Wolves’ problems go far beyond Gary O’Neil – Fosun Group’s approach means players are only enticed by the prospect of being the next £50m transfer away
Decision, decisions, decisions. Whichever way you look, Wolves’ decision-making is atrocious.
On the pitch, Wolves’ players look like 11 individuals, making questionable decisions and getting horrendously exposed when a team with a collective ideal rolls into town.
Ipswich Town won this match, but Wolves lost it on more occasions than just the calamitous goal that opened the scoring and the late one that sealed it.
Before even Matt Doherty’s own goal Wolves were giving away needless fouls, panicking in plain sight, pushing Ipswich’s players over when all they need do was stand their ground.
Matheus Cunha, like the kid wearing Total 90s who clearly knows he’s a cut above the rest in this playground, at times tried to do it all alone, carrying the ball an extra yard when an obvious pass was on.
He is not the reason they are hurtling towards the Championship – far from it, in fact, as he could be the only reason they go on to survive – but on Saturday what started as a lack of trust in his teammates ended with a loss of possession, on numerous occasions (and then his own head-loss after full-time, too).
After Ipswich’s first goal, there were errors when faced with goal. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde fired over from a glorious position, while Jorgen Strand Larsen went with his side foot when laces would have been better.
All this was in the first half alone, and led to a charged atmosphere inside Molineux, one that naturally got more frantic in the second and put even more panic in the Wolves boots.
Mario Lemina, stripped of the captaincy this week for his scuffle after Monday’s West Ham loss, could not have ignored the jeers after he wasted another opportunity, the midfielder looking as though he wished the ground would swallow him up.
Cunha’s equaliser offered hope, the prospect of three much-needed points seemingly in their hands thereafter with wave after wave of attack, but once more their inefficiency in front of goal cost them.
Jack Taylor’s 94th-minute goal could have been flagged for offside. It wasn’t, and for once Gary O’Neil afterwards said he had more “pressing matters” than VAR. “Too many mistakes from us again. These cannot happen at these levels… I can shield them from so much but long balls over the top then players are taking it upon themselves to change positions from a corner, for some reason.”
Talk about losing the dressing room, and after Lemina’s antics in east London, this time it was Rayan Ait-Nouri making the headlines after clashing with Ipswich’s Wes Burns. A furious reaction, with the defender dragged away by teammate Craig Dawson, that shows Wolves’ players have more fight after the full-time whistle than during their matches.
WOLVERHAMPTON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 14: Craig Dawson of Wolverhampton Wanderers restrains Rayan Ait-Nouri of Wolverhampton Wanderers as tempers flare after the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and Ipswich Town FC at Molineux on December 14, 2024 in Wolverhampton, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)
Craig Dawson had to hold Rayan Ait-Nouri back (Photo: Getty)
But is this a surprise? Wolves are not sleepwalking towards relegation, but rather they have been heading towards it head-first for some time. They are the worst performing Premier League side in 2024, discounting the six either relegated or promoted sides.
Their 40 goals conceded this season comes after they failed to replace Max Kilman, and talk of backing O’Neil in the January transfer window – that was the party line before Ipswich, anyway – could come too late.
And while O’Neil’s own decisions can be questioned – namely his desire to stick with Bellegarde – it is above him where the most questionable of decisions have been made.
Sure, sticking with O’Neil during this run is one, but it has been Fosun Group’s project that has led Wolves to this moment. The buy-low, sell-high acceptance that they will not break through into the big leagues, that despite reaching Europe in 2019-20.
Wolves’ players are therefore in it for themselves because that’s the ethos that has been fed through to them. Play well, get sold, join a bigger club. Pedro Neto, Matheus Nunes, Ruben Neves, Morgan Gibbs-White, Diogo Jota. All have moved on to pastures new, and in the main, to where the grass has been greener.
The project is proving their downfall, and it cannot be a surprise to Fosun Group, to chairman Jeff Shi, and to sporting director Matt Hobbs, that the current crop hardly care where Wolves end up.
It is difficult to play for the badge when the owners have this short-term, quick turnaround mentality, and so instead of playing for the club, the players are in it for the prospect of being the next £50m move away.
That wasn’t a problem when Wolves finished 13th, or 10th, or 13th once more or 14th, but it has been taking them in one direction. The fear now will be that relegation beckons, and once Cunha moves on, this transfer cycle that has so far kept them up will utterly go off the rails.
It is a scary prospect, and almost makes the decision around O’Neil feel immaterial.