Gary O’Neil is determined to do everything possible to ensure Wolves earn a third consecutive Premier League win but is expecting another difficult test when Everton arrive at Molineux this weekend.
Wolves will be playing their third game in six days against the Toffees on Saturday afternoon, and after an impressive 4-1 win over Brentford on the road on Wednesday, O’Neil’s men return to the Black Country where they will be looking at making it eight games without defeat at Molineux, but the head coach admitted the team could be doing it without Mario Lemina, after the midfielder returned to France this morning for a family issue.
On squad availability this weekend
“Both [Dawson and Hwang] are fit and both fully trained today so both will be available for selection tomorrow. Hopefully Bouba [Traore] will be back, he trained so we’ll just see how he is and see how he’s come through that this morning and hopefully he’ll be fit enough to feature in the squad.
“Mario has gone to attend a family issue which I don’t want to speak about too much as it’s not my place. He didn’t train today and that’s all I can really say on it. Whether he’ll be with us tomorrow, it’s too early to say. At the moment, my thoughts are with Mario and what he needs at this moment.
“I spoke about it at my post-match press conference after Chelsea and I said there are things that are more important than football. We have a massive football game tomorrow, but that doesn’t supersede what Mario, the person, needs from me and the football club. Mario will take whatever he needs over the next however long and we’ll just support him with that.”
On the threat posed by Everton
“I think they’ve been very impressive. They’ve had some fantastic results and really good performances and seem to have evolved quite a lot from when we last played them, having watched quite a lot of them this week.
“They’re doing really well and I still see them as a point ahead of us in the league because they would normally be on 26, so that shows what a good side they are and how well they’ve done, so it will be a really tough test. They have their way of doing things and in their away games they can make the home teams feel a bit frustrated.
“They’re very well organised without the ball so it will be a test for us. They’re very physical, good from set plays, and another really big test – our third massive test in six days. I’ve managed to get the boys done today fairly early with a light training session and got them away early to give them as much recovery as possible and looking forward to another big game at Molineux.
“The fact that we’ve won the last two isn’t going to help us. Everton aren’t going to go easy on us because we’ve won the last two. It’s going to be another really tough test.”
On making a connection with fans at Molineux
“On the main part, it would be type of performance and the energy within the group and the work and the endeavour that goes in from the players. Obviously there’s been a couple of performances in there that you’ll always have that are slightly underwhelming and it feels a little bit flat, and we’ve had a couple of those.
“But in the main part we’ve had some very good, energetic performances at home, have always tried to be on the front foot and tried to be a threat, and they’ve seen that the players have given absolutely everything. The lads will need them tomorrow. It’s a small squad and they’ve had a real tough two games, so the third game in six days, we’re going to need as much energy from as many people in the stadium as possible.
“We need to create that ourselves on the pitch, but the help from the side will be massive for us and hopefully we can have another really good day to finish this year at home because it’s been a good place for us. It’s seven unbeaten at home now, so it’s been a really good run.
“But I’m really looking forwards to it because I’ve loved the home games so far and looking forward to making sure the lads are in a place where they can get the fans going again so they can create that atmosphere we’ve had this season.”
🔟 - No one has made more tackles in a @PremierLeague game this season than @GomesOficial08 last night.
— Wolves (@Wolves) December 28, 2023
🇧🇷💪 pic.twitter.com/qqI7o7u34x
On New Years plans
“The lads will get a couple of days to reset after the Everton game, which will be nice for them because we’ve been flat out over the Christmas period. But I’m really keen for us to make it nine points out of nine which would make it an incredible six days for us, which is the first thing, and then there will be an opportunity for them to have a little break, mentally and physically, for a couple of days before we get back together for the FA Cup game at Brentford.
“There’s no focus on New Years’ Eve from my part at the moment! I’m just trying to make it nine points out of nine which would be really good from where we’ve been and how small the squad is. To get nine out of nine from a real close cluster of games would be really impressive.”
On replacing Hwang while he’s at the Asia Cup in January
“I don’t expect him to be around for the FA Cup game at Brentford, so he’ll be gone before then, but I’m not sure exactly on the date. But this will probably be his last game with us before the Asia Cup.
“He’s had a fantastic run for us, we’re all delighted with how well he’s done and I know how important international football is to him and how big a tournament it is, so he’s really excited to go and play for his country. Hopefully he does well there, continues his good form and comes back in good shape. We’ll be keen to get him back, and back up and running with us again.
“We’ll look within the squad and what we’ve got with what we’ll be able to do. I faced a similar situation when I arrived and he wasn’t really the answer for goals and he wasn’t really playing as a nine either, so the squad have done fantastically well to find a way so far, and we’ll continue to do so. When Channy leaves, other people will step up and it will give others the chance to get some minutes. We’ll find a way to make sure we remain competitive and pushing forward.”
On Silva’s loan to Rangers
“Fabio has been around the squad since I’ve been here, played quite a lot of minutes early on, but we just felt that where he is at the moment it will be better for him to go and play more regularly in a team where he should get minutes and should get a lot of opportunities to score goals as well in one of the best teams in that league.
“He should get a lot of opportunities to be around the goal, he’ll get a lot of chances, and a lot more minutes than he would here. He’s still young, so we need him to go and work really hard on his game and then come back in the summer and see where he’s at.”
On approaching the transfer window
“The January transfer window is always tricky and there’s been no secret of where we are this season and what we’re having to do, and that will remain in January. It’s not like all the problems with Financial Fair Play we discussed in the summer have vanished and we can go back to spending hundreds of millions of pounds on players again. It won’t be that.
“We’re going to have to be really clever with how we do things and might have to be some ones to go out before we can bring some in, but everyone’s working so hard to identify targets at where we are, and, as always, my focus is on the group that we have because that’s what I signed up for. Can I do a job with this group? I can.
“The group have given me absolutely everything, so I’m happy to try and find the answers from what we have, but January does give us a small window to try and add a couple of bits here and there that could help.”
