GARY O’NEIL: FOREST V WOLVES PRE MATCH PRESS CONFERENCE

How happy are you with the signing of Sam Johnstone?

Yeah, pleased. Really pleased. Good signing, obviously. It gives us real competition in that area of the pitch. Dan and Jose have played games already this season for us, but Sam adds to that group, adding real quality and experience. So, we’re really pleased to get that one done.

Are you expecting him to be in the matchday squad tomorrow?

Yeah, he’ll be in the squad tomorrow. He’ll be involved, obviously. Everything’s been done in time and he’s settled in fine, so it’s not a big move from the other side of the world. He’s just down the road. So, yeah, he’s fine. He’s ready to go tomorrow.

Talking about someone who could potentially be making a move from the other side of the world, Andre is undergoing his medical. Can you expand on him and is that very close to being completed?

Yeah, it’s close. Everything’s gone fine. We’ll see. I think there are a few boxes still to tick before he’s official, but I don’t see any issues at this stage. Hopefully, he’ll be our player by the end of the day, and then we look forward to working with him.

Where do you think he’ll fit in, especially in midfield, maybe compared to Mario and Joao?

It’s a strong area of the pitch for us. Joao, Mario, Tommy as well, and Bouba, who went off injured the other night. I spoke a little on Wednesday about the window not going how we wanted it to, or how I was told it would, or how we expected it to go, for various reasons. We then had to adapt in what we could do and couldn’t do. It was still important that if good players became available, we could add them to the group. Andre is that excellent talent and will enhance the group.

So maybe it falls on me then to adapt and try to find a structure. It may take a change of structure to make sure we fit everyone in.

Just on that point, you’re saying it wasn’t the window you expected it to be or that you were told it would be. Could you expand on that, and whether you were frustrated or not, and how you feel about leaving the window?

The moment Matt and I left Anfield at the end of last season, we started planning how the team would play and what it needed to play that way, in my opinion. We were aligned on what we were trying to do. As we progressed through the window, we missed opportunities that we thought could help us for different reasons, sometimes financial, sometimes because they went before we were ready.

So we couldn’t do some things we had hoped, and then the window became different for us towards the end. We were trying to find players we felt could still help. I realised I would have to be more adaptable with the style and what the team would be able to do because the quality we already have has shown it can do some really good things.

I love the group, but I wanted to give it some help and design a structure that I thought would benefit it. I did think it needed some help from outside, and it didn’t quite go as planned. So it falls on me to ensure we’re still able to compete. Andre’s a good player, and although we’re strong in that area of the pitch, I still felt it was important to add good players to the group. He does that for us, and then we find a way to ensure we get our best players in their best positions, similar to what we did last season. We’ll need to look more like that, probably, than we had initially planned.

In terms of any potential further help, do you expect any more incomings by the end of the day, possibly a loan or two?

The guys are working hard and will do right up until the close. We’re not done; we’ve not turned the lights off and shut the door. We’re still working very hard upstairs to do anything that might become available.

And yes, there are potentially a couple of outs as well, maybe loans. So I’m sure there will still be a thing or two going on from the club.

Just in terms of outs, if you don’t mind, bringing Sam Johnstone in means Jose Sa’s future comes under question. Do you expect him to be here by the end of the window?

Yeah, I would expect so. Only a day left. He knows the situation. He knows that in every position on the pitch, you need to fight to earn the starting place.

It’s better that we have an extra good goalkeeper than not. Sam, Jose, Dan, and Tom will all train hard to impress and show us who should play in goal.

Just finally from you, Daniel Podence continues to be linked to a move to Saudi Arabia. Similar question, I suppose. Do you expect him to be here by the end of the deadline, or the Saudi deadline?

Yeah, I think Daniel’s getting close to leaving. We’ve worked very hard with him. He’s had some good periods here, but some where he was unhappy and went away on loan.

He came back this pre-season and got on really well. He worked hard and bought into everything we asked. But he has had an excellent offer for him and his family. Discussions have gone on about what’s best for him and, of course, for the football club. That one looks like it could potentially go through, but there’s still a bit longer due to it being Saudi.

Hi, Gary. Can I go through injuries ahead of this weekend, particularly Bouba Traore, who we believe is injured?

Yeah, Bouba will be out. He’s going to be out for a little while, I think. He’ll potentially need some surgery on his knee, but we’re not 100% sure about the extent. It’ll be a few months, I would think. It’s disappointing because he’s a great guy. I love what he brings to the group, so he’ll be really missed. Hopefully, once we get all the reports back, it’s the best it can be, and the timeframe is as short as possible. But at the moment, he’s obviously not available for the weekend and will be out for a little while.

Just to clarify something you said to Dan. Is it fair to say that Wolves won’t be playing the type of football you hoped for at the start of this season because the window hasn’t gone quite as you hoped?

No, I didn’t mean it that way. It just means I’ve started to look, as the window has gone on, at whether what I’m asking will suit what we will have. My job is to get the best out of the group. The head coach’s job is to get the best out of those in the building. We may have put some plans in place for who we thought might be here, and it might look a little different now.

