Gary O’Neill insisted Wolves’ players need him after a 2-1 home defeat by fellow club Ipswich left the boss under serious pressure.
Jack Taylor scored with the last attack of the game to throw Wolves and O’Neill into further trouble as Ipswich ran out 2-1 winners.
Wolves have now lost their last four Premier League games, winning just two of 16 this season, and O’Neill then admitted results must improve if he is to keep his job.
But he promised to fight, saying: “That group needs me to get them where they’re willing to go, and I’m going to keep fighting for them. And that doesn’t mean I’m not going to get fired.” no, that doesn’t apply to me.
“When I talk to Matt (Hobbs, athletic director) and Jeff (Shea, president), they tell me I have to do more or they’re going to replace me. That’s the same message for the players, you have to. do more to compete at this level or you will be out of business.
“I am not interested in my own position. I know the work I do every day and I know the situation we’re in. It took a lot of work for this group to perform the way they did today. the finger is on me, but some of the responsibility has to fall on the players in those moments when we are in good positions and we spoon the ball out of the field, I can’t help them with that.”
“Ait-Nuri must learn to control himself”
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Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Ryan Ait-Nouri was forced off from the injury-time clash in the 2-1 defeat at Ipswich.
For the second week in a row, after Mario Lemina struggled at full-time at West Ham, Wolves’ defeat sparked scenes of anger as Ryan Ait-Nouri, who was shown a second yellow card after the whistle, had to be stretchered off by a team-mate After a collision with Ipswich’s Wes Burns by Craig Dawson when shouted from the stands.
O’Neill was frustrated as he had to deal with more disciplinary issues in his team. “I was disappointed that he couldn’t manage himself because we need a left-back for next week. The players have to understand the importance of making good decisions in the game and after the game.
“There can be controversies with opposition players after the game and Ryan (Ait-Noorin) has to handle it better and not cross the line. We take things like that very seriously last week and it won’t be any different when I do it : I found it annoying.
O’Neill is a desperate man on the edge
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FREE TO WATCH. Highlights from Ipswich’s Premier League win against Wolves.
Sky Sports’ Lewis Jones.
O’Neill spoke like a man who knew he might not come back from this. “Come on guys, it’s the Premier League. (Dara) O’Shea is coming on for (Liam) Delap, it’s not me. It’s the guys who I am really comfortable as a coach and my standards as a coach.
He was using the example of Ipswich’s opening goal, where Nelson Semedo was completely denied by Delap. In fairness to Semedo, not many defenders in this league could have done much to stop the ferocious Ipswich striker. But there was disappointment in O’Neill’s voice , who has seen this story before, where his team’s lack of physicality has been the catalyst for many of their downfalls.
Wolves have now conceded 74 goals in 34 games at an average of 2.18 per game in 2024. And they have conceded two or more goals in 11 of their last 13 Premier League games.
