Wolverhampton Wanderers should be sticking with Gary O’Neil for now, as the context supports backing him for the immediate future.
That’s according to ESPN Brasil and columnist Mário Marra, who believes O’Neil deserves time to turn things around at Molineux.
Wolves currently sit 20th in the Premier League after seven defeats in eight games so far, with just one point to their name thanks to a draw with Nottingham Forest at the end of August.
It has been a chastening start to the season for them as a disappointing summer and big injuries to the likes of Yerson Mosquera have left them looking short in terms of numbers.
The pressure is already on O’Neil, whose decision to switch to a back four from a previously successful back three has been widely questioned.
O’Neil is currently the third favourite for the sack behind Southampton’s Russell Martin and Manchester United’s Erik ten Hag, but Marra believes that shouldn’t be the case.
He argues that ‘context helps to understand’ the situation and is important in any assessment of Wolves. Anything else is ‘more like something based on emotion’ and less on facts.
Mara points out that O’Neil has seen his main defender, Max Kilman, leave and lost Mosquera to a serious knee injury. The Colombian was supposed to be the first option to replace Kilman.
That’s important as O’Neil’s team had a solid back three full of options last season but now have been left with Craig Dawson, Santiago Bueno and Toti Gomes. Youngster Alfie Pond has also been placed on the bench.
Marra also feels there has been unnecessary intervention from the Wolves board, who took the decision to sack Jack Wilson. He was someone O’Neil had wanted signed from Manchester City to work on set pieces but has found himself blamed for their set piece weaknesses this season.
That move ‘may shake confidence’ for the rest of the season and actually diverts attention from the fact that Wolves have lost key players like Kilman and Pedro Neto and didn’t replace them.
With that context, it actually seems like an unfair situation for O’Neil to be working in and, at least according to Marra, the solution ‘still lies with Gary O’Neil’.