The international break and the end of the window give me a good opportunity to assess where we are and what we have. Similar to when I first walked in with only a few days to go before the first game. I need to see what the group can do and what suits it best because there’s a lot of talent there. It would be pointless for me to try to fit people into roles that don’t suit them. So yes, it’s a little bit of an assessment and rethink after the window closes and before the international break.

After the two opening games, you’re probably feeling annoyed after the Chelsea game. With the amount of goals you’ve conceded so far, what have you done differently defensively to prevent that from happening again?

No, nothing. We’ve spoken to the players about the mistakes made in the Chelsea game. Crazy mistakes. Of course, we suffered a 6-2 loss, but without those uncharacteristic errors, the game was never 6-2. Anyone who watched the game saw it get away from us at the end. Chelsea punished us with their quality, but statistics show there wasn’t as much difference as the scoreline suggests.

We played Arsenal and Chelsea, and for three of those halves, we’ve been very competitive against two of the best sides in the league. Chelsea will likely be much higher up this year than last year, given what they’ve done. We’re a resilient group, and we need to be. We have one of the toughest Premier League starts ever with this fixture list, so we must understand there will be tough spells. Do we accept conceding four goals in a half at home? No, we don’t. We discuss how and why that happened to us, but we approach Nottingham Forest knowing we have a big game ahead and start at nil-nil, so whatever happened last time is done.

Is this the ideal type of game to put it right?

They’re a good side. They sum up how I see the Premier League this year. Their recruitment over the last two years has built a strong group, and the expectation around Nottingham is for them to finish high in the league because of their fantastic business and great players. We need to find our way to be competitive and compete with these sides. This transfer window and the business clubs have done show this Premier League season will be incredibly tough and competitive.

So, it’s an opportunity for us to go away from home and show what we’re made of and put the first win on the board, but it will still be a tough game.

In recent seasons, whether it was down to Morgan Gibbs White, Nuno being there, or your backroom PR teams sending messages on Twitter, it’s been a grudge match. Are you expecting a feisty affair again?

Every time I’ve been to Nottingham Forest, even with clubs I’ve played for, it always felt quite feisty. There’s a bit of extra rivalry between these two clubs, but I expect it to feel like a big game. Yes, especially after our two losses. It was a great win and performance in the Cup in the week, but after two league losses, Nottingham Forest will want their first home win. I expect it to feel like a big game inside the stadium.

Hi. Earlier, you said the window hasn’t gone the way you were told it would. Do you feel let down?

No, I think there are many factors at play in a transfer window. Not everything that hasn’t fallen our way is our fault. A lot goes on, and it’s just where we are at the moment. We’re now reacting to that and trying to put the best things in place to get us where we need to be.

Twelve months ago, you said budget restrictions were due to PSR and staying on the right side of the line. Is that still the case?

No, we’re fine. From what I understand, we have no issues with PSR. The club is fine financially, with no concerns about sanctions or points deductions.

So, it’s a bit hard to understand why you haven’t received the funds you thought you would if the club’s on the right side of PSR?

Yes, we’re doing the best we can with what we’re allowed to do and what we’re trying to bring into the club. We have a great group that I love working with, and we’ll push everyone to finish as high in the league as possible.

Finally from you, you mentioned Nottingham Forest. What do you expect from them? How do they approach the game tomorrow?

They will be very compact. They don’t come out of shape to press. They make spaces really small, which will be a tough challenge for us with the ball. They have a lot of threat on the counter-attack. We need to be well organised.  The structure must be better than it was at home to Chelsea, when we lost possession in some instances and people were out of position.

It’s important to take care of those details. We need to be ready to stand up and be counted because I’m sure they’ll look to come at us at home and test us. Every aspect of the team will be tested. I’m confident and believe the lads are ready for what tomorrow brings.

Best of luck. Thank you. Gareth, after the Chelsea match, you said you didn’t want to talk about positives because it was a 6-2 home loss. Having had time to reflect, do you see any positives?

I’m surprised that one’s come back up. Yeah, we played okay in moments. We looked a real goal threat. The goals we concede are from errors I don’t expect to see from us very often. You can’t take things for granted, but I wouldn’t expect to see those errors from us often.

It’s not often you have a good part in a game and end up losing 6-2. It wasn’t like we were completely out of it and never had a look. We created decent spells, then it got away from us. There are many big negatives needing urgent attention and solutions. But if you take the emotion of losing 6-2 at home away, there were some good bits in there from the lads.

What were those big negatives?

Just how easily the game got away from us and how we made poor decisions in certain situations. Once it did, we couldn’t stem it and get a foothold. To go from 2-2 and be out of the game within 15 minutes was a killer blow. For it to snowball like that, we needed to discuss it with the players. We all understand why it happened and how we can improve.

At this moment, do you think you’re better off now than at the start of the transfer window or the other way around?

We have more depth but we’ve lost two top players who can perform in the Premier League week in, week out. Max is now playing at West Ham, and Pedro Neto can be one of the best wingers in world football. More depth, but we’ve lost two real big ones.