Gary O’Neil is hoping to create more ‘special moments’ with the Wolves supporters this weekend as his side head to the other side of the Black Country for an Emirates FA Cup fourth round derby.
The head coach insists his players will be doing everything possible to overcome West Bromwich Albion and give the Wolves fans a positive afternoon at the Hawthorns, with almost all of the squad experience their first taste of a Black Country derby.
Sunday’s meeting is the first between the sides when not in the same division since 1949, with top tier Wolves going on to lift the famous trophy that season, but although his side will be favourites and with the Old Gold not winning an away game against West Brom in almost 30 years, O’Neil believes there will be no extra pressure on his players.
On preparing for the Black Country derby
“Rayan [Ait-Nouri] will be back, so he’ll be in the matchday squad. There are concerns from the Brighton game and Pablo [Sarabia] got a knock on his calf and hasn’t trained yet. I’ll envisage he should be fit but we’re just monitoring him.
“All the other lads completed training today, it was a good session, so welcoming Rayan back and making sure Pablo is fit and ready to go will be important to us.
“We’re really looking forward to the game. We had our first session looking forward to it today as a group and we got some work done on what it should look like tactically and what it will feel like emotionally to the fans, who have been incredible to us this season and have given us fantastic backing. So, we’re starting to get the lads ready for what it might look like tactically and part of a game which is very important to the area.”
On creating ‘special’ moments with the fans
“We’ve had some really special moments so far with them, some home games and the away game at Brentford when we won 4-1 and even the Brentford away game in the cup where we were able to dig in with 10-men.
“We’ve had some really good moments with them and some real special moments, and I’m sure if we can do our bit and we can perform in the way that I know we can and we can go out and make them proud once again.
“I’m sure they will be right behind us in their extra numbers this week. I’m sure the atmosphere will be incredible from both sides and it’s always nice to be involved in game where the atmosphere is like that.”
On drawing West Brom in the fourth round
“We watched the draw and my initial thoughts were tough draw. They’re going well in the Championship and that’s mainly due to their home form.
“Their home form has been better than their away form, so my first thoughts were tough game, good coach, good players there, and then excited to be involved in a game that has some extra significance to the area and to the fan base.
“I’m sure the players feel the same, just a little bit extra excitement this weekend going into what is a very important game.”
On recent record against the Albion
“I hadn’t looked at the FA Cup history specifically, but I knew it had been a while since we’d managed to beat West Brom, but people were telling me it’s been a while since we’d done any good against Brighton and we did ok at the weekend.
“These things can change quickly and it doesn’t actually add anything to the game itself, it’s a completely new game. It’s the first time fans have been back in for the Black Country derby for a long time, so it’s another game with a bit of added spice to it, but one that we approach in the same way as always.
“We always do everything we can to always do our best to give ourselves the best opportunity to get a good result, and that will be no different.”
— Wolves (@Wolves) January 25, 2024
On feeling extra pressure being favourites
“No, not at all. We can lose any game of football, it’s the nature of the game. I’ve lost enough in my time, especially as a player, and then when stepping over the line to head coach. You lose football matches and you have to pick yourself up and go again, but the aim is not to, and that will be the same this weekend.
“We go to West Brom trying to give ourselves the best chance possible with the way we do things. They have 11 players, they have a good coach and they will be thinking the same thing. It’s a tough place to go, so we’ll need to be at our best to make sure we go through to the next round.
“We’ll try our best, we’ll try and give the supporters what they want, and then we’ll see where we are after the game.”
On the January transfer window
“Me, Matt [Hobbs] and the recruitment team have done an awful lot of work on a couple of options, but in a meeting yesterday it looked like they’re not going to be doable financially for us at this point. It’s back to other options which we might be able to do.
“It’s disappointing, firstly, because it looked like we might have been making some headway with a couple. But I don’t want this to be seen as a negative because the group that we have have given us so much so far and I’m delighted to keep working with them. I’m not just going to sign anybody. It’s not ‘we need a nine, so we will take whoever we can get’.
“We need to take people that deserve the opportunity to play for Wolves, they need to help the group. January’s tricky and prices are sometimes inflated, so if we can’t find ones that will help us and we can’t find ones credible to play for Wolverhampton Wanderers, then we will go with what we’ve got, which is fine.”
