GARY O’NEIL: WOLVES V BRENTFORD PRESS CONFERENCE

Hi, I just wanted to start by reflecting on last weekend’s game against Liverpool.

I’m sure you’ve had a chance to analyse the game a bit. There was a moment in commentary when you were looking to build from the back, trying to get yourself a second equaliser, where Gary Neville spoke and said, it drives me crazy, you need a goal, do they know? Stop it, honestly it’s so frustrating, you can’t kid football fans, they know exactly what’s going on here.

You’ve got to have another idea to try and do something different. Do you think that’s a fair assessment of how your team chased their way back into the game for a second time?

I think it was a good assessment of that one phase, but that was all. I was equally as frustrated as Gary that we recycled the ball so many times. I think there were only six minutes left or something. The players always have decisions to make around how direct we’re going to be and understanding game state.

In that phase, we were too patient, but then equally later in that phase, we did get through. We got Tommy Deleuil out and then we arrived in the final third, but then we weren’t patient enough once we got there. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach and we’re losing, so let’s just get it to the front as quickly as we can.

Van Dijk and Kanate will be fairly well equipped to deal with anything just hooted up the pitch. Of course, we need to show urgency and we need to find a way to get ourselves back into the game. That one phase was too patient.

I’m guessing that’s the phase that I haven’t watched the commentary on, so I’ve only watched the game. But then we do get into the final third and I think it’s Yao Gomez who tries to force the ball through to Chani when it would be much better to be more patient, getting the ball wide and putting crosses in the box. I’ve spoken to the players a lot about game management over the last few weeks, about what it looks like when you’re in front because we’ve had some issues there.

And then what it looks like when we’re chasing, albeit against Liverpool, a good side, a tough team to chase against. I think the general feeling from people who know football should be that last weekend was a fantastic effort against a top side that has won all but one of their matches this season and is equipped with world-class players from one to twenty. We gave them a real tough go.

Speaking to them after the game, speaking to their coaches, it was a real tough go for them. They were pleased to get out of there and feel like they scraped away with an important victory but were well tested by us on the day.

There’s a lot of discussion about styles of play and how teams go about things. From your perspective, do you see it more as tweaks to plan A rather than having a plan A and then a plan B that looks totally different?

We never move too far away from what we want to be. But we do always understand, especially with Jorgen on the pitch, that we have good opportunities to be direct and we’re never afraid to do so. Against Newcastle, we had some really good phases from going long into Jorgen.

If you look at the stats and the numbers, my teams aren’t ones that spend ages in build-up. But it is important that we can build up against Aston Villa. The fact that we weren’t able to build up against high pressure meant that we just kept losing the ball and were under constant threat.

The Premier League tests you at everything, pretty much. So I worked really hard with them on trying to be able to do it all. And then obviously understanding which bit is needed in which situation.

And Gary was right. That spell, we should have been a little bit more progressive, quicker.

I guess there’s always a risk of losing players if you say, one week we’re going to do it like this and the next week we’re going to do it like that. You would prefer the group to know your identity as a coach right the way through?

The players have an excellent understanding of what it looks like, which is why we’ve managed to perform at a higher level against some tough opposition in the first few weeks of the season. Of course, we’ve not managed to turn enough of them into results. But we’ve given ourselves an opportunity in every game, obviously less in the game against Chelsea because we were blown away in that early part of the second half.

But in every other game, we’ve given ourselves a real opportunity against sides very high up the league, which is where we want to get to. We want to be able to compete with those teams. We want to be able to play our way against them.

There’s been no stepping off or changing or moving away from what we are. We’ve tried to be ourselves and we’re not afraid to do that. So we go to Brentford tomorrow. We look to play our way. We look to be as progressive as we can, understanding what it’s going to need and an opportunity for us tomorrow to get our first win.

Given that you’re still looking for your first win, obviously you’ve played a lot of very good teams already. When you speak to the players in a week like this, is there a danger for you not to put too much pressure on this match and say, we have to win this one, we’ve got Man City next, we’ve not won yet, that you almost make it too big?

No, it’s definitely not that. It’s a 38-game race and I have full belief in myself and the group that we’re going to end up in a good spot. We know that if we play well and perform to our potential, we have a good opportunity against Brentford.

Brentford will feel the same about us. That’s what we do. We can only take care of ourselves and our performance.

The performance gives us an opportunity to win the game. Outside of here, there will be noise and people asking questions because of the run of results. We’re ready for this weekend and then we’ll be ready for the game after that.

That will continue until the end of the season. I’m really confident in the group and what they’re going to produce over the full course of the season.

Just a final one from me. You’ve watched Brentford and done your analysis on them, I’m sure. How much emphasis have you put on the first minute of the match? Because that’s quite a remarkable statistic. They’ve scored three times. Yes, incredible.

Obviously, they’re big on set plays. They obviously use kick-off as a start of that. The lads have seen all three, so they know.

