Gary O’Neil was disappointed with the way his side fell short at Manchester City, knowing mistakes were always going to prove costly at the Etihad.
A combination of defensive errors and refereeing decisions left the head coach frustrated come full-time, but he knew his side were coming up against one of the best clubs in the world. It was with that in mind where he praised the effort and endeavour of his team, and he won’t dwell on the loss for too long, with Molineux’s final game of the season coming up next weekend.
On mistakes being costly at City
“I thought we damaged ourselves mostly. The first goal is obviously not really our doing, or our error I don’t think. The second goal we lose the ball really cheaply. The last goal is unbelievable where we lose the ball under no pressure.
“They gave everything, but we spoke before that if we make errors against these, they’ll punish you and we made too many errors with the ball, a couple of errors when we went to press and didn’t go all the way in, and Man City were very clinical and managed to punish us on them.
“We fell short today and I’m disappointed with how we fell short, because there was a lot of effort and determination, but we made some key errors that against a side as good as this you can’t make.”
On having moments in the game
“I don’t think the first one’s a penalty, but at 1-0 we had a real good spell with the ball – a long spell and created a couple of moments with Channy up and around the goal. If they hadn’t been given that start, it maybe would have felt a bit different, but the fact that they were in front and we didn’t manage to make anything of that spell that we had, and then we gave them a soft second goal, it becomes very difficult then.
“Loads of little things today have meant we weren’t able to trouble the best team in Europe too much. It’s the ultimate test and we fell short, but we get ready for Crystal Palace.”
On the two penalty incidents
“You see those coming togethers all the time. Gvardiol had already had his shot and his momentum creates the contact with Rayan as much as Rayan’s. I don’t know what Rayan can do in that instance apart from move out of the way and make sure there’s no contact created. Gvardiol’s swinging leg creates the contact, not Rayan.
“I was surprised how quickly it was given, I thought it was a poor decision, and I didn’t expect it to be overturned because there will be an argument that it’s not clear and obvious. I have no idea if it would have made any difference. If we’d have made as many errors as we did, it wouldn’t have made any difference, we’d have lost 4-1. It’s a key part of the game of course.
“The second one probably is a penalty. Nelse made a bit of contact with Haaland, but once it wasn’t given, I was really surprised it was overturned, because there wasn’t much contact from Nelson. You see Haaland go over and high five Nelson as if to say not much in it.
“They reached the right decision, I’m just not comfortable with how. We’re really unlucky to concede both, you shouldn’t give the first one and the second one I’m happy to give on field because if you see a small contact, Nelse has done enough to put Haaland off. I may be bias – I am in charge of Wolves.”
