Gary O’Neil believes Wolves are already in a better place than they were last season despite losing to Crystal Palace.
Wolves’ pre-season tour of the United States continued on Thursday morning, as the Old Gold battled Crystal Palace in a friendly.
Unfortunately, Wolves were unable to continue their unbeaten start to pre-season as the Eagles emerged victorious from the contest.
Despite losing 3-1 in a fixture that saw the goalkeepers take centre stage, Gary O’Neil admitted that he’s already seen a huge improvement in one area of his squad.
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Gary O’Neil says Wolves’ depth is already better than last season following Crystal Palace defeat
There was plenty for the manager to take from the loss to Palace, who got the better of the Midlands club on the night in the States.
O’Neil outlined Tommy Doyle’s leadership as one positive, leading him to comment on how much his squad has improved since last season.
Although Wolves have only played four pre-season games since the end of the 2023/24 campaign, O’Neil admitted that he has already seen good signs, via Wolves’ official website.
“We have good numbers available to us at the moment. We made nine changes I think, and the team still looked strong,” O’Neil said.
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The boss went on to applaud the depth the club have managed to build this summer, with last season exposing how short the squad was over the campaign.
“We’ve still got four or five missing, so to be able to make nine changes and still look like the same team, and still carry the same threat, was good. We’d have struggled to make that many changes last season.”
Adding squad depth was crucial this summer
The end of the 2023/24 season was dire for Wolves, who managed to win just one of their final 10 Premier League fixtures.
A lot of the Old Gold’s dip in form came from the lack of depth available to O’Neil as the injury list piled up.
From seeing Joao Gomes on the wing to Mario Lemina in the final third, it was a chaotic time for Wolves and one that needed urgent attention, something the club worked on early this summer to solve.
It’s a relief to see O’Neil praise the depth available ahead of the 2024/25 campaign, with there a real hope that the club can push on next term under the manager’s guidance.