Gary O’Neil felt there were still areas for his Wolves players to improve despite seeing his team put five past Blackpool to knock the League One side out of the Carabao Cup in the second round.
Goals from Sasa Kalajdciz, Fabio Silva, debutant Nathan Fraser and two for Matt Doherty – who was marking his second debut in Old Gold following his return to the club this summer – ensured Wolves would be in the hat for the third round, but as well as finding parts of his team’s game which he wasn’t pleased with, O’Neil praised the attitude and professionalism of the players.
On knocking Blackpool out the cup
“The main thing was the lad’s approach to the game. They can be tricky these cup matches, because Blackpool are a decent side and well coached, and can cause teams problems, so we wanted to make sure we weren’t the ones who lost to a lower league opposition this evening and the way the lads approached the game and their professionalism, I thought they were very good.
“There were still lots of parts of the performance that I didn’t like, but the lads gave absolutely everything, tried to carry out what I asked and there’s still more work for me to do around their understanding, but it was a good win.”
On areas to improve
“I thought there were some good steps, but there was some stuff I didn’t like. We got caught a little bit trying to over play and we could have made it a bit easier for ourselves early on as you could feel there were a few too many passes and we attracted enough Blackpool players and we could have gone over or through.
“It took us a while to get to that, but with the way they approached the game and their application to what I asked was excellent. I just need to improve their understanding a little bit.
“But winning 5-0 at home against a team that could easily have been dangerous against us, their professionalism and their togetherness has got us through to the next round.”
It's been a good night 👍 pic.twitter.com/4q38l52Ltu
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 29, 2023
On a brace for Doherty
“I know Matt can do the high up wing-back role, where he got his two goals, but I wanted to have a look at him lower down as well, just to see, because we’ve been a little bit short in the centre-half department, so I wanted to have a look at him there.
“It was a good opportunity for me to get a look at a lot of them because I’ve known them outside, but it’s different levels of details once you’re in a match than when you’re working daily with them and I wanted to know more about them.
“But it was a really good experience for me to get the lads out there and get a good look at them in a real game against a good side, and a lot of them came out of it really well, so it was a good performance.”
On a debut goal for Fraser
“We needed some legs up the top and I think it was a game that suited that because Blackpool were quite aggressive and they were leaving some spaces to run into and it took us a while to get to grips with that.
“We were trying to overplay and it was getting a bit sticky around our goal, so I knew it would suit Nathan, it was just finding the right time that it would suit and getting enough minutes into Sasa.
“I thought he did really well when he came on, he was a threat, he did everything we asked of him and ran into those spaces Blackpool were leaving, so I felt he increased our goal threat when he came on.”
Don't say it. Don't say it. Don't say it.
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 29, 2023
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SHOOOOOOOOOOOT! pic.twitter.com/UvKmTAUsSx
On the Molineux support
“They’ve been excellent. Ever since I got here and even in that Brighton game, I thought they’ve been excellent. At Old Trafford they were excellent and winning away at Everton, which is a tough place to play, they were great again.
“But today, 5-0, I’m not sure how many time we’ve scored five goals here recently, but it was a good performance, so I’m pleased that there was that connection because the group are going to need them. There are bumps you suffer in a Premier League campaign and we’re going to need to be together with everybody and today helped that.
“It’s back-to-back wins and we move on to Sunday for the final game of this block before the international break and we want to end this block on a positive result, and that will be a good start to the season.”
On the final three days of the transfer window
“There’s a few bits going on. I won’t confirm any names but there’s a few bits that we’re trying to do and the next few days will be rather busy.
“But I’ll prep for Crystal Palace, which is a massive game for us, and the transfer window will end before then, but a lot of my focus is – as always – on the group, and I’d rather talk about the 11 lads who have come in today, been thrown together for the first time under me and how well they did.”
