2023 was a somewhat chaotic year for Wolves, but fans probably wouldn’t have it any other way.
The year saw a lot of change at the club, with Gary O’Neil replacing Julen Lopetegui as manager ahead of the 2023/24 season arguably the biggest of the lot.
Fans will be optimistic about 2024, because Wolves are in a much healthier position heading into the new calendar year than they were heading into 2023.
Molineux News looks at three targets Wolves should be looking to achieve in the next 12 months…
Secure Premier League safety, then look up
Wolves have been better than many people expected them to be in the first half of the 2023/24 season, but the main objective is still for Wanderers to ensure they remain a Premier League club come May.
Certainly at the moment, a relegation battle doesn’t feel like it will be on the cards. Three wins to finish the calendar year have definitely started to get a few people talking about possible different ambitions this term.
But things could quickly change and ultimately, Gary O’Neil won’t have too much scope to change his squad in January.
There are going to be bumps in the road, but the main thing is to just make sure, above all else, that he keeps Wolves in the Premier League – just as he did with Bournemouth.
Wolves can then rebuild in the summer, when there will be more money to spend as a result of a new cycle in FFP beginning.
Sign a goalscoring striker
This is something that O’Neil will reportedly look to do in January, with Wolves having not had a goalscoring striker since Raul Jimenez before his skull fracture.
Matheus Cunha has actually enjoyed a pretty productive season so far.
But it’s clear he is not comfortable leading the line, and there has been a lot of talk from both him and Gary O’Neil in recent weeks about his best position.
Both have acknowledged that he is better when he is more ‘free’. He needs to be playing off a main striker, so that he can make better use of his ball carrying and his energy.
While he’s chipped in with a few goals as a striker, Cunha has shown that he isn’t clinical and Wolves just need that number nine who can be prolific.
Both Sasa Kalajdzic and Fabio Silva’s futures are in doubt, so O’Neil may well be bringing in a striker in 2024 and hopefully he will hit the ground running.
Improve on the road
Wolves are fairly solid at home these days, but the team is sometimes unrecognisable away from home.
This has actually been an issue for quite a while for Wolves – and it’s something O’Neil seriously has to address in 2024.
Wolves very much enjoy playing at Molineux, but the intensity levels are sometimes just not there for away days and O’Neil simply has to find a way of picking up more points on the road.
It’s obviously harder to go and pick up points away from home, but that will be the difference between Wolves being a decent Premier League team and being a really good one.
Wolves can be guilty of being far too passive and reactive sometimes in away games. It would be nice to see the team become a bit bolder. The performance away at Brentford recently was definitely encouraging.