Wolves manager Gary O’Neil has outlined the way he wants his team to play as he gets stuck into a busy week that includes tonight’s Carabao Cup tie at Ipswich and Saturday’s Premier League game at home to Manchester City.
Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Luton left Wolves on four points from their opening six league games in what has been a hectic start to the campaign for O’Neil who was only appointed five days before the first game after Julen Lopetegui left by mutual consent.
O’Neil is not complaining about the fact he didn’t get a pre-season to work with the players but he has explained the changes he is trying to make to the way the team play. That means playing more in a structure and being less reliant on individuals playing off the cuff.
He said: “I am quite thorough with how I coach the players with detail and where we need to be and why, and where the ball needs to be and why. They have never had any of that. That is not a criticism, that is just people doing it a different way.
“They don’t play wherever they want but they are very loose within their structure and that is naturally how they played. They like to go one vs one and try tricks and try to find their own way through. The game shouldn’t be that complicated. We should be able to play through the structure and arrive in dangerous areas that then we can show individual qualities to help us. Trying to shift them from where they were to where I want them is quite a big shift.
“But they have made big improvements. It’s a while ago now but the first half against Liverpool was the best we have been structurally. We caused them big problems. Liverpool are a fantastic pressing team but they couldn’t press us, we managed to play through on every occasion.
“But then (against Luton) when a team went man for man against us – which we haven’t faced yet so it was a new one – we weren’t able to cope with that extra pressure and the solutions we needed to find. So, it on me to make sure they fix them.”
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