Gary O’Neil is pleased to have a settled squad going into this weekend’s Premier League clash with Newcastle United now the transfer window and the first international break of the season are both in the rear-view mirror.
Although Yerson Mosquera, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Mario Lemina face late fitness tests to be ready for Sunday’s game at Molineux, the head coach believes the depth of quality the club has been able to add to his squad during the summer provides him with plenty of positive selection issues for what appears to be the start of another difficult run of fixtures.
On fitness worries ahead of Sunday
“Everybody's come back pretty much ok. We've got a couple that haven't trained much, Rayan and Mario picked up slight knocks, but apart from those two who will have a couple of late checks to make sure they're ok for the weekend, the group are in a decent spot.
“Yerson’s had some sort of cramping in both calves and a bit of fatigue off the back of the game, and he didn't train fully with us today, we gave him an extra day to make sure he recovers fine, but there's no injury.
“We're hopeful the next couple of days will help him feel a little bit better and he should be good to go by the weekend.”
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On adding depth in the transfer window
“We have much more depth here now, which is good. Even substitutions-wise, it's been much easier at this moment. If you look back to the end of last season and where we were subs-wise, it was tough.
“Every time you put somebody on, you had to change the shape or ask someone to play out position. Whereas this season, most of the subs I've made have been able to be like-for-like, so there's been no drastic shape changes.
“We’ve made quite a lot of subs already and I do want us to be a team that can be aggressive with our substitutions, and not have to wait till really late. If it's not working after 50/55 the lads understand there's nothing personal in coming off or not going on, it's always what's best for the team. I want us to be able to do that so we definitely have more depth than we had, and I'm excited.”
On Carlos Forbs’ late deadline day signing
“We’re pleased with him and I finally got to introduce him to the group today. It seems a long time ago since he signed, but he got to meet everybody today. He's an exciting young player, with bundles and bundles of potential, which is key for what we're trying to do and what we're doing at this moment at the football club.
“As you can see with most of the signings, there’s a lot of potential and potential to grow and become regular high-level Premier League performers is the hope, and Carlos adds to that group. He obviously has good pedigree, came through at Manchester City, he's played some games at Ajax, has real blistering pace, can go on the outside, come on the inside, and play on both sides of the pitch.
“That’s my first glimpse of him in training this morning, we didn't do loads, but enough where you can see what he is and where he may be able to help us. So I’m really excited by him. I think he gives us something in the group, with his pace and dynamic one-v-one ability on the outside that we have been short of.
“We had it last season in Pedro, but he missed a lot of the season, and we hope Carlos can give us a bit more of that.”
On getting down to work with his group
“I'm really pleased that the window’s done, really pleased the first international break is out the way, and I'm excited now just to get to work. We've got an incredibly tough run of fixtures that I can't wait to get stuck into with the players.
“Not many people outside of Wolves will give us much of a chance in any of them, but I'm really excited by that. I'm excited at getting to work with the group again now, and get to put any talk of comings and goings away until at least January and we’re really ready to just go and fight with a group now to put as many points on the board as we can.”
On the number one battle
“We know [Johnstone]’s a good, solid guy, excellent around the place, good for the group, he did well at Nottingham Forest, especially off the back of a conceding fairly early, and put in a real mature, calm performance that I thought helped.
“We thought it was important to try and improve that part of the squad. We felt the goalkeeper area could do with a little bit more competition and he’s definitely provided that. You can see there's been an uplift in certain people in it and it's been good for the definitely good for the group.
“Jose [Sa] will be here, I'm sure, and he'll fight with Sam for that spot. Two excellent goalkeepers. You don’t need me to sit here and tell you about how many big saves Jose’s made for us over the last few years, and what he is and what he's capable of – we know that.
“He has his opportunity to fight for the place, in the same way as any other position. I know the goalkeeper one always feels different, but it is important that every person that's playing knows that if there is a lack of form, or if they lose focus, that there's someone knocking the door down to take their spot. Dan [Bentley] was already pushing Jose, but Sam adds to that competition. I expect Jose to stay, and I expect him to fight Sam and Dan and Kingy for the goalkeeper shirt.”
