Should we sack O Neil?

[Lupo Italiano]

It does seem like the players like and respect him and he's certainly getting a tune out of them right now. The turnaround since Luton and Ipswich has been very good and his in-game management has improved considerably.

I was pleased for him yesterday going back to Bournemouth and showing them what they are missing. Hopefully the additions to his backroom staff are helping too and we do actually have a decent coaching staff building.

After the run of fixtures we've had its very encouraging to be 12th in the table with a healthy gap between us and the dross.

 

[Wolf 82]

Hilarious. Has he ever considered that O'Neil played pragmatic football there because they're actually hopeless?! Enjoy the Championship, hope never to see you again.

Hang on though, is it allowed to criticise the oracle that 90% of this board treated as gospel?

I made this point over and again earlier this season.. I also called the Bournemouth fans entitled for expecting both survival and good football with that tripe squad they had last year. Got some stick for it.

Since we’ve moved to 5 at the back, things have changed.. the results have changed, the mood has changed.. we have something we can build on now.

I can fully understand the nerves many Wolves fans showed over the first 6 games.. it felt like we had no base to build upon as we were too leaky at the back. Even though we were playing some good football going forward.

I think we can all start to relax a bit and take the rough with the smooth again now.. as long as we stick with 5 at the back, we will keep ourselves well clear of relegation imo.

 

[VancouverWolf]

I was hugely critical of O'Neil but I stopped after Man City.

It wasn't even the result that changed my opinion, although it obviously helped, but it was more the change in formation and approach.

My main criticism in the first few weeks was that we were soft, it was Steve Davis-esque. We could play well for 20 minutes in a game, or even longer, but it didn't matter as we'd lose.

The City game was transformative because we had a clear plan, we were aggressive and had an intensity even by sitting back.

I really think that result changed things for the players as well. City do lose games occasionally, but it's so rare that they lose to sides near the bottom. A win like that had to give you confidence in what the manager is trying to do.

After that, it was similar against a very good Villa team.

With performances, it's hard to judge. I really don't think any team in the bottom half should ever expect or think they can dominate a game. The league is ridiculously tough.

Even Bournemouth, who looked poor for the record, have a squad that, on paper, should be good. With the exception of Luton and Sheffield United (even Burnley spent £100m this summer), any team can beat anyone.

So, all you can ask is that we're competitive, and we have been under O'Neil, and there's an edge to us now.

We are physically strong and offer a counter-attacking threat. That's something to work with.

My main criticism of O'Neil was that he wasn't qualified for this job, and it was on him to show us that he deserved the job. In the past three weeks he has done that, so he now deserves time - which he will get.

I echo the others as well with the points return, it's fantastic given the fixtures we had. Genuinely as many points as I think anyone else realistically would have picked up.

I liked most of this post except to say that Gary was qualified for the job, albeit he didn’t have a lot of experience.

But so what……”qualified” and “experienced “ coaches abound all over football and they change or are sacked from clubs so often it would make your head spin.

I‘m not saying that Gary is good or bad, (unlike others, I decided to wait until about Halloween before I panicked), but come season end he may still be here while some of his peers will be gone.
If he can get us to land on 14th. with a respectable GD, I‘ll be happy enough.

 

[Mile End Wanderer]

I liked most of this post except to say that Gary was qualified for the job, albeit he didn’t have a lot of experience.

But so what……”qualified” and “experienced “ coaches abound all over football and they change or are sacked from clubs so often it would make your head spin.

I‘m not saying that Gary is good or bad, (unlike others, I decided to wait until about Halloween before I panicked), but come season end he may still be here while some of his peers will be gone.
If he can get us to land on 14th. with a respectable GD, I‘ll be happy enough.

Keeps us up that’s a success. Sooner we hit 40 pts the better. More wheeling and dealing next season

 

[VancouverWolf]

Keeps us up that’s a success. Sooner we hit 40 pts the better. More wheeling and dealing next season

It’s stupid of me and as a Wolves fan I should know better, but maybe something good might come our way in the Jan. window.
I should learn to suppress thoughts of hope

 

[welshy]

Would love to have seen this smug git's face when Sasa buried it yesterday

Here it is, both goals and red card, an absolute gold moment..

