Gary O’Neil insists he will not be ‘overhyping’ the importance of Saturday’s visit to Brentford as his Wolves side go in search of their first win of the Premier League season.
Despite belief that Wolves will be able to soon turn performances into results, the head coach is not putting any extra pressure on his players this weekend for a game which many voices outside of Compton Park have described as a ‘must win’ for his side.
Boosted by the return of Craig Dawson to training this week, O’Neil feels that if his players perform to the levels they have shown already this season they will give themselves a good opportunity to pick up their first three points.
On Dawson and Bueno’s injury concerns
“Santi’s OK, his glute is OK, and Daws has trained a bit this week, not full, but a bit. But apart from that, obviously the longer-term ones of Bouba [Traore] and Yerson [Mosquera] are still out.
“Bastien [Meupiyou] is still out, but he’s getting closer. Hopefully Bastien will train with a group some point next week or the week after, so apart from that, we're in an OK spot.”
On sticking to the gameplan
“We never move too far away from what we want to be, but we do always understand that, especially with Jorgen [Strand Larsen] on the pitch, we have good opportunities to be direct and we're never afraid to do so. Against Newcastle, we had some real good phases from going long into Jorgen. If you look at the stats and the numbers, my teams aren't ones that spend ages in build-up, but it is important that we are able to build up.
“Against Aston Villa, the fact that we weren't able to build up against high pressure meant that we just kept losing the ball and we were under constant threat. The Premier League tests you at everything, and I work really hard with them on trying to be able to do it all.
“The players have an excellent understanding of what it looks like, which is why we managed to perform to a higher level against some tough opposition in the first few weeks of the season, of course, we've not managed to turn enough of them into results, but we've given ourselves an opportunity in every game.
“We want to be able to compete with those teams, we want to be able to play our way against them, and there's been no stepping off, changing and moving away from what we are. We've tried to be ourselves, and we're not afraid to do that. We go to Brentford tomorrow, we look to play our way, we look to be as progressive as we can, understand what it's going to need, and it’s an opportunity for us tomorrow to get our first win.”
On not overhyping the importance of this weekend
“It's definitely not that. It’s a 38-game race and I have full belief in myself and the group that we're going to end up in a good spot. We know that if we play well and if we perform to our potential that we have a good opportunity against Brentford.
“Brentford will feel the same about us, and that's what we’ll do. We can only take care of ourselves and the performance, and the performance gives yourself an opportunity to win the game.
“Outside of here, there will be noise and people asking questions because of the run of results, but we're ready for this weekend, and then we'll be ready for the game after that, and that will continue until the end of the season. I'm really confident in the group and what they're going to be able to produce over the full course of the season.”
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On belief that the first win is coming
“I'm confident every week that the lads are going to show what I expect of them and I'm confident again this weekend that we go to Brentford and the lads are going to show what they are, show the qualities that they have, and if we keep producing that, I'm confident that we'll pick up results.
“We're all desperate for it to be this weekend but overhyping the games doesn't do anyone any good. To make this a ‘must win’, there's none of that. It's a game that we need to prepare for and that we need to take care of ourselves in and that will give us the best opportunity.”
On Brentford’s first minute scoring run
“It’s incredible. Obviously, they're big on set plays and they use kick-off as a start of that, but the lads have seen all three, so they know. There's a lot of things that need to fall into place for them to score from all of them, but we know we need to be ready.
“We talk about the start of the game all the time, no matter who we play, but I guess the three goals in consecutive weeks sort of heightens that awareness of how important the start of this game will be.”
On specific tactic to stop Bryan Mbeumo
“Not really, because he's been moved around quite a bit. They've got some injury issues and we're not sure who's going to be available, so he's been used as a nine, he's been used off the side, so we know what threat he can be, and we know his individual ability.
“But to know exactly where he's going to be and who's going to be up against him is difficult at the moment. As always, it’s been more of a group/team focus on how we get the better of Brentford, rather than too much on individuals versus individuals.”
On the work done by Thomas Frank
“He’s done an excellent job. They’ve done a great job so far this season of making sure they take results off the teams that are not going to be in that top six. They've played Manchester City, Tottenham, they've played another big one as well, who they lost to, but then all the others they've played, they've managed to take results from, which is really important for them, especially at home.
“They're a tough side to play at their place, well organized, good from set plays, good from direct play, so they'll be a test, they're a good side. But my group fully understand what's required this weekend, they know what it takes to give ourselves an opportunity to take a result out there.
“It's important that we keep tidying up the little bits and the little improvements, because there's not been loads wrong with the performances so far, but these little errors that we're making, or the little bits of decision making, or how we handle the game once it shifts and the momentum changes, so far has cost us points.
“With all those little tidy ups, and we keep our performance levels exactly where they've been, we give ourselves a good opportunity this weekend.”
