Gary O’Neil praised the work ethic and clinical finishing of his Wolves team as the Old Gold scored four on their travels to claim a big three points – and consecutive Premier League wins – at Brentford.
Hee Chan Hwang netted a brace before going off just before half time, with his goals sandwiched between Mario Lemina’s opener and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s fourth of the evening, and the head coach was delighted that his players were able to put in such a performance just three days after their Christmas Eve victory over Chelsea at Molineux.
On putting four past Brentford
“It was really good. Obviously tough with the quick turnaround, but I thought the lads were excellent, they worked their socks off, and looked together.
“There was big quality when we got our opportunities to make sure we take them, so it was really good, especially after having to change Channy as well just before half-time because he was causing them a lot of problems, so for us to keep going and after the changes I thought we could still be a threat on the counter.
“We were in a bit more because Brentford kind of had nothing to lose, but we looked really solid and you don’t win too many 4-1s away from home in the Premier League, so it’s one for the fans to enjoy.”
A Hee Chan brace in the opening half hour.
— Wolves (@Wolves) December 27, 2023
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On a first away win in two months
“Away games in the Premier League are tough. All of them. We knew what Brentford were going to be, they were direct, they were physical, they would be aggressive and we had to make sure we could take our moments and show quality.
“There’s a good understanding in the group and although it doesn’t always feel ‘pure’ here, because they are aggressive and they make you play longer and they make you get around things, but we handled it really well and we defended the box fantastically as well.
“When the fourth went in, my coaching staff said to me, ‘You can enjoy this now gaffer’, but I was like, ‘Nah, there’s still 10 left’!”
On clinical finishing from his forwards
“They were really clinical. Matheus Cunha at the end there where he had an opportunity to shoot and squares it for Jean [Bellegarde] with the perfect pace on it so Jean can come and hit it first time. He was unlucky with his chance when he hit the post, so we managed to show our quality.
“Channy [Hwang] killing them with runs in behind, and we were a bit unfortunate to lose him, but we were very clinical. When we had our chances, I thought we took them really well.
“Brentford were quite aggressive and left us man for man at the back, which meant we weren’t going to have too much control of the ball, but we would get some opportunities in those big areas to go one-v-one and we had our players today who could cause some problems and they were able to take them.”
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— Wolves (@Wolves) December 27, 2023
On Hwang’s first half injury
“It's just a back spasm, so he’s moving a bit better now. It was quite a quick turnaround, but we’re hopeful he’ll be ok, but we’ll see.”
On changing game plan mid-match
“Hopefully we’d get it right from the start, so when the game is how we prepped, the lads find it really easy. It can be tricky trying to get them to understand it on the fly, when it’s 12 minutes in, trying to get the message to the other side of the pitch, but they’re getting a lot better at it.
“I ask a lot of them to understand things and they are getting better, so hopefully they’ll keep improving and hopefully they’ll get less reliant on me and they can see things for themselves and fix things.
“But they’re a great bunch as you saw today, willing to die for each other, so it’s been fantastic.”
