Gary O’Neil says Wolves can’t keep saying the right things and not produce on the pitch, after a dismal evening at Everton on Wednesday.
The Old Gold conceded from four set pieces situations at Goodison Park, as O’Neil’s side suffered one of their worst evenings of the season. The head coach accepts that his team didn’t get the basics right on the night, and has called on the whole group to do more, as attention quickly turns to another big match at West Ham United on Monday.
On needing to do more
“Everyone at this football club at this moment needs to do more, all of us, because that doesn't give you a chance. The players accept that. But we can't just sit here and keep saying that. So, as we got a real shock at Brentford a few months ago, this one feels on a similar level to that to me.
“I know the work that goes into prepping the team for every little bit that was going to be thrown at them this evening, the same as against Bournemouth, and we still weren't able to cope with. That is my responsibility, and now we're going to work with everything I have to give ourselves a better chance in the next one.”
On more errors leading to goals
“Basic stuff. We can't even get the wall in the right place. We weren't able to cope with Everton’s physicality, long balls, balls in the box, just unable to cope. An awful lot of work to be done to give the group a better chance in games coming next. Try and find a way to give them more of a platform to have a chance. As I’ve said a million times, the other stuff is irrelevant, because we’re giving away so many goals from situations that are fairly basic.
“Bournemouth are a pressing team, and we can't cope with that, Everton are a physical team, and we didn't cope with that. So, there's an awful lot that we need to get into them to try and find a way to give this team more of a chance on a consistent basis.
“We've found ways in recent weeks to be competitive in the four games that we managed not to lose, but as we are right now, sat here this evening, a real tough blow for myself and the group and the supporters who deserve a big mention for the travel that they do, the support that they’ve given me since I've been here and I understand all of their criticism of myself, and I’m happy to take full responsibility for my part in where the team is at this moment.”
On not handling set pieces
“We couldn't cope with their physicality. We had people in the right spots and weren't able to compete in the duels. A corner straight after half-time is only two yards out, and they get the contact.
“To give Everton the first goal when they're obviously struggling for confidence and goal scoring and to be able to just kick it straight in the goal around the wall, you don't see that too often, similar to the goals against Bournemouth, if you don't see that very often either. The focus has to turn quickly to trying to give the team the best chance again on Monday.”
On supporting the players
“I’ll continue to support all of my players. Of course, I'll try and pick the right team to give us a chance. This season I've used every centre back pairing. I've used two, I've used three, sometimes Toti and Santi, sometimes Santi and Daws, sometimes Toti and Daws, sometimes all three of them. We've used Guedes, we've used Forbes, we've used Rodrigo, we've used Channy. So, I think we've used pretty much every option so far available to us, and none of those options have consistently given us a platform to win football matches.
“We get back to work straight away on being ready to fight again on Monday, because that's where I need to get to with the group. For whatever reason, at this moment, we cannot get this group to a point consistently that it can compete against that sort of test. So, we have to find a way. We have to find a way to give the group a better chance on Monday night at West Ham.”