GARY O’NEIL: WOLVES V BRIGHTON PRESS CONFERENCE

How’s Sam Johnstone? Do you have any other injury concerns from the weekend?

No, everybody’s fine. Sam’s trained quite a bit this week, so we’ll see how he is. He’s come through training, so we’ll make a decision tomorrow on the goalkeeper situation.

Just on the goalkeeper situation, I know you mentioned after the game that it hasn’t been a headache for you after Jose Sa’s performance, but are you firm in your mind about who will start against Brighton? No, I’m really clear on who the best goalkeeper to start for us tomorrow is.

Just off the back of the City result, the FA asked for your observations on your post-match comments. Have you spoken to them?

Yeah, I spoke to them.

They asked for my observations on what I said. I’m really open in my interviews with you guys, but I think you have a responsibility to reflect what I say accurately as well. At that point in the press conference, we were talking about VAR in general, rather than it being linked to the John Stones’ goal. So it’s important to state that when we were discussing VAR at that moment, it was a general VAR chat.

I said very clearly at the start of my press conference that I could understand the goal being given, no problem. There is an argument to say that Bernardo Silva isn’t interfering, which I understand. But no, my comments, yeah, I gave them to the FA and my observations on them, and we wait to hear back.

Have you spoken to Howard Webb at all about the VAR incident and the goal being given? As you mentioned, you didn’t have an issue with…?

Yeah, no, I have spoken to Howard. I think it’s important that those conversations stay as private as possible. We agreed on certain things and disagreed on others, but it was a decent chat. I just think you can feel the fans’ frustration towards VAR at Wolves right now, which I understand.

I was sent a league table this week showing we’re minus 20 for VAR interventions, which doesn’t mean they’re wrong or right. It just means that every time VAR gets involved in the last five years, if you get a point for it going for you and lose a point for it going against you, we’re minus 20. The nearest team to us is West Ham on minus six. So it’s understandable why Wolverhampton and the fan base aren’t big fans of VAR at the moment, because every time it gets involved, it feels like many decisions go against us, either rightly or not.

But yeah, there are a few things that feel like they go against you when you’re at the bottom of the league. Statistically, it’s the toughest start a team has had since 2014, like Aston Villa fixture-wise. A couple of VAR calls that we argue could have gone our way.

But regardless of all that, the team, myself, the club, and the fan base just stand up and fight every game. As you saw against Manchester City, we’ve faced some tough bumps and situations, but we’re all ready to fight again and go to Brighton to improve our league position.

I saw yesterday that Matt Hobbs got charged by the FA for incidents after the match. But my wider question is, Pablo got booked as well on the pitch side, and you mentioned that last weekend too. I wonder, after a match ends like that, is more common sense required from officials and referees to understand the circumstances of how people act, especially when something last-minute happens?

No, it’s not for me to tell them how to police behaviours around football matches. It’s up to the FA to decide what they consider proper and improper.

I think I tried my best because I felt quite calm at that moment. I had a fair idea of what was coming from the VAR check. I managed to remain calm and tried to keep the players on the bench calm, tried to keep the staff calm. I didn’t see the Matt Hobbs situation at all, so I’m not sure exactly what happened. I think we need to behave properly, of course we do. Most people around Wolverhampton, as I said, with the fans and the people, understand why there is growing frustration and worry.

Every time there’s a VAR intervention, there’s a huge worry that it will continue not to go in our favour.

Going forward, looking at Brighton, you mentioned Strand-Larsen had to come off after 67 minutes due to fitness. Could you expand on that? How can he improve his fitness at this point in the season?

He’s working very hard.

He had a small quad issue in pre-season that limited the work he could do. He works really hard every day. You see it all the time; it’s just an adjustment to the league and its intensity. He had no problem getting through 90 minutes every week in Spain. His numbers need to improve in the Premier League. He is required to do more than he did, and he’s just adjusting to that.

He’ll adapt fine, no problem, of course. In the Premier League, especially at the bottom of the league, there’s always an urgency for him to adjust, but it’s part of the process. You see players arrive from other leagues and take time to adapt. The positive is the number of goals he’s scored, the threat he poses, and how well he helps us if we decide to play a bit more direct. I’m really pleased with where he’s at. I’m just keen for him to understand the urgency and how eager I am for him to stay on the pitch.

Even when he doesn’t come off with cramp, there are certain parts in games where he starts to fade a bit. I don’t want to feel that. I want to feel that if I choose to take him off, it’s purely from a tactical perspective.

Finally, I wanted to ask you about Rodrigo Gomes. We saw him in pre-season quite a bit. How has his adaptation to England and the club been so far? What do you need to see from him to bring him off the bench and to really push for his place? 

Rodrigo knows. I see training every day. The players in training show me how ready they are or are not to perform at the weekend. For whatever reason, Rodrigo hasn’t done enough to nudge me into that. He isn’t doing anything wrong, but it just means that a couple of times, if we’ve needed some pace or an attacking change, it’s ended up being Carlos. If we’ve needed to shore things up a bit, sometimes it’s been JJ.

However, his performances, especially in training, have started to get closer to the level we hoped he would reach. He’s a great kid. He’s just done extras with Tim Jenkins and Jezza for half an hour because he’s keen to improve. I think he was signed to help the squad. Obviously, because the window went the way it did, there’s been more focus on why he’s not in now. The plan was never for him to come in and start every Premier League game for us. Of course, he would have wanted to play more than he has, and I’m sure he will. But, yes, it’s just one of those things where we haven’t quite seen it right to get him on the pitch at this moment.

