Gary O’Neil admitted Wolves are conceding goals that no other team in the Premier League would do after watching his side fall for to Ipswich Town at Molineux – extending their winless run.
Having earned just nine points from their opening 16 matches, O’Neil understands there needs to be a massive change if his side are to turn their season around and avoid relegation – which will not be made any easier without Rayan Ait-Nouri after the wing-back was sent off in the tunnel following an altercation after the full-time whistle.
But the head coach believes the biggest challenge is for his players to start getting the fundamentals of football right after once again throwing three points away due to sloppy defending from basic situations.
On defeat at home to Ipswich
“It’s a big blow. A big blow for the group, especially with how much it took for us to get ourselves in the game and be the better side for the whole of the second half. It's a big blow, because the lads, as you see, were at maximum. We got every last drop out of them to get ourselves in that position where we looked like, and I felt like, we'd go on to win the game, and then to suffer a goal that late.
“The nature of the two goals are crazy for this level, which we've said too many times this year. I can help them and protect them from a lot of things, but a centre-back booting the ball high for Liam Delap to just run through, he’d have scored that goal in his under-18s loads of times when he was bigger and stronger than everyone, and he just ran through and moved people out the way.
“That shouldn't happen at Premier League level. Then there was unbelievably bad decision making from a corner, from players deciding to switch positions for no reason that cost us at the end, but that’s my responsibility. I’m really gutted because it took a lot to get us to that point today, and the subs made a big impact. The change in the shape and the structure made a big impact, and then we have nothing to show for it.”
On conceding more sloppy goals
“There were too many mistakes again from us, and we were probably punished for both of the real big mistakes, but they’re mistakes that just can't happen at this level. We can't win football matches if we can't cope with Liam Delap running through the middle of the pitch and just using physicality against us.
“We have no chance if we can't stand in the right place, firstly, and go and head a hung up corner, when – especially at that stage of a big game, when you need people to stand up and go and defend, so they’re more than disappointing ways to concede two goals because they didn't cause us any problems.
“You saw the second half, and there was a lot that went into giving us that opportunity to be on top like we were, and then we take nothing from it.”
On a lack of physicality in the group
“Just the team’s ability to cope at this level has proven unbelievably difficult for us. I've worked at this level, this is my third year now, and I've never had so much of a struggle to help a group cope with their level in real basic stuff.
“The detailed stuff and some of the game plan stuff, we’ve had no problem really, and that’s not caused us a massive problem. But we go to Everton and they boot it up to the centre-forward and we can't cope. They put balls in the box and we can't cope. Today, two goals from exactly the same thing, so we have to find a way in that room – until January, especially – to find the answers within the room.
“But it is proving really difficult for us as a group to find a way, no matter how we play, because that second half performance was pretty much the group at maximum, at full tilt, loads of attacking chances, no threat against our goal. But yet we still found a way, for all that good stuff, to concede two really poor goals today. It’s the same questions that we're trying to answer; direct play and balls in the box, and we still, as a group, haven't been able to come up with the answer.”
On getting the basics wrong
“Until we can defend our goal from basics, it's going to be tough to win football matches. But I'll keep going, keep trying to help them with all of it, but we got a lot out of that group today, performance-wise, and it won't be seen because the emotion affects it a lot.
“We started the game pretty well, and then Ipswich score a goal that they'll never score against another Premier League team. It can't happen at this level. We have some real difficulty in that area at the moment, and then the set-piece stuff, we've tried everything.
“I would happily take that as my fault, if people were stood in the right place and people were doing their jobs, but for that one they weren't, and we get badly punished. We will continue to try and push this group to its maximum, get them ready to fight every single time, and hopefully we can turn this around.”
On Ait-Nouri’s sending off
“Obviously his emotion has spilled over and he's lost control, which he knows is unacceptable. I spoke to him during the game, around making sure that he keeps control, because it's important that we have everybody on the pitch and we have everybody available. We're short enough at this moment, and we have enough issues without dealing with people picking up silly suspensions.
“I don't know exactly what happened, I wasn't I wasn't around it, but the lads need to find a way to keep more control. I know they're under big pressure and big stress at this moment, but making it more difficult for ourselves is unacceptable at this moment in time because we need Rayan, and the fact that he's got himself booked means that we don't have him. He'll know already without me speaking to him how I feel about it and we'll deal with Rayan internally, but it doesn't help us next week.
“I understand the players being emotional. I understand it and I was emotional at that moment, to concede a goal in that nature. But he and whoever else is involved, we have to keep control better, and that goes for in the game as well.
“For two players not to be in the right place for a corner, at home to Ipswich with 30 seconds left on the clock, to not stand in the right place, shows the emotion and shows they're not able to think clearly enough and make good decisions in those moments when they're under stress. But my job is to make sure that we help them get better at it, and we'll get back to work and try and get ourselves ready for Leicester.”
On players also taking responsibility
“The first place I look is at me, and the first place they need to look is at themselves, because Ipswich have recruited players that have come through the leagues below, and if this group want to consider themselves better than that, they have to step out there and prove it – at some point.
“As much as they're a great group, and I'll protect them until the moment I leave this football club, they get judged for that 90 minutes. To be fair, it's tough to judge the game because the emotion in it is so high, and we've given Ipswich two mental goals, and within all of the game, there'll be loads of good stuff, but it's not enough.
“You need to win football matches and the lads are right to look at themselves and try and find a way to improve.”