 

[welshy]

I posted this on the verdict thread, I suppose it sits well in this thread..

A comment from the above video.

Bournemouth are like the woman who was
living on the streets. Along came a man to
rescue her and rescue her he did. Sure, he
couldn't offer her riches but she got three
square meals a day and a warm bed at night.

Then one day her head was turned. She was promised a fast car and fancy clothes. She was told that her current partner was a boring pragmatist that could never take her to the heights she thought she deserved

And so she ditched the man who rescued her for a much more flash and exciting man. He wore better clothes, was more handsome and promised her the world. Her family were delighted, even turning on the man who had took her off the streets
Meanwhile, her former partner stuck to his
principles and took on another hopeless case who just so happened to have been deserted by a flash Spanish man who had also promised the world.

This woman's family had heard what had
been said about him and were not impressed. Surely he was a bore, a pragmatist that could never take them to the heights. Yeah, hell give you a bed and three square meals, but don't expect any caviar, was the warning ringing in their ears.

Well, after experiencing the flash Spaniard I must say that I'm preferring the humble meals served by our Gary. He's not going to get us into debt and has somehow brought unity and a good spirit to the family.

Good luck with your new man...

 

[sedgwolf1980]

Here it is, both goals and red card, an absolute gold moment..

‘How many times are we going to shoot ourselves in the foot’

Ha, ha, ha.

Genius find.

 

[Mile End Wanderer]

It’s stupid of me and as a Wolves fan I should know better, but maybe something good might come our way in the Jan. window.
I should learn to suppress thoughts of hope

Gary mentioned January last week. There will be movements

 

[Wolf 82]

Here it is, both goals and red card, an absolute gold moment..

Thanks for sharing.. enjoyed!!

 

[GoldenHorseshoe]

Couldn’t understand it at the time and still don’t……..

why would anybody care about a single Bournemouth fans unprofessional opinion ?…….or even listen to it?

I couldn't understand it at the time either, but it is amazing how many mixers took their opinion from this guy. There's a dwindling few, but still some that are sticking come hell or high water. I'm surprised that 'Dazzling Dave' grimacing couldn't better representation, even the guy in the clip holding the mike seems to have a more measured opinion.

 

[GoldenHorseshoe]

‘How many times are we going to shoot ourselves in the foot’

Ha, ha, ha.

Genius find.

He said this on another video, he said to the guy interviewing fans leaving the ground, "We keep shooting ourselves in the foot," "We're going to run out of bullets," The interviewer said, "And feet."

 

[dewolfman]

The more we improve the more of an absolute mug lopetegui is looking.

 

[Muscat]

One of the things that stood out to me from GONs post-match interview was when he said he'd never managed a team playing against 10 men before. It'll sound stupid, but I hadn't really considered these kind of factors/experiences that a manager needs to learn how to deal with. It just illustrated how early he is in his career and that he needs time - just like young players - to learn how best to plan for or react to different situations. Fingers crossed Garys a quick learner and he can learn and develop with this squad and club and we can achieve good things, starting with a nice dull and safe season in the Prem.

I thought the same when hearing that quote. It's important to remember that top coaches don't just appear fully formed. With very few exceptions, almost all of what you would call elite coaches have had major career setbacks. De Zerbi was sacked from Palermo, Klopp was relegated, Wenger was relegated, Howe flopped at Burnley and took Bournemouth down, Spaletti took nearly a decade before he started making an impact. That's not to say that GON will ever be as good as any of those, but you can't really argue with what he's done so far given his lack of experience.

 

[StaffordWolf]

Here it is, both goals and red card, an absolute gold moment..

Smash and grab?!? Haha, he's bloody delusional.