Obviously, there are a lot of things that need to fall into place for them to score from all of them. But we know we need to be ready. We talk about the start of the game all the time, no matter who we play.

I guess the three goals in consecutive weeks heightens that awareness of how important the start of this game will be. Thanks, Gary. Thank you.

Hi, Gary. Hi. So, you’re still looking for the first win. Do you get an instinct in your bones, really, each time a game comes around that perhaps this win is on the cards, it’s coming soon?

No, I’m confident every week that the lads are going to show what I expect of them. And I’m confident again this weekend that we go to Brentford and the lads are going to show what they are, show the qualities that they have. If we keep producing that, I’m confident that we’ll pick up results.

So, hopefully, we’re all desperate for it to be this weekend. But as my answer to the previous question around over-hyping the games, it doesn’t do anyone any good to make this a must-win, there’s none of that. It’s a game that we need to prepare for and take care of ourselves in.

And that will give us the best opportunity.

Thomas Frank is one of the longest-serving managers in the Premier League, isn’t he? What’s your assessment of the job he’s done there over the years?

Yeah, he’s done an excellent job. I think they’ve done a great job so far this season of making sure they take results off the teams that are not going to be in that top six. I think, obviously, they’ve played Manchester City, Tottenham.

They’ve played another big one as well, who they lost to. But then all the others that they’ve played, they’ve managed to take results from, which is really important for them. Especially at home, they’re a tough side to play at their place.

Well-organised, good from set plays, good from direct play. So they’ll be a test, definitely. They’re a good side.

But yeah, my group fully understands what’s required this weekend, know what it takes to give ourselves an opportunity to take a result out there. It’s important that we keep tidying up the little bits and the little improvements because there’s not been loads wrong with the performances so far. But these little errors that we’re making or the little bits of decision-making or how we handle the game once it shifts and the momentum changes have cost us points.

So with all those little tidy-ups and keeping our performance levels exactly where they’ve been, we give ourselves a good opportunity this weekend.

What’s the fitness picture, Gary? When we left you last week, you would have been short defenders at that point.

Yeah, no, Santi’s okay. Santi’s glutes are okay. Daws has trained a bit this week. Not full, but a bit. So yeah, apart from that, obviously, the longer-term ones are Bouba and Yerson still out. Bastian’s still out, but getting closer.

Hopefully, Bastian will train with the group at some point next week or the week after. So yeah, apart from that, we’re in an okay spot.

That’s more encouraging because you were struggling a bit towards the end last week when you lost Santi and were having to reach to the other options you had.

You have got other options in defence if you want to use them, if it comes to that?

Yeah, we have. We’ve obviously got Alfie Pond. We could use some of the full-backs as centre-backs. Mario could drop down there. If you drop Mario in there, it may be more inclined to try and put another defender in as well, so there’ll be a change of system. So there’s always options.

There’s always options. Of course, ideally, I’d rather have square pegs in square holes, and we should be okay with that this weekend. When you’re saying to players at the moment the things that you’ve said to us, and we can all see the evidence of that being close, some players perhaps will take that differently.

Others just like winning, and they get down when they don’t. We’ve seen that. Are you having to manage them all differently?

No, those hours after a loss, after a game, the next day, they all have their own way of finding their way back to be ready to work again on Monday morning. Obviously, it’s not for me to get involved with that. Some of them will be pleased with how they played individually.

Some of them will be absolutely devastated that we’ve lost. There’ll be a wide range of emotions, I would guess, at that point. But what they’ve shown so far is every time the next game comes, they’re ready to start it full-tilt, which shows that the group is still in a really good spot.

We go to Brentford and we’re definitely ready for what we’re going to face and ready to show what we are again.

Coming on to the Liverpool game again, obviously, you got yourself back into a position where you’re holding a result and then gave away the penalty. Is there some sort of vulnerability there when you’re holding a result that the players might think mentally that they need to hold onto it too much?

No, no. We were charging after the ball, so the lads were just thinking about winning at that point, which was the error, not the fact that they were trying to hold. We should have reverted back to game plan as quickly as possible after the joy of scoring.

We should have reverted back to game plan and understood why we were in the game and why we were doing so well in the game. We lost that for a small moment and were punished. But then we still found a way from there to fight and keep going.

But it does show you how fine the margins and how small the mistakes can be that cost you, especially against teams like Liverpool.

Obviously, Ben Moore has been firing as well. Has there been a particular focus on him in training leading up to it?

No, difficult really because he’s been moved around quite a bit. They’ve got some injury issues and I’m not sure who’s going to be available. So obviously, he’s been used as an eye and he’s been used off the side.

We know what a threat he can be and we know his individual ability. But knowing exactly where he’s going to be and who’s going to be up against him is difficult at the moment. So no, more of a, as always, a real group team focus on how we get the better of Brentford rather than too much on individuals versus individuals.

Right, that’s it for broadcast then.