Gary O’Neil watched Wolves lose to Aston Villa 2-0 in the Premier League on Saturday – and after the game, he gave an honest assessment of Leon Chiwome after giving him his first start.
Chiwome was picked to lead the line for Wanderers at Villa Park, over fellow academy graduate Nathan Fraser.
Fans had been hoping to see Matheus Cunha, who has been back in training after a hamstring injury.
But the Brazilian was not passed fit and not included in the matchday squad.
So Chiwome got his chance, after impressing against Coventry City in Wolves’ 3-2 FA Cup quarter-final defeat before the international break.
After the game, Gary O’Neil told reporters what he thought of the youngster’s performance…
Gary O’Neil praises Leon Chiwome after first start for Wolves against Aston Villa
Chiwome made his debut for Wolves against Coventry before the international break and caught the eye during his 30 minutes on the pitch.
He then scored a winning goal for the England U18s in the Pinatar Super Cup final against the Netherlands.
It has been a bit of a whirlwind past couple of weeks for the 18-year-old, but he finds himself in the situation as a result of Wanderers having a small squad.
It was a bit of a struggle for him against Villa, but it was perhaps always going to be. But he worked very hard and that is all you can ask of a young player on his first Premier League appearance.
O’Neil liked what he saw from the teen. He said (Wolves official): “I was pleased with how he did and I was pleased with how hard he worked. Considering he hasn’t trained with us much, he’s hardly trained with us at all and I’ve probably only met him three or four times on the training pitch, but he’s worked his socks off.
“You could see his understanding was slightly off compared to the others, but he’s been with us three or four days and the others have been with us months, so he worked his socks off and looked a bit of a threat in behind because he can run.
“But I hoped he enjoyed it because it’s tough out there to lose a Premier League game, but I hope he enjoyed parts of it because it’s good to get that moment and we’re going to need him.”
Chiwome did his best
It was good of O’Neil to give Chiwome a chance against Villa, because he did deserve it after his performance against Coventry.
He will no doubt have wanted to make a big impact. But the game was difficult for him and it was always likely to be that way.
Villa Park is a hard place to go, especially for a young player making his first start and Premier League debut.
While he struggled to get into it, he did the best he could and ran the channels and generally just worked as hard as he could. Unfortunately for him, the service to him wasn’t particularly good, as was the case with Fraser against Coventry.
It sounds as though O’Neil will be giving him more chances going forward, so hopefully he can be more influential in the coming weeks.