Wolves are on cloud nine after recording their first Premier League away win in nine months.
Matchday 12 was one to savour for the Old Gold as Gary O’Neil watched his side beat Fulham 4-1.
Matheus Cunha earned high praise for his performance, scoring twice in sublime fashion to steer the Midlands club to a much-needed three points.
The win over Fulham carried Wolves out of the relegation zone after a dreary start to the campaign, and O’Neil deserves his flowers.
Wolverhampton Wanderers' Matheus Cunha celebrates scoring his side's first goal during the Premier League match between Fulham FC and Wolverhampton...
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
Gary O’Neil crafted Matheus Cunha’s opener against Fulham
O’Neil has come under fierce criticism this season and for the most part, it’s been fair, given how abysmal the Old Gold’s start was.
Something changed against Fulham, as Alan Shearer noticed a shift in O’Neil’s approach at Craven Cottage.
The manager’s future at Wolves was in doubt prior to the wins on matchday 11 and 12, with the nature of the victory over Marco Silva’s side certainly restoring faith.
O’Neil is still walking a tightrope as there’s a lot of work to be done however, journalist Liam Keen has called on fans to take a moment to applaud one thing the boss did in the capital.
MORE WOLVES STORIES
“Credit to Gary O’Neil as well, as both Lemina and O’Neil said to the media afterwards that they had worked on that specific phase of play,” Keen said when dissecting Cunha’s opening goal on The Keen & Judah Show.
The Wolves expert noted how the manager and Mario Lemina had plotted how to hurt Fulham, despite having to have a reshuffle due to defensive absences.
“To identify an area to cause Fulham problems in a position where you’ve had to bring in a makeshift centre-back deserves a lot of credit as well. Obviously Lemina had to go out there and do it himself,” Keen concluded.
Lemina was instrumental in Wolves’ win over Fulham, as the captain was called into action in central defence, a test he passed with flying colours.
Cunha now believes Lemina has a future in defence in a humorous assessment of the skipper’s performance, something that O’Neil and the Gabon international deserve praise for.
O’Neil is lucky to have Mario Lemina
Of course, the manager’s ability to figure out how to utilise Lemina’s strengths is praise-worthy however, it would not have been possible without the 31-year-old.
Lemina’s performance against Fulham was dubbed ‘heroic’, seeing him lead by example with the armband, going above and beyond in a position completely alien to him.
To sculpt a threatening sequence in training and to then pull it off on a match day was sublime, with Keen’s revelation of O’Neil and Lemina’s plot proving just how fortunate the boss is to have a player of his adaptability available.
Related Posts