GARY O’NEIL: WOLVES V LIVERPOOL PRESS CONFERENCE

I just wanted to start off with news about Yerson. The club confirmed earlier this week that he’s injured his ACL, and how he could be  out for a season. First of all, how is he? How do you see him? Is he going to be missing for long?

Firstly, regarding Yerson, he’s okay. He’s a great kid. I’m absolutely devastated for him because of the energy and the life he brings. No matter how things go each week, he gives everything and always approaches things the right way. So, it’s a big loss for us from that perspective.

He was showing signs that he could play at the level we hoped he would. So, from a team and squad perspective, it’s a big blow for us, but it also brings opportunities for others. Alfie Pond, for instance, gets a step closer. He was out on loan last year at Stockport and played for us in the Cup against Brighton.

He’s extremely excited this week to be back and has a chance of featuring in Premier League games. With all of this, I am absolutely gutted for Yerson. Of course, it’s a blow to the group and our position, but we have a strong mentality here. We don’t let setbacks stop us from achieving our goals.

The message from me is that you will always face setbacks in a Premier League season. This one is significant, especially for Yerson personally. However, we will find a way to ensure we can still fight and pick up points to reach our goals.

How’s Toti? Is he fit and ready for this weekend?

We’ll test him again in the morning. He’s trained a bit this week. I wouldn’t say he’s fully fit, but there’s still another day to go, and he’s getting closer.

He just needs a little more to ensure he comes through today without any problems. Ideally, you’d leave him a bit longer, but we’ll see how he is tomorrow.

You mentioned last week that Dan Bentley had an illness. How is he?

There’s quite a bit of illness going around, so a few will need to be checked tomorrow on how they’re feeling. But Dan is okay now and will be fine to be around the matchday squad.

You probably don’t want to give too much away, but can you share anything about the other players?

No, we just had a little virus going around, so Dr Kai has been busy this week trying to help the lads feel better. Quite a few missed training today, so we will see how we are tomorrow. It’s a fantastic home game against Liverpool, and we have a few issues going on at the moment.

But I’m looking forward to getting back out there in front of the home fans and making it as difficult as possible for Liverpool, which is what we try to do every time we play one of the big sides. I’m excited to see what we can do tomorrow.

You mentioned Alfie Pond; we saw him make his debut in the Carabao Cup, as you noted. In pre-season, was he on your radar? Of course, given the injuries and the circumstances, but were you aware of him and ready to bring him into the first team this season?

I know all about Alfie Pond; he’s one of our players. I would be lying if I said I expected him to be in and around Premier League starts this season. The plan was for him to get some football, hopefully on loan. He was at Stockport last year but didn’t play much, so this is a big step.

It’s a big step even in training for him to be involved, but he’s a great kid and gives it everything, as you saw at Brighton. There are opportunities not just for Pond but for other lads now to step up and fight for a place.

You mentioned it’s another big game against Liverpool. What positives can you take from previous matches into this big game, trying to get that first win of the season?

I’m not too keen to talk about positives because it’s no secret we’re on a tough run of results. Enough has been said already about the difficulty of the fixtures, and that’s that.

Now, it’s about a real focus on us. Let’s go and win a home game in front of our fans. Let’s fight and make it difficult, show quality, and hopefully, we’ll get one to go our way and things will feel a bit different.

You mentioned a virus going through the squad. How big a deal is that going into this massive game against Liverpool?

I think some lads will struggle tomorrow. Whether that means they won’t be fit enough to start is uncertain. These things can sometimes clear up in 24 hours. Bents felt unwell for a couple of days before he started to improve.

We’re hopeful all the guys who have been unwell over the last couple of days will be fine and fully available tomorrow. As the doctors told me, at this stage, it’s difficult to give a definitive answer.

We’ve seen legends retire before, when Arne Slot took over from Klopp, how would you rate his handling of the team?

He’s excellent. Coaching-wise, the way he sets his team up, it’s no surprise he started well.

If you’re really good at your job, and Liverpool is obviously well run and organised, there’s no significant mess for him to fix. He’s gone into a well-run football club with a good squad, and he’s a good coach. So, it’s no shock that he has had a good start, and I’d expect them to have a strong season.

They’ve shown signs already, but tomorrow we will do everything we can to disrupt that. We found a way, especially last season, to be disruptive to some of the bigger teams. That’s what we aim to be tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to it.

This time last season you beat Man City at home. Can you conjure up that feeling and hopefully repeat it again on Saturday?

No, I’m not linking it to Manchester City at all. Obviously, it was a big win for us, but it’s a different squad now, so this is a very different challenge.

We’re ready to give everything, all the players understand what tomorrow will require. We want to give the fans enough to be really involved in the game. If we find ourselves in a situation like we have in recent weeks, where we go toe-to-toe with top sides, we need to take things one step further and get something from the game.

You mentioned that it’s a tough run and tough times right now, but you’ve been here before and will probably be here again. Does it not phase you?

