Gary O’Neil cut a frustrated figure after Wolves suffered a dispiriting 4-2 home defeat to Bournemouth, a match marred by individual errors and tactical missteps.
The Cherries, arriving at Molineux with Wolves unbeaten in their last four games, capitalised on a series of mistakes to leave with all three points.
For O’Neil, facing his former club, it was a painful afternoon compounded by jeers from the Bournemouth fans and chants from Wolves supporters questioning his future.
Pressure mounts on O’Neil
With the pressure back on O’Neil, questions were raised about his team selection, particularly the decision to field Mario Lemina in defence.
Wolves had impressed in their previous outing, a dominant 4-1 victory over Fulham, but the same setup faltered against Bournemouth.
Speaking to Express and Star after the match, O’Neil admitted:
“It’s hard to change a starting XI that performed the way it did away from home (at Fulham), obviously, in hindsight, if we had the game back again we’d try something different.”
O’Neil acknowledged that the defeat wasn’t solely down to tactics, pointing to repeated individual errors as a critical factor.
“There were loads of errors that gave us no chance of winning the game,” he said.
“I spoke about Senesi putting balls in behind the back line, and we had meetings on it and prepped it on the grass. To concede a penalty in the first minute from something we knew was coming was miles below the level we’ve set in the last four games.”
Individual errors prove costly
The match made unwanted history, with Bournemouth’s Evanilson winning three penalties—the first time such a feat has been achieved in the Premier League. Wolves goalkeeper José Sá bore the brunt of the criticism, conceding two of those penalties in near-identical fashion.
O’Neil didn’t shy away from addressing Sá’s costly decisions, saying:
“There were two crazy penalties from back passes when we had no need to play back passes in either of those instances. We could have played forward.
“There is stuff there that gave us absolutely no chance today, even though the lads kept fighting and managed to get themselves back into it. You can’t make that basic of an error that many times in a Premier League game and hand points to the opposition.”
Toti Gomes also contributed to the calamity, conceding a third penalty, which sealed Wolves’ fate. While Jorgen Strand Larsen’s brace provided a glimmer of hope, it wasn’t enough to mask a defensive performance that left O’Neil visibly exasperated.
With Wolves now facing mounting pressure at the wrong end of the table, O’Neil must quickly regroup and address the glaring issues that threaten to derail their season.
