Wolves were hammered 6-2 at Molineux in their second Premier League game of the season by Chelsea.
Wanderers had some positives to take from the defeat to Arsenal last weekend, but this was certainly a chastening defeat in front of the Molineux faithful.
Noni Madueke ran riot, scoring a hat-trick, with Cole Palmer pulling the strings throughout.
Wolves actually did well in the first-half, and did threaten a number of times and obviously scored two goals. But the defence was all over the place all afternoon, and in the second-half Chelsea looked like they could score at will.
It is now a big week for Wolves in the transfer market and there will be a big demand for new faces before the deadline on Friday.
Despite the defeat today, O’Neil retained the support of the fans straight after the game.
Wolves fans show support for Gary O’Neil after 6-2 defeat to Chelsea
This was a defensive horror show from Wolves, against a side that has many top attacking talents.
Wolves looked decent at times in the final third, but the backline was all over the shop, particularly the left side where Madueke and Palmer were operating.
Ait-Nouri is a serious prospect. But there remain a lot of question marks over him regarding his ability to play in a back four.
Toti Gomes again struggled, and his partnership with Yerson Mosquera looks shaky.
Perhaps expectedly, many Wolves fans did not stick around for the closing stages of the game. But those that did, did actually show Gary O’Neil their support at the end.
As per journalist Liam Keen, the manager acknowledged them apologetically after the full-time whistle. He said on X: “Gary O’Neil holds his hands up to the South Bank as if to take responsibility for this loss. The Wolves fans respond with a chant of ‘Gary O’Neil’s barmy army’.”
Good to see, on a difficult day for Wolves
It is good to see that O’Neil still got support at the end of today’s awful defeat to Chelsea.
He may have made some mistakes. To go with Toti and Mosquera as pairing in a back four again was a decision he may well regret.
But O’Neil has a lot of credit in the bank at Wolves for all he has done so far, and clearly many Wolves fans present at Molineux today were keen to let him know that.
Ultimately, he needs better backing from his superiors.
It remains to be seen whether he will get that in the coming days.