Gary O’Neil believes his Wolves players are well prepared to come out on top for just the second time this season as the team head to Luton Town for the first top flight meeting of the sides in almost 40 years.
The head coach refused to call to the visit to Kenilworth Road a ‘must-win’ for his team as there is still a long way to go in the 2023/24 Premier League season, but O’Neil knows that Wolves will need to try and capitalise on a game against the side currently propping up the league standings.
On aiming for a second win of the season
“We feel they are a team that we can have a really good go against, and there are certain games in this league – and we’ve had a few of them already, Manchester United away, Liverpool at home and even Brighton the way they’re going – that you know you need to be at your very best and you need everything to go your way to be successful on those days.
“We’ve had some tough fixtures, and Luton away is of course a tough fixture, but with our group of players and what we have available, we know we need to be going there and getting a result. It’s a game that we can go and get a result from, as was Everton and as was Crystal Palace.
“They’re very good at how they choose to play, they’re very direct, generally a front two who are a handful. They go front to back very quickly, are a threat from set-plays, and Luton itself, the stadium and the feel of the place is different to most that you face in the Premier League.
“The atmosphere and the feel of the game will be something that the players need to cope with as well and they’re well prepped for and understand. The lads know what Luton are going to pose for us tomorrow and the best way to come out on top.”
On maintaining standards for 90 minutes
“We’re working hard at all of it. The first half against Liverpool – although it sort of becomes insignificant because of how it ended – was incredible from a team performance view, from the flow of the game, from being pretty dominant against an excellent team. It was very good, but then we suffered some issues, Liverpool threw caution to the wind and we didn’t react as well as we could have done.
“But more of that first half performance and there’s so much more that we need to do. We didn’t get a pre-season so we’re putting stuff in place during a Premier League season and there’s still so much that we need to improve with them, but the signs are there.
“There’s been large spells in games that we’ve done very well in. I know the urgency about how quickly we need to put it all together and that’s why we’re working so hard at it, but it’s coming together.”
On increasing intensity in training
“Everyone’s good [for Luton], which is obviously important because we’ve changed the training structure, and when you do that sometimes you can pick up some injuries and niggles during that changeover spell and nothing’s happened yet, so the boys are in a good spot.
“‘Hodgy’ [Joe Hodge] will be back in and around it and has been training for the last few days, which is positive, and the rest of the players seem fine.
“We’ve just made it more intense, I don’t know about the length or duration, but the intensity is definitely higher and having looked at the numbers they were producing before I got here to what we’re doing now. Training is a bit more intense than it was, but we just do things slightly differently to how they were doing them, so there’s an adaptation that needed to take place and hopefully we’ll start to see the effect of that fitness-wise.”
💫 @pedrolneto7
— Wolves (@Wolves) September 19, 2023
Joint-highest assist maker in the @premierleague 🔢 pic.twitter.com/y8PZz7DckV
On Pedro Neto’s four assists in four games
“I didn’t see Pedro up close last season and he’s suffered some injuries, but the upturn in his performances this season has been because he’s fully committed to the work that we’re doing, he’s fully committed to how we’re going to play and fully committed to how it’s going to benefit him.
“He’s attacked every training session with 100 per cent commitment and you’re starting to see the benefits. He will be hugely important for us, he’s a fantastic player, hugely talented and he’s working extremely hard without the ball as well as bringing big quality with it, so I’m really pleased with Pedro.
“I spoke to him at length this week about his game and bits we can still add to it, but he’s one of the ones I’m really pleased with the progress we’ve seen with him.”
On areas still to improve
“We’ve created a lot, we’ve done a lot of work on being better on the ball and I’ve seen lots of signs of that improving, but there’s still plenty of areas we have to improve. Without the ball still needs a big improvement, but how that reflects to goals and how many we’ve scored and how many we’ve conceded is hard to quantify, but we obviously need to put more points on the board.
“The fixture list has been difficult for us, as up until this point we’ve only had two home games and they’ve been difficult, against two tough teams that you’d expect to be in and around Europe again this season, and Liverpool competing for the title.
“Then every away game in the Premier League is difficult, so to go away to Everton and get a win was a big result, controlled large parts at Crystal Palace and probably shouldn’t have lost the game, so we’re just trying to progress it all and improve every little bit which can make a huge difference to the fine margins which determine the result in a football match.”
