Wolves manager Gary O’Neil has been placed under the microscope again after the Old Gold’s defeat to Bournemouth.
After going four Premier League games unbeaten, Wolves suffered a 4-2 defeat to Bournemouth at Molineux.
The result brought the Old Gold back down to earth after the highs of beating Fulham 4-1 on week 12, seeing fans turn on O’Neil once more.
Wolves supporters weren’t the only spectators to send a message to the manager, as Bournemouth fans taunted O’Neil during the defeat at Molineux.
Gary O’Neil opted to play Mario Lemina at centre-back
After the defeat, O’Neil was questioned about his squad selection and in particular, the positioning of Mario Lemina.
Against Fulham, the club captain was called into action at centre-back to cover for the absence of both Craig Dawson and Santi Bueno.
While Lemina was superb against Fulham in the role, the Gabon international’s best and familiar position is in midfield, which is something O’Neil ignored against Bournemouth.
O’Neil took Cunha’s joke to start Lemina at centre-back seriously, playing the captain in his unfamiliar position which this time, didn’t pay off.
Lemina’s performance was a blessing for Wolves
It wasn’t an entirely bad performance for Lemina in defence however, it was clear that there was some chaos at the back from the opening seconds.
Wolves conceded a messy penalty less than a minute into the game, caused by a lapse in concentration at the back, which was the theme of the Old Gold’s afternoon.
| Mario Lemina vs Bournemouth |
| 7 clearances |
| 2 last man tackles |
| 1 error leading to shot |
| 50% duels won |
| 13x possession lost |
Fortunately, there was a controversial positive that came from O’Neil’s defensive failure, as it became clear that playing Lemina as a defender is not appropriate nor sufficient.
Wolves plan to sign a defender in the January window, which was made even more important after the Bournemouth defeat as the lack of structure was impossible to ignore.
Lemina was exceptional against Fulham and O’Neil took that as a chance to be daring against the Cherries, despite having his favoured centre-backs on the bench.
Settling for anything but the best available won’t work for the Old Gold, with pressure back on the manager to turn things around after the abysmal and avoidable defeat.