Wolves Fans' Verdict v West Ham: Time for a change

Matt Gallimore

Where do we start?!

Surely this is the end for O'Neil as Wolves manager. I wanted him to succeed and I even briefly felt sorry for the guy at full-time, but the only hope is we get that new manager 'bounce' from someone who can get the best out of this squad. I have said for months that this group of players is better than what it's showing but this was an evening of realisation that we are in a proper mess. A group of players who are severely lacking in confidence, belief, coaching and organisation.

The issues we face today though, are far from just moving on from Gary O'Neil. For a long time now, the club has been on a downward spiral. Selling key players for profit, wasting money on players that have done nothing for the club and the ethos of the owners to make Wolves 'self-sufficient ' have all torn away at the heights of the Nuno reign.

Two years ago, we found ourselves in the same position with the firing of Bruno Lage and begging Lopetegui to come and save us. That he did, but this time around there is no World Cup to enable us the time to try and lure a decent manager. Here we are now with the same problem and no lessons learnt, but more worryingly this time, is the feeling that Fosun have lost interest. The feeling that they are scraping at the bottom of the barrel for a manager who again won't be too demanding or too ambitious.

Unless the willingness to go and get a proven manager and support him with funds is undertaken, then it looks more and more likely that we will be in the Championship next year.

This can go one of two ways, and it's all in the hands of Fosun and Jeff Shi. Change the 'self-sufficient' attitude, go and get a Graham Potter, Sergio Conceicao or David Moyes, back him with the funds to get us out of this mess and show ambition to stay in the league, or two, continue on this cheap route, try and wing survival and if that fails, sell the stars to cover the Premier League money.

Matt Hobbs needs to be questioned too. Since he was promoted to Sporting Director, he has made one positive contribution and that was signing Joao Gomes. He is the one who wanted Michael Beale, he is the one who pushed for Gary O'Neil and he is the one who has made numerous poor decisions on players in the transfer market. What he has actually done to warrant such a position at the club is for debate, but he is one that needs questioning as to his own personal intentions.

And then back on the pitch, we lack leadership and authority, a voice and composure. All that a captain should try and install amongst his team-mates. Unfortunately, Mario Lemina is not that. As good as a player as he has been for us, the captain's armband has weighed a lot on his shoulders and with each passing match, captain material he is not.

Lots of issues to resolve then. It's down to Fosun and Jeff Shi to finally show us all where their ambitions and intentions lie.

They either ditch the 'self-sufficient ' model right now, or the best thing is to sell up, because with the season ticket increases still fresh in the memory, the fan base feels like it's about to get toxic very quickly.

Liam Berry

Wolves have lost the so called 'El Sackico' 2-1, with Gary O'Neil now under mounting pressure as to whether he will still be in charge for this weekend’s clash with Ipswich at Molineux.

I could talk about the terrible VAR calls, but that would just be moving away from the root causes of our issues this season.  We played with no system or structure, and it has been this way for some time. I just want to see our team play some proper football, in my opinion we have the players to be far away from the drop zone, but for some reason we have just really struggled to compete this season. The players need someone to come in and take control of the mess we are in, whilst giving them structure, something we have been lacking pretty much the season long.

What startles me is how bad we have become compared to earlier on in the year. We have failed to adequately replace two senior players, but most of the squad that we had when we beat Chelsea 4-2 at Stamford Bridge to complete a league double in February are still there. What has changed for us to go downhill in the fashion we have? For us to be close to Europe at the start of March to now sitting in 19th position, four points off 17th, is not acceptable.  A Premier League club with a squad like Wolves should not be in this position because we showed for two thirds of last season the potential that we had.

Enough about the past, the real question is where do we go from here? With a few of our top candidates reportedly not interested in the job, it leaves us in a position where the next managerial appointment could make or break us. And all this ahead of two absolutely massive games against fellow strugglers Ipswich and Leicester before the fixtures look substantially tougher once again.

Harry Lee

Gary O’Neil’s time at Wolves must now come to an end. 

Yes, we were once again unfortunate with some huge VAR calls going against us, but there is no excuse for the disastrous defending that has cost us all season. 

