Gary O’Neil was left with mixed emotions after Wolves’ defeat to Newcastle United at St James’ Park, as although his team shipped three goals to the Magpies, he was pleased with how his players fought in adversity.
A banged up Wolves side, which was already missing Hee Chan Hwang and Matheus Cunha through injury, before Joao Gomes dropped out of the squad the morning of the match, got even smaller when Pedro Neto and Jose Sa went off with concerns at half-time, but O’Neil’s side were unfortunate to not make their chances count in the north-east, and the head coach was proud of the way his young team kept fighting in a game where the final scoreline did not reflect the tightness of the contest.
On defeat at Newcastle
“I’m really proud of the group and I thought they gave absolutely everything. We’ve had a tough week, a really good week, but a really tough week and a tough end to the week.
“Key players missing, a lot of young lads in and around it today, and we had large spells in the game where we looked really good, had lots of control, had loads of the ball, but two real slack moments for the goals cost us.
“They were lucky that both of them ended up costing us and two of them had large deflections on them, but one we left ourselves open on the counter-attack, which was really disappointing because we spoke about it and the second one was the pressing phase which we go slightly wrong.”
On luck not going their way
“There was a touch of fortune in both of the goals, and it wasn’t a 2-0 first half because I thought we had some moments of real control, which you don’t often see at St James’ Park, for a team to come away and dominate the ball.
“We got into some real good situations, but didn’t have enough quality to get in on the goal, but in terms of the group giving everything they’ve got, they did that again. Then the third one comes when we were very open and the lads didn’t deserve a three-nil as that flatters Newcastle. But it’s one of those days that you have to accept.
“Sometimes you meet Newcastle when they’re on the up, they have a lot of players coming back, some of the substitutes they were able to make, but we were not at that. We’re at a different moment, and we’re as short as we’ve been all year, off the back of three games in six days, so it’s a tough one for the boys, but I’m really proud that they kept going and gave everything.”
On Okoduwa making the matchday squad
“Wes missed school yesterday to come with us and sit on the bench today but he's trained really well, he’s physically very good, so it’s one where we were short, but he wasn’t meant to be sub, Joao Gomes was meant to be sub but he didn’t feel great with his hamstring when he woke up this morning, so Wes ended up going on the bench. It’s probably slightly too early in his development, but it’s the situation we’re in.
“Nathan Fraser got to lead the line at St James’ Park for 45 minutes, Tawanda got to come on and play in the 10 for a bit, but it’s a big, cruel league and you talk about giving the young lads experience and see what they can give us, but as you saw today, Newcastle don’t really care and if you’re not where you need to be, they will come and sweep you aside.
“That is where we are today, but I don’t want us to be there, I don’t want us to be happy to just have 38 points – that’s not where I want us to be. We need to find a way that we are competitive and keep pushing forward.”
On injuries affecting his team
“Obviously missing good players doesn’t help, but the boys that played did some really good bits. But to be missing Cunha and Channy [Hwang] is one thing, then add Joao Gomes to that, then Sa and Pedro [Neto] both off injured at half-time left us in the toughest position we’ve been in.
“I said this would be the toughest game of the season for us because of where we were, and what we’ve been through this week, and it turned out to be that. But in terms of a group willing to work, we looked like a really good side for a long spell when name-wise we were away from our best at this moment.
“Jose has a sore quad and they think he will be fine for next weekend. I don’t know if it was his quad that collided with the post, but he’s got some issue, so it may have been from that situation, but he’s confident he’ll be ok for next weekend. Pedro has a tight hamstring and I don’t think there’s any injury there, it’s just tight. It was precautionary really.”
On Hwang’s injury timeline
“Channy had a tight hamstring at half-time last week and wanted to carry on and hurt it, so Pedro, with a tight hamstring, we had no choice to make sure he was off and safe, and make sure we had enough to go again on another day.
“It’s approximately six weeks for Channy, which is obviously a disaster for where we are at this moment. Him and Cunha will probably be back around similar times, probably Cunha slightly earlier than Channy now, so losing Pedro today was far from ideal.
“The situation has been discussed a lot around transfer windows, and we have the best injury record in the league which is why we’ve been able to remain competitive, but it’s really hard to sustain that over the course of a season. We’re in a tough spell where we have injuries to players, and we need to find a way.”
