Gary O’Neil has been reflecting on his time as Wolves manager seven months on from his sacking by the club.
Wolves had an horrendous start to 2024/25 under the Englishman, and Gary O’Neil made it to December before the decision was made to relieve him of his duties.
Wolves were languishing in the relegation zone, and all was not well with emotions spilling over on an almost weekly basis.
O’Neil has denied his Wolves squad were not together, insisting that the players were fighting for him until the end.
But many Wolves fans won’t agree with that assessment, especially given how emotional some players got and how the team seemingly couldn’t see games out, suggesting a mentality problem.
And O’Neil has also made some remarks about set-pieces which are unlikely to earn him too much sympathy.
Gary O’Neil explains why Wolves were so bad on set-pieces
Former Wolves manager Gary O'Neil looks on.
Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images
One of the biggest reasons Wolves struggled so much under O’Neil in 2024/25 was because the team just couldn’t defend well enough.
At times, there were some abysmal showings from those at the back, and there was never any real confidence that Wolves would keep a clean sheet.
MORE WOLVES STORIES
Wolves were always up against it, and the contributions of the attackers were going to waste.
Specifically, Wolves were atrocious when it came to defending set-pieces.
Wolves conceded 20 goals from set-piece scenarios under O’Neil, but the former manager puts the struggles in part down to ‘bad luck’.
Exclusive interview with Gary O’Neil.
In his first since leaving Wolves he talks about learning from his sacking, getting ready for the next challenge, his rapid coaching journey, set-pieces and why he dislikes the word “philosophy”https://t.co/IllUA1czCl
— Jacob Steinberg 🎗️ (@JacobSteinberg) June 29, 2025
View Tweet
He told the Guardian: “A lot was down to the bad luck of us missing people with aerial presence during that period.
“The more you concede, the more the confidence starts to drop. But things not going well forces your focus on to them. In my time between Bournemouth and Wolves, would I have been looking at set pieces much? Probably not. But because of how Wolves finished up it increases my focus. We’ll definitely be much better at them the next time we go in.”
Wolves sacked set-piece coach Jack Wilson just a couple of months after hiring him for O’Neil, although a lot of fans at the time felt that the manager wasn’t accepting responsibility himself.
Plenty of Wolves fans will not accept O’Neil’s excuses over set-pieces
O’Neil pointing to ‘bad luck’ of not having people with aerial presence to help Wolves in set-pieces just won’t wash with some supporters.
Wolves lost Yerson Mosquera to injury after mid-September, but still had the likes of Craig Dawson, Toti Gomes, Matt Doherty and Santi Bueno, who are all over six feet tall.
Perhaps some of them weren’t quite as good in the air as Mosquera, or Max Kilman before them. But those players still have aerial presence.
Admittedly, some of the set-piece goals that Wolves conceded were not really on O’Neil, and much more was expected from players to simply do the basics.
But Wolves had the means to concede fewer goals in those scenarios, and O’Neil has to accept he continually fell short in that aspect of his management of the team.