Wolves manager Gary O’Neil has sent a warning to his squad amid the club’s injury woes and the shrinking availability within his team.
After securing three consecutive wins, Wolves’ form was tainted by their 3-0 loss to Newcastle United last weekend.
The Old Gold had just three days to prepare for the trip to St James’ Park after their FA Cup win over Brighton in midweek, a schedule that left Gary O’Neil’s squad jaded after the defeat to the Magpies.
Wolves have a small squad regardless of injury or absences, making the losses of Hwang Hee-chan, Jose Sa and Pedro Neto even more of a concern last week.
While O’Neil downplayed the injuries to Sa and Neto, who were withdrawn early against Newcastle, Hwang will be out for six weeks with a hamstring issue, joining Matheus Cunha on the list of Wolves’ injured forwards.
With fixtures coming thick and fast and a European dream still to play for, the manager will have to test the adaptability of his available squad to keep the momentum going.
What Gary O’Neil has warned Wolves after Newcastle United defeat
Speaking after the Newcastle defeat, O’Neil shared the approach that his team will take in looking on to the remainder of the season despite squad shortages, courtesy of Express and Star.
“We can accept that we’ve done great and we can just enjoy it and see how the kids get on, or we can set the bar higher and keep pushing.”
“There’s only one way I’m going to go about it, we have to keep pushing. We can’t accept that it’s a tough spell and we’ll suffer, we have to find a way to keep pushing.”
Against Newcastle, the manager named 15-year-old Wesley Okoduwa on the bench, as well as handing minutes to academy duo Nathan Fraser and Tawanda Chirewa, telling of just how small the Wolves squad is.
Wolves must respond to their defeat to Newcastle United
Echoing what O’Neil is calling for, the Old Gold must now continue to push on despite their squad struggling to keep up with the demands of the schedule.
With the squad not in a relegation battle and having already surpassed milestones from last season, the manager could see the season end now and be satisfied with the outcome, but that’s not enough.
Wolves are still firmly in the race for a top-seven finish, with results in the Premier League both unpredictable and surprising week-upon-week, meaning the squad must keep spirits high to fight for what’s in their control.
O’Neil also mentioned that his squad are prepared to not respond to results, making the loss to Newcastle a thing of the past.
“We work really hard on preparing the players on not responding to results. It’s more about our level and being in control of what we can produce.”
While the squad woes were evident at St James’ Park, a new challenge awaits against Fulham on Saturday, giving Wolves the opportunity to get back on track and hopefully, see some stars return.