Gary O’Neil praised the effort of his banged-up Wolves players to claim victory over Fulham in a game he described as his side’s ‘best win of the season’.
Already without key members of his team, Wolves saw Pedro Neto and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde go down with injuries before the break, but thanks to Rayan Ait-Nouri and Nelson Semedo’s second-half goals helping to win a game which saw many of O’Neil’s players operating out of position to fill gaps, the head coach was left delighted by the work rate and togetherness of the Old Gold squad.
On the players giving their all to win
“Today was just hard work, grit and togetherness. We’ve had many things go against us recently with injuries in the top part of the pitch, and to lose two massive attacking players again today, we just needed the group to find a way and I thought we were very good in the first half.
“Really, really good with the ball and out of possession, and then the lads just gave absolutely everything. They were flat out on their feet at the end there and that’s what it takes sometimes. I’m delighted with where we’ve got to, 41 points, which equals last season’s tally, so it’s an incredible effort from a group who just keep going, so I’m really pleased.”
On overcoming Fulham
“It was the best win of the season, for me. From where we’ve been and what we’ve had to deal with over the last few weeks and then what we’ve had to deal with again today, not only the quality that we lose, but the mental test it puts on the players to see Pedro [Neto] go off, to see JJ [Bellegarde] go off for what looks like a fairly serious injury, for them to respond in the way that they did to a Fulham side who were almost full strength, was an incredible effort from an incredible group of players.
“But I was gutted for Pedro because we did everything we could in the week. He had a scan which was all clear and he was ok yesterday and he felt good today, so a tough one for me to take because it was ultimately my decision to play him and one I have to take on the chin.
“I don’t want it to dampen what the lads were able to produce, but we will miss Pedro and hopefully he’s not out for too long.”
BIG team effort 💪 pic.twitter.com/FfEw8HnfTh
— Wolves (@Wolves) March 9, 2024
On Ait-Nouri playing in attack
“I’m enjoying working with Rayan, I think he’s an incredible talent, a great guy and he brings a real enthusiasm and life to the place. We can use him anywhere so, unfortunately, at the moment we have to because we don’t have many others.
“But he is talented enough when we roll him in and play him in midfield a few times and we played him as a right 10 in the second half today, and he’s come on loads – his work rate and everything about him.
“But I could mention a load of them – Mario Lemina was excellent, Sa made a couple of massive saves for us, and because of how strong we’ve been defensively this season we’ve not had to rely on him too much, but when we needed him today he pulled off some huge saves. Everybody put in their shift and we get the reward.”
On an exciting end to the season
“After a win it’s a fantastic feeling, whether you’re playing or whether you’re coaching, winning a football match with all the work that goes in is an incredible feeling, but there’s loads still to learn.
“We’re missing an incredible amount of players in the attacking part of the pitch now which is obviously going to make things tough, but the group have been really good when things have been tough we keep pushing, so let’s see what we can do.
“In terms of the season, it’s just one game at a time, we’ve got a massive cup game next week that we need to make sure we’re ready for and let’s try to finish the season as well as possible.”
These two 🤩@GomesOficial08 || @LeminaM_13 pic.twitter.com/je6xTi3lQC
— Wolves (@Wolves) March 9, 2024
On possible European dreams
“I’m delighted that I get asked that question and I’m delighted that the fans get to dream about it. My aim is obviously to win next weekend and recover the players, make sure we’re in a good spot, but let’s see.
“European football from where we’d been at the start of this season, and the injuries that we’ve had to deal with would be one of the most ridiculous achievements, but let’s see what we can do.
“The group keep surprising people, they even surprised me today because I thought with the form Fulham were in and when I looked at their bench and they were so strong and we were really down to minimal numbers, with lads on the bench who haven’t really been around us too much, and then to lose two of the starters in the first 20-odd minutes made it difficult, so the group deserve massive, massive credit.”
On turning Wolves around
“I didn’t expect us to be eighth, maybe if we won the first game we might have got up to eighth, but after that I thought we’d have a tough season, as I thought everybody did.
“I never thought this group would go down, it’s got too much quality in it, but I thought it would be tough to regroup and get over the players and the head coach that the club had lost, so it’s a big credit to everybody, staff and players, because it’s been a massive effort.
“We’re keen to not let the ceiling come too quickly, so before today, 38 points means you’re fairly comfortable and with a cup game next week it could have been easy to let this one go today, but the lads are desperate to keep pushing. Let’s see how far we can go and let’s see what we can achieve.”