No, I’m not phased at all. I’m looking forward to the next part of this.

First, you must accept where you are. We accept our current position and then fight with everything we have to improve it. That’s what we’ve done every day since the last game against Aston Villa. We’ve worked hard to get the group in the best spot possible for Liverpool.

Then we give everything tomorrow to try and improve our points tally.

Hello Gary. I think in every game so far, there’s been something good in it, or you’ve had a good spell. In some matches, you’ve been in potentially winning positions. Could that happen again tomorrow if you get into a good position? What’s the hurdle to getting all the way there? Last week you looked really good for an hour against Aston Villa, and then it felt tense.

It’s been varied, and it’s easy to group all the games together because they come closely together, and we’ve lost a few late. In the Newcastle game, we were one nil up and pushing for a second when they scored from a long way out. Aston Villa was different.

We lost our way a bit. We should have done better defensively, but we definitely lost our momentum. We struggled to regain control and that’s an area we can improve upon. We’ve spoken to the boys this week and worked on how to change momentum if it swings.

It won’t always resemble what we saw in the second half against Aston Villa. We need to show respect to our opponents and understand that we may have to defend for a spell. We need to know what that looks like and how we can still find ways to break out.

Can it be through Jorgen? Can it be through counter-attacks? Can we control the ball? All of that is part of our discussions. The work they’ve done to get into positions has been good, but we don’t get rewarded for that.

We have to complete the package. Tomorrow’s a great opportunity to start with that.

It’s human nature that if you haven’t won for a while and you’re in a good position, you might feel tense. Is that something you have to fight against?

Whenever you’re leading a football match, it appears you’ve taken a step back and are trying to protect your lead. From a coaching perspective, nothing has changed. The game plan remains the same. The opposition takes risks because they need to.

It doesn’t always look great to win, but you need to find a way. Look at Arsenal recently. They were down to 10 men in their last game, but even when we were pushing at their place while 1-0 up, not many Arsenal fans would expect to be under pressure from Wolves at that point.

Yet they did, and they found a way to weather it, whether they were playing well or not. The Aston Villa situation is a classic example. It doesn’t matter how it looks; we need to get out of there with something.

Of course, we work on how to turn those little margins in our favour. Hopefully, we will see some improvements in that area. But, as I said, each game has been quite different. Chelsea made some strange decisions early on.

In the Newcastle game, we were still pushing and looked the better side when we conceded. In Aston Villa, we lost our way. It’s tempting to look for a pattern or a threat. What you’re saying is there’s not a consistent threat?

Yes, there’s a threat that when you lose games, you start to feel the pressure, especially when you’re on a losing run. Of course, when you are losing games, it becomes tougher to win them. But the group is resilient. At Aston Villa, they gave everything.

They made errors and mistakes, and we got punished, but not due to a lack of effort, resilience, or togetherness. I know it can look different from the outside, but I can guarantee that there was no lack of togetherness, resilience, or desperation to get over the line within the group.

Now we just need to show that in our performance. 

Hi. Obviously, taking the lead in the past couple of games as well, is it just a case of trying to get one over the line, from a mentality perspective, that the lads know they can do it?

Yes, obviously, there are many ways to win. We’ve won games here in various ways.

You can continue to dominate and play well, but, as is often the case in the Premier League, especially against strong sides, you need to dig in, hang on, and find a way. We need to do both and be complete in that regard.

Ideally, you take the lead, continue to dominate, and convert your chances to make it two. Rayan’s unlucky not to have scored at Aston Villa. Jorgen was one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

Against Newcastle, Jorgen hit the post, so if you convert those chances, things change. If you don’t take those chances, we need to be resilient enough to maintain our shape and keep the opposition at bay.

The lads understand this well enough, and we need to put it into action in a Premier League game and get a win.

Liverpool have been deadly in front of goal too. Has there been more focus on defence this week?

We’ve worked on everything this week, as we always do. Of course, there’s a focus on what Liverpool might bring, but there’s more focus on us. Numbers have been low with a couple of issues, but a lot of good work has been done.

The players are looking forward to tomorrow, as am I. Let’s get back out there at home, a place we love to play and work, and create the atmosphere that has brought us memorable results over the last year.

As for the table, the numbers don’t look great defensively. Is that something that worries you or that you want to improve?

Statistically, we’ve conceded more goals than we should have. Not many teams have had good chances against us.

Not many teams have cut us open. I don’t want to focus too much on numbers, but we do use them a bit. I think we were only expected to have conceded six or seven goals, but we’ve conceded 14.

Other seasons suggest that this shouldn’t continue if we keep performing well. So, we keep going, trying to improve and limit chances, and we need to do better when teams do get chances against us.

The last three goals that changed games were deflected: Maderaki’s, Shah’s, and Olly Watkins’. So, we must keep working and tighten ourselves up a bit to change those fine margins and get something to go our way.