The set piece coach was the fall guy a number of weeks ago, yet nothing has changed.  The hybrid of zonal marking the six-yard box and man marking is not working - there is simply a lack of responsibility and leadership, on and off the pitch. 

There has been absolutely no consistency in terms of team selection and system this season.  The head coach has been quick to shift the blame, pointing to recruitment (or lack of), the loss of key players due to the self-sustaining model we have heard so much about. 

Yet, he can control playing an actual centre back in their position, or a central midfielder in the middle of the pitch, a winger in our wide areas.  His inexperience has shone through game after game. 

With the noises coming out of the club suggesting that there will be no ‘war chest’ in January, it’s going to be hard to persuade a top manager to join.  

I fully expect the likes of Steve Cooper or Mark Robins to be targeted.  Things may well just get a lot worse before they get better.

Clive Smith

It was a significantly improved performance on the Everton match, thankfully. This time around we were in the game right until the end.

Neither side could offer much in the final third despite both teams looking nervy at the back. It resulted in a first half stalemate.

Set pieces looked our greatest concern and, for the third time this season,  the dreaded far post free header resulted in a goal being conceded. A congested box can make it difficult to cover everyone, but Soucek had already won virtually every challenge in the air so surely he should have been given special attention.

We responded well to the setback. Given all our options of midfielders, MOTM Doherty had already looked our best box to box player and most likely player to score. Finally we got on the end of a cross into the area and an equaliser was well merited on the balance of play.

West Ham had been masterful at winning cheap free kicks and most of their forward momentum came that way. It's a skill Wolves could well do with learning. 

Bowen then did what he so frequently does against us and our parity had not even lasted five minutes.

GON rolled the dice and our substitutes could, and should,  have provided another equaliser. Guedes, Doyle and Bellegarde twice all had touches in the box which failed to lead to a goal and a precious point. 

Another defeat and it is still difficult to decide what our best line-up is. Lemina, Andre and Gomes worked hard when we were without the ball but Cunha and Larsen saw too little of the ball in the final third. Defensively we covered well in open play. 

John Lalley

Departing the London Stadium last night, my final image of the place was the sight of Mario Lemina cavorting with rage and arguing vociferously with friend or foe alike, utterly frustrated and the epitome of the grouchy discontent coursing through the club. 

He wasn’t the only one to have the hump; once again, Wolves self-destructed and predictably came away with nothing; exasperating in the extreme. West Ham were the stronger outfit, but no great shakes and when Wolves fashioned a delightful equaliser the game was there for the taking. 

Instead, just as they had against Bournemouth, introspection rather than positivity descended and West Ham almost immediately regained the advantage due to our hesitancy. Similarly with the opening goal; Wolves struggled all evening defending corners but managed to survive until they allowed a giant to saunter seemingly unnoticed to loop a header past Sam Johnstone as our packed defensive ranks stood benignly as if transfixed. 

And once again, VAR whether it related to penalties or fouls in the build-up reared its grotesquely ugly head, but the solid fact remains that Wolves squandered numerous opportunities to retrieve the game late on. 

All of these chances well created but spurned to deny what would have been a real lift to morale. Cue Lemina’s rage; despondency often stems from uncertainty and right now Wolves are in turmoil, playing the same string on the same harp and ending up totally tone-deaf.

Elen Young

I thought we started off OK in the first half, but we just look so disorganised and West Ham were not exactly great.

Our midfield is really struggling, which is outrageous given the quality of players we have on offer. We constantly look like we have one fewer player on the pitch then the opposition, and we were lucky into the early stages not to be behind, and our defenders made a couple of great runs. I was impressed with Johnstone, and as much as I love Sa it did feel more secure with Johnstone between the sticks.

In terms of our attacking threat, I thought Larsen was our best threat going forward, and I have no idea why GON took him off when he did, but I think it just shows that he has no clue anymore. Cunha seemed pretty quiet until the last 10 minutes, and obviously the first VAR check for us should’ve been a penalty, if not the second.

I have some sympathy with GON because the way Fosun are determined to run this club is embarrassing - we can’t even get managers because of the so called “self-sustaining” structure.