How do you use this sense of grievance that you’ve got? How do you channel it into the next game? Or is it a case of just keeping a cool head?

No, there’s no grievance. I think it’s just trying to explain to everyone why Molineux feels the way it does with VAR at the moment. The fans’ frustrations. People outside of here probably just think I’m moaning about VAR again. But when I saw those numbers, I found them quite interesting.

There’s a big difference between us and all the other teams in the league. Funnily enough, the team we play next is at the top of that with plus nine. But yes, there’s a 29-point difference between VAR interventions for them and us. But there’s nothing in there. They might all be correct, by the way. I haven’t checked all of them. So all the decisions that have gone against us could all be correct.

But that’s why there’s such a feeling. I think that’s why you see the reaction from some players when these checks go against us. But we are working really hard. As I said, the post-match after Manchester City was much better than in previous games where late checks have gone against us. Normally, when I walk into the changing room after a check like that, 99% of the noise is around that. Whereas when I walked into the changing room after the Manchester City game, there was much more focus on us and what we had done. That’s how it needs to be.

Of course, like I said, we are ready to fight no matter what. As you could see with the supporters against Manchester City, when we had to dig in and fight for basically all of the game, they were right there with us. That will continue to be the case. The club, the team, myself, the staff above me, and the staff below me, we will all just keep fighting and pushing. This weekend is a great chance for us to show that again.

How much encouragement do you take from the performance? You created chances defensively as well.

Yes, we created a couple of chances. It was obviously an extreme version of a defensive display. But it was planned that way. We weren’t sitting deep on the pitch because we didn’t want to be. That was where we wanted the game to be because we felt it gave us the best chance. The detail, the work, and the understanding of all the situations really came through and helped us give ourselves a chance to beat the best team around.

I’m disappointed that the lads had to suffer another defeat because that’s not why we’re here. But there were a lot of positives in it. There were many positives around focus, effort, and application to the game plan, and the results that performance can bring if you really commit to it.

In terms of Brighton, they’ve had some major scalps this season as we all know. They are a well-run club by all accounts. What kind of challenge are they?

Yeah, a big challenge, of course. They are going really well. Part of that toughest set of fixtures since 2014 that I mentioned earlier. They’re a fantastic side, already a fantastic side with Roberto there last year.

A lot of stuff is still there from Roberto, and it looks like the new manager is trying to shift it. But there are some bits that are very similar. On top of how well they did last year, they had a fantastic transfer window, incredible funds, and excellent players. So it will be a great test for us. But as I say, I’m looking forward to taking the lads into battle there again, regardless of what people may think of our chances, and just putting on a real gritty display.

We want to show real grit, fire, and quality that we know we possess. To try and cause them some problems. 

Gary. As I remember the fixture there last season, there wasn’t much goal-making to do. But it was a technical spectacle, if you know what I mean.

It felt like a real match of coaching styles and different formations. So could we expect something similar to that?

I think last year, yeah, we counter-attacked really well there. I think it was Pedro and maybe Channy as nines. Or Pedro and Cunha. I can’t remember exactly who it was up front. But we used Pedro as a nine that day, obviously.

Because Roberto’s teams often leave themselves man for man at the back a lot. So we tried to exploit it. This will be slightly different. They’re not quite so aggressive about the ball. They don’t go man for man very often. So it will be slightly different. But they still have a lot of possession. They still play in that sort of way where they try and dominate the ball with lots of rotations.

It’s probably slightly more difficult to prepare for this than last week because, obviously, Pep has been around the Premier League for a long time, and there’s a lot of evidence around what his teams do in certain situations. This week is slightly different with a much newer, younger manager. He’s settling in really well into the Premier League and doing a great job.

So it will be a good game, I’m sure. Another big test. As I say, they’ve got lots of attacking talent in the XI and on the bench, so we need to be right at our best again to give ourselves a chance of taking three points.

Does formation or system matter as much as people think it does? Because you’re aware of the discussion about the way you set up, and I hear you say regularly that it’s not as simple as that.

Yeah, no. It isn’t as simple as that.

Being a back five every week in the Premier League is really difficult. That’s why nobody wants to be Crystal Palace, I think. Maybe Southampton. There are no back fives left in the Premier League because it’s difficult against certain systems to be a back five. You can be a back five, but you’ll just end up with one of your centre-backs out of it for ages, which basically means you’re a four with a centre-back higher up the pitch.

But there are opportunities to be a five in the league still. We will use both because, obviously, one, the situation we’re in, and two, because of what we have in the building. Santi did really well last weekend in a four in a tough test. But there are opportunities for us to be a five. Last year we were a four quite a lot with Totti at left-back and Ryan in front, which people would have definitely seen as a five.

Yeah, it does matter. But in certain games, it is really difficult to be an actual five. Very difficult. But we’ll see what fits best tomorrow.

So one game doesn’t necessarily tell us much about the next one? No, because Manchester City we are a back five. I think it’s really good. You’ve done that before?

Yeah, every time we’ve played them. I think it fits really well against what Manchester City do.

There will be certain teams that I don’t think it fits very well against. That doesn’t mean that we can’t do it. It just means that it will cause its own problems as well as solve some. So just decisions to be made really around what we think is best each week. I’m really clear about what I think helps us best this weekend. Tough away game.

The good thing is a lot of players are available. Not too many missing, of course, Yerson and Bouba still. But apart from that, we’re in a decent spot.