 

[Muscat]

Love how he couldn't give GON a single bit of credit for the job he did last season but praises Iraola for playing Billing in the correct position and "getting Alex Scott in the side", which I think means just picking him?

 

[Netherton Wolf]

I know someone who works at the training ground, and they say it's a very happy camp and the players love O'Neil, good enough for me

 

[Baboon]

Our unbeaten PL run has now extended to four games. We have taken eight points from those games. Only Spurs, Newcastle, Villa and Man Utd have taken more points than us from their last four games. GON must be doing something right.

 

[Yduti]

The players are playing for him that’s very important

 

[Yduti]

I didn’t rate him at the beginning but now i am understanding why hobbs appointed him

 

[Scallywolf]

Gary mentioned January last week. There will be movements

I’ve just had a movement and it’s only October!

Seriously though, I do think we are now in a much better position after the fire sale (can’t think it was anything else) in August and the so called FFP problems are behind us.

It will be really interesting what the January transfer window offers us, but I do think we are now in a much better position than many thought when the season started. GO and his staff deserve a lot of credit for that imo.

I hope there will be no outgoings, although there are rumours already about Neto, who is currently our early player of the season.

I do think we probably need just one more experienced striker, who will be a starter or cover for injuries to Cunha, Neto or Hwang. I have been impressed by Sasa who is getting fitter, but needs looking after.

Rest of the squad has enough cover imo (goalkeeper opinions may differ though).

 

[WinchWolf]

Here it is, both goals and red card, an absolute gold moment..

Loved when we scored the second, Sa waving at the Bournemouth fans

 

[Pengwern]

I voted No but now i regret it

 

[Bawtry Wolf]

We look more potent in attack which is something we haven’t seen for a good few seasons. We are also seeing more than one person in the box. There has been improvement since the start of the season and that’s all you can ask. He’s not Nuno but then Nuno transcended the club and embraced the town in a way that few managers at any club can.

I wasn’t enthusiastic at all about GON but I prefer him to Lage, will he be successful, I don’t know but I’m confident he will put the effort in.

 

[NewarkWolf]

Keeps us up that’s a success. Sooner we hit 40 pts the better. More wheeling and dealing next season

Aren’t we clear of the cycle of FFP that has hit us when this season is complete? Allowing us to flex our muscles a bit more going forward for the rolling period that has been more withdrawn??

 

[Yduti]

Neto isn’t going to leave in January unless a crazy offer of 70M+comes

 

[Nige]

Our unbeaten PL run has now extended to four games. We have taken eight points from those games. Only Spurs, Newcastle, Villa and Man Utd have taken more points than us from their last four games. GON must be doing something right.

Thats actually a good point. I kept looking at it as 7 from 9 but its really 8 from 12.. not a bad return when you throw City and Villa in that mix

 

[astraltrader]

I know someone who works at the training ground, and they say it's a very happy camp and the players love O'Neil, good enough for me

Totally agree with you NW. I initially voted YES to sack him on this thread but have now changed my vote to NO, as I think GON's recent record is encouraging to say the very least. Our players seem to be a tight band of brothers who are clearly behind the manager and then surely so should we...
Up the Wolves!!

 

[Mile End Wanderer]

Aren’t we clear of the cycle of FFP that has hit us when this season is complete? Allowing us to flex our muscles a bit more going forward for the rolling period that has been more withdrawn??

Well clear

 

[Mile End Wanderer]

I’ve just had a movement and it’s only October!

Seriously though, I do think we are now in a much better position after the fire sale (can’t think it was anything else) in August and the so called FFP problems are behind us.

It will be really interesting what the January transfer window offers us, but I do think we are now in a much better position than many thought when the season started. GO and his staff deserve a lot of credit for that imo.

I hope there will be no outgoings, although there are rumours already about Neto, who is currently our early player of the season.

I do think we probably need just one more experienced striker, who will be a starter or cover for injuries to Cunha, Neto or Hwang. I have been impressed by Sasa who is getting fitter, but needs looking after.

