieve together.”
On welcoming Brighton
“They’re a difficult team to stop, especially as the home team, because they like to dominate the ball so much it can make you feel quite passive at times. Tricky team to prep for, but it’s my third go at it, last year with Bournemouth we didn’t take any point, but two real good performances, so hopefully this year, with this group of players, we can have a real good go and try to put our first lot of points on the board.”
On Kalajdzic’s return
“He’s a great guy. Always bright and smiley around the place. He had a tough spell last year but is working extremely hard every day to try get himself back to a level which would allow him to be thought about as someone who can do 90 minutes every week. He’s not quite there yet, but that’s to be expected. He’s working hard, getting his extras done when we need him to, he’s a good member of the group and was unlucky not to win a penalty on Monday. He’s going to be important.”
