Gary O’Neil says the Molineux crowd can be the difference again this as Wolves prepare to open their home account against Chelsea on Saturday.
The head coach and his players built a strong bond with the Old Gold’s fan base last season, which led to a series of positive results on home soil, including against Chelsea on Christmas Eve. On Sunday they lock horns again, for Molineux’s first Premier League occasion of the new season, and O’Neil is thrilled to be back home, playing in front of a passion Wolverhampton crowd.
On the fans inside Molineux
“I don't know if they can feel it from where they are, but the impact they have on the players is huge, massive. It's not really me, because I'm stood there, and I get to stand and think and have a real clear mind while I'm watching the football match, whereas the players are out there on the field competing and having a fan base that is fully behind you and is cheering and still behind you when things are going tough makes it so much easier to perform than when they're not so with you.
“It makes a massive, massive difference. All of that pressure and all that responsibility is not on the fan base. A lot of that is on me and on us as a playing group, to make sure that we give them something they can feel and buy into. I think that was the key last year, that they could feel something. They could feel that everyone was giving everything. There was an excitement. There was some energy around how we played.
“Then even when we started to struggle, you could still tell that the fans understood, and they were willing to stay with the team, and that will be huge for us again this year. The Premier League, as we've seen, is going to be probably more difficult than last season. We're going to need everybody, the fans that come every week, the fans that come five times a year, myself, the players, the staff. We're going to need everybody here to help us try and have a successful campaign.”
Good vibes in training 👍 pic.twitter.com/HGgTvineFR
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 22, 2024
On taking lessons from Arsenal
“At the Emirates against Arsenal, you're asked a lot of questions, and the chances of you making a slight slip or a bad decision are heightened because of the pressure that they put you under and the quality that you're up against. But I wouldn't expect us to concede the second goal, the Saka goal was something that we prepare well for. I would understand if he'd gone outside on his right foot, and he'd have crossed it and something would have happened. Little things like that, where he comes inside and scores off his left foot shouldn't happen against us, really, but it can – I've been out there and I've been trying to stop people coming on their strong foot, and I've been stood in front of a camera saying it, which is a lot easier than actually doing it.
“Those little details, they do in the end define your level and where you're able to get to, and where you're not. I'll keep pushing the players on it. They know that I have real high expectation of them and of the group and what we can achieve. My job, of course, is to try and put a structure in place that gives them the best chance to show how good they are and what a good side they are. Then it’s a joint responsibility from me and them to be able to carry out the details and manage those small moments in a game, take our chances when they come along, defend that Saka moment better than we did. And if you put all of that together, your chances of getting something from the game obviously go up greatly. So that's what we're working on always.”
On facing Neto and Chelsea
“It'll be interesting to see what they do. Obviously, he [Neto] played yesterday. We'll see whether they think is in a place where we can he can go again, having played Thursday, wherever he can start again on the Sunday.
“I thought in they performed well last weekend against Manchester City. I thought it was a good game, and they showed signs that Enzo [Maresca] has made his mark on the team and you can see what they're trying to do. Obviously, it’s pretty much impossible for me to sit here and pick a Chelsea line-up. There's so many there, obviously we know some that definitely won't be in the team, but still trying to figure out exactly what they're going to do will be tough.
“There’s a real focus around us this week, as there was for Arsenal, trying to give the best account of ourselves, and trying to start off the Premier League season at home with a win which, which would be huge for us because we all know it's a difficult first set of fixtures that have come out for us. So, I’m really keen to get some positive results on the board as quickly as possible.”
On preparing the best possible way
“We'll have our best guess, and we'll prepare for that. Hopefully our knowledge of ourselves and what we do will be enough to give us a real good chance in this game. But, we won't really know what we're facing or how they're going to rotate, or which structure they'll use until we get the team. Once the team sheet comes in, we'll probably have a fair idea from what they've done in pre-season and what they've done in the last couple as to what sort of movements and what sort of structure they'll look to use, but at this moment, we know a little bit. We can watch a bit of Leicester and what Enzo did with Leicester, but could still be very different. We need to the best that we can be at home in front of our fans, and I think that'll give us a really good chance in the game.”
On no injury concerns
“We're fine. No issues at all. Matheus Cunha’s fine, so he'll be available for more minutes. Bouba Traore’s done an extra week’s training. So he's in a better spot now. Everybody else is OK, so we’re as we were.”
