Wolves were taught a footballing lesson by Chelsea on Sunday afternoon as an array of issues were exposed.
Fosun, Matt Hobbs and Gary O’Neil will all have their work cut out over the week ahead as deadline day approaches.
The Old Gold have until Friday night to secure their squad before the January window, with Wolves’ damning defeat to Chelsea only highlighting what needs to be done.
While the performance emphasised the backing that O’Neil now requires from Fosun, with shortages evident all over the pitch, the manager has one issue to see to himself.
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Gary O’Neil mistake at Wolves exposed against Chelsea
As expected when conceding six goals at home, there were plenty of negatives for O’Neil to address at full-time.
An inquest will take place into how the Old Gold fell apart in the second half, with plenty to amend both tactically and in the transfer market.
One issue was the defence, which was seen on the opening day against Arsenal, with a back four simply not working with regard to the players that the manager is fielding.
The decision to play a back four was sculpted throughout pre-season, with the idea being to bolster the attack by sacrificing a defensive body although, having lost Pedro Neto and Max Kilman, O’Neil should have learned his lesson from 2023/24.
Toti Gomes and Rayan Ait-Nouri are far more efficient in a back five, as was evident throughout the 2023/24 calendar, with the duo standing out among some of the worst performers against Chelsea.
Switching to five at the back should have been the manager’s first point of call following the opening day defeat to Arsenal, as the Blues only further capitalised on the lack of stability in the back line.
O’Neil should have learned from last season’s woes
What is bemusing is that the exact issue happened at the start of last season, which was corrected expertly by O’Neil once the pattern had been recognised.
The boss switched from a back four to a back five, which had a positive effect on everyone, something that should have been done immediately after the first game of this campaign.
Slotting Craig Dawson into a central back three with Yerson Mosquera and Toti Gomes would have eased the onslaught that the pair experienced against Chelsea.
Instead, O’Neil failed to act on the lesson he learned last term, seeing Wolves conceded six at home as the squad’s defensive shortages were exposed.
The only thing the manager can now do is consider reverting to what he knows works best, with a five-man defence surely the best option to combat the tasks that the club face in the near future.