Wolves boss Gary O’Neil fearing the sack after ‘worst performance’ of his career
He is under severe pressure.
Gary O’Neil has admitted he is unsure what his future holds as Wolves boss after his side were thrashed 5-3 by Brentford to leave them rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table.
Saturday’s defeat, which saw Wolves concede four first-half goals, was their sixth loss in seven games and extended their worst league start in 20 years.
O’Neil’s side have conceded 21 goals already this season – the most of any team – and the Englishman admitted he was unsure if he’ll be in the dugout when league football returns after the international break.
‘I have no idea,’ said O’Neil, when asked whether he could face the sack in the coming days. ‘I am neither confident nor not confident. Being a football manager means you have today and after that, so much can happen.
‘Today I gave my best to help my football club have a successful day and it was miles below the standard we expect.
‘Tomorrow I will get up and do the same and at some point someone will tell me to stop and I will stop.’
Despite levelling twice in the first half through Mattheus Cunha and Jorgen Strand Larsen, Wolves’ porous defence allowed Brentford to run in three further unanswered goals before Ryan Ait-Nouri’s consolation strike in injury time.
Chants of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ were heard from the travelling away fans in the second half and O’Neil was quick to sympathise given it was a performance which he labelled as one of the worst in his managerial tenure.
‘The reaction at the end, I fully understand,’ he added. ‘I’m absolutely devastated with the way the team performed today, and if I was a supporter of the football club, I’d be equally as devastated or even more so.
‘So I fully understand that reaction. I wasn’t too aware of anything around the substitution. I couldn’t hear anything from where I was.’
O’Neil continued: ‘There was no structure, a complete loss of control in terms of what the team are meant to do and be. It is the worst performance since I’ve been here,’ he said.
‘We were far too open with no real understanding and we gave ourselves no opportunity in the game at all because of the level of defensive shape and structure.
Even when we had the ball we were all over the place so defensive transitions caused a problem to us. I haven’t seen that from them much, I am shocked and it is really disappointing.’
Wolves return from the international break with the formidable task of hosting defending champions Manchester City.
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