Gary O’Neill, the manager of Wolves, is under pressure following the Old Gold’s winless start to the season. Wolves is at the bottom of the Premier League table with just one point after seven games played.
O’Neil’s team has only managed to score one point out of a potential 21, which illustrates the challenging circumstances the team is facing. The Old Gold have had a terrible start, with the manager facing intense criticism due to everything from difficult matches to regular second-half collapses.
Five errors made by the Wolves before to the 2024–2025 season Many Wolves supporters believed that their side’s latest loss to Brentford was their last, as they saw their squad travel to the Gtech Community Stadium and play very poorly.
Wolves’ defense collapsed, giving up five goals from the hosts—four of which came in the first half. O’Neil referred to it as “the worst” day of his managerial career. Tension was building inside the team since the squad’s caliber was below what was required for 20th place. Although the 2024–25 season got off to a rough start at the Emirates in August, there was enough of blame to be placed on O’Neil, Fosun, Jeff Shi, and Matt Hobbs.
These are the top five mistakes Wolves made throughout the summer. Lack of finance from Fosun For a number of years, Wolves hasn’t been fortunate enough to have proprietors willing to part with their money; Bruno Lage was likely the last manager to do so. With O’Neil, Julen Lopetegui was unable to elevate his team to the caliber he thought would maintain them in the Premier League, despite Fosun’s lessons not being applied. During the 2023–24 season, the Englishman vented about his disappointment at Wolves’ inability to buy a striker in January.
The circumstances persisted throughout the summer, as O’Neil acknowledged to the BBC that the team was “still not in a place where it’s able to go and free spend on things.” Despite knowing what O’Neil could accomplish the previous season and the team’s deficiencies, Fosun failed to provide the manager the support he needed, which caused a number of problems during the summer transfer window.
Not signing a centre-back
Arguably the biggest mistake that Wolves made in the summer transfer window was the failure to sign a centre-back.
Last term, O’Neil found a way to cope with four centre-backs, a number that remained at four this season.
The manager went into the campaign blind, taking Yerson Mosquera into the season without knowing if the Colombian was at the standard capable of playing in the Premier League.
Fortunately, Mosquera passed the test, but then suffered a season-ending ACL injury, leaving O’Neil with just three centre-backs to work with.
O’Neil and Hobbs’ failure to identify a central defender in the transfer market, as well as the lack of financial backing from Fosun, led Wolves into the campaign with incredibly limited options at the back.
Jeff Shi’s comments
Rewind to before the transfer window and Fosun and Jeff Shi’s ambition was outlined, sending O’Neil into the market with little to aim for.
After ticket prices were increased to astronomical figures, Shi deemed it appropriate to send a message to fans, which went down terribly as the lack of determination came to light.
In Shi’s statement to fans, the Wolves chairman issued a warning to supporters, which read, “fans also play an important role. If you only pursue trophies or consistent European football, Wolves might not be an ideal choice.”
It was a truly astonishing statement for the chairman to make, and one that did not correlate with the ticket price hikes.
The statement ultimately set Wolves up for failure, with the outlook of the season now looking very bleak if things remain the way they are.
Changing to a rear four If Shi’s remarks were a pitch error, O’Neil’s error on it also has to be described. Because of Wolves’ bad play at the beginning of the previous season, O’Neil thought it was important to go from a back four to a back five. Following the modification, Wolves rallied, positioning themselves to challenge the Old Gold for a European title. Even though the manager realized how crucial it was to transition to a five-man defense, the decision to go back to a defensive four with essentially the same group of players was highly perplexing, even though the players’ form did decline dramatically.
Wolves’ current options in defence do not work in a back four, as O’Neil saw last season and early into this term, with it puzzling as to why the boss has waited so long to make the change he knows is important.
Failing to add experience to the squad
Another mistake in the summer that could fall on O’Neil is the decision to not recruit experienced players.
Both O’Neil and Hobbs are to blame for the call to pass on signing an older and more experienced head, with Wolves’ summer signings largely being of the same demographic.
Six of the seven new players that arrived at Molineux—aside from Tommy Doyle, who was a familiar face—were under 25 years old and had no prior Premier League experience. O’Neil was left in charge of a team lacking in experience because the club let go of three experienced players—Max Kilman, Pedro Neto, and Daniel Podence—and no one else was able to replace their knowledge.
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