Rest of the squad has enough cover imo (goalkeeper opinions may differ though).

Think Fabio might leave! Not getting game time here.

Can’t see anyone paying the silly money for Neto in January but we shall see

 

[SydneyWolf26]

Whichever way you look at it, we are already a point better off than we were at Xmas last year. Pretty fantastic really when we all thought we had a worse squad, in a worse overall position with a less qualified manager. Fair play so far.

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

He’s turned it around massively

When in doubt, change to a back 3!

 

[VancouverWolf]

Totally agree with you NW. I initially voted YES to sack him on this thread but have now changed my vote to NO, as I think GON's recent record is encouraging to say the very least. Our players seem to be a tight band of brothers who are clearly behind the manager and then surely so should we...
Up the Wolves!!

Why would you vote yes until you were sure ?

I see similar posts but it baffles me.

 

[SuperGran]

I know someone who works at the training ground, and they say it's a very happy camp and the players love O'Neil, good enough for me

I have a couple of friends who work at the training ground too
Say exactly the same that the players love him as do the staff based there.

 

[dewolfman]

Personally I think our change of fortunes are all down to toti gomes. We seem to do well when he plays.

 

[Streathamwolf]

Rubbish. When we don't score we're crap, when we do score we're lucky? FFS

 

[Supadavewolf]

I know someone who works at the training ground, and they say it's a very happy camp and the players love O'Neil, good enough for me

I have a couple of friends who work at the training ground too
Say exactly the same that the players love him as do the staff based there.

That's because Derry's told them to say that... or else ..... DAH DAH DAAAAAH

 

[Halesowen wwfc]

If the most important thing that gary does is get the players on board and playing for the badge again then he will have done more than we all expected. Its difficult to attribute how.much the improvement in Semedo, Hwang, Ait Nouri, and Neto are solely down to him, bit particularly in with the last 3 players mentioned he has probably doubled their values, which i am sure Fosun will be very happy with, and. A great thing for us because it means we have players now making a real difference now

 

[Superted]

I fully admit that I was underwhelmed by GON’s appointment. I will also tell you that I am not a “hire and fire ‘em” merchant, I much prefer stability than the chaos of change, so once GON came in I was willing to give him a chance and support him. However, I will also admit that I changed my mind about keeping GON after the Luton and Ipswich performances, I just could not see a way out of the malaise and we were clearly not firing on all cylinders and I wanted him out.
The last 3 results have been much better BUT, I still have my doubts. This is based on the way we started the game yesterday - I wasn’t there but was listening to comms and we appeared to start with 4 at the back and RAM left midfield, and were reportedly very sloppy and let Bournemouth have loads of space and time to build confidence. Why change a system that has been successful against “better” opposition, why change from a system where everyone seems to know where they fit and how to play? It made no sense to me and that’s on GON. Admittedly he did change to a back 3/5 and bringing on Doyle worked BUT there is too much tinkering for me. Pick a formation, pick the right people for the formation and coach them effectively in how to get the best from it. Don’t keep messing about.
I am back to requiring stability again now, and think that GON will keep us up but I am not convinced he is the long term answer.

To be fair, he does explain in his post-match comments that Bournemouth usually play with a single pivot but started with a double pivot on Saturday which took him and the team some time to figure out. I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt here seeing as his changes did ultimately give use more control and get us the result.

 

[Bondi Wolf]

This is clearly wrong though as the vote stayed open. After Ipswich it was overwhelmingly for the sack, now it's 70/30, so 20% of people changed and the other 70 just haven't changed their vote, but will have changed their minds. Realistically nobody thought he'd actually be sacked after 5 games and nobody thinks he should be sacked now. This supposed set of people who'd rather he failed so they could be proved right doesn't really exist outside a handful of oddbods maybe, we're all pretty fickle really!

I didn't say everyone has dug into their position. But it's evident that a lot of people do dig in, as we saw with Mick.

Even if we get into Europe next season under O'Neil, a new poll with the same question would not be 100% in favour of keeping him