Premier League news: Why Wolves’ O’Neil is the one of most exciting young coaches & epitomises a modern manager

Wolves boss in focus 

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As Wolves prepared for their Monday evening fixture against Brighton, the players were eating their pre-match meals in daylight glasses. A concept to create the illusion of the time being midday to avoid the natural fatigue that can come with darkness. As a player, Gary O’Neil had a bit of the old school about him. Loved a tackle, loved a screamer. Representing eight English clubs across the length of the country from Portsmouth to Middlesbrough. But as a manager he is a forward thinker, someone aware of the importance of marginal gains, and as a result he has revolutionised Wolverhampton Wanderers this season.

Last season, O’Neil took over as interim manager at Bournemouth with the club off the back of a 9-0 defeat to Liverpool, and being tipped by many as doomed to relegation. He guided them to safety and a 15th place finish, before he was harshly dismissed in June. But the South Coast’s loss is the West Midlands gain, and there is a real feel of excitement around Molineux with O’Neil at the helm.

How O’Neil turned Wolves from relegation candidates to giant killers

Only three teams have beaten Manchester City in the Premier League this season. Wolves are one of them. Only five teams have beat Tottenham in the league. Wolves are one of them. O’Neil’s side have also beaten Chelsea, and were level with league leaders Liverpool until the 85th minute. They were denied a clear penalty in the dying minutes at Old Trafford that led to an apology from PGMOL, in a 1-0 defeat in which they dominated the Red Devils, and only lost narrowly 2-1 at the Emirates, whilst missing many key players to injury. O’Neil knows what it’s like to face adversity, and knows how to tactically compete with the best managers in the division. As can be seen below, if you constructed a table of all the results from games between the traditional ‘big six’ clubs and Wolves in the Premier League this season, the Wanderers would be second.

At the start of the season, Wolves were one of the favourites to go down. Former manager Julen Lopetegui had walked out because the financial constraints at the club had led to many high profile player departures. These included Rúben Neves to Saudi Arabia, Nathan Collins to Brentford and Raúl Jiménez to Fulham. O’Neil was appointed just five days before the season opener against Manchester United, and would then lose playmaker Matheus Nunes to Man City in a €62m deal. But there were never any complaints from the manager. They rolled with the punches and came out with their heads held high.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday night football back in October after their 2-1 victory against Man City, O’Neill broke down how his team beat the treble winners: “Now we are compact again, can you win it back, and can we find enough quality to keep it. It’s difficult at this moment once you regain the ball and there are so many Man City players all around them, and the first pass is so important – can we get it to our main counter attack threat, Pedro Neto. We had enough of these moments in the game so that the fans felt we were a threat. We also spoke a lot about trying to get to wing-back. If we can get to the wing-back it spreads the back four of Man City a lot. We managed to use the game plan and what we prepped for really well.“ O’Neil is meticulous in his detail of the game. Studying distances, opposition tactics and always thinking about new approaches to give his team ‘marginal gains’.

“The way I coach is extremely detailed”

That phrase ‘marginal gains’ is an important factor to the 40-year-old former Pompey midfielder. “The way I coach the boys is extremely detailed” O’Neil berated earlier in the season. “I’m sure if you spoke to the boys it would be quite a shift from what they’re used to. It’s important that the lads start to get some success in the game from what we have worked on, that they start to get the pictures from training and believe it’s working.” Football management has evolved a lot over the past two decades. Gone are the days where berating a player in the dressing room, and spouting cliches are going to lead to success and respect. The modern player wants to see detailed coaching and consistency in training bringing out the best in them. They crave to see a manager who can see past reactionary results and instil belief in congruent methods of play. O’Neil is part of this next generation of extraordinary coaches and has a bright future in the game.

Striker Matheus Cunha was loaned to Wolves last January from Atletico Madrid with an obligation to buy for €50m in the summer. Last term, he scored just two goals and registered a single assist in 20 games, and was lambasted for his poor finishing. This campaign, he has seven goals and six assists, and no centre forward in the division has completed more dribbles than his 103. The Brazilian has a new lease of life. There’s also been a transformation from Hwang Hee-Chan under O’Neil. Take three goals and one assist in 27 Premier League matches last season, and compare it with 10 goals and three assists in 20 games this term. O’Neil is extracting the best out of his players.

The only English manager with more Premier League points than O’Neil in the past two seasons is Eddie Howe, who has had an abundance of riches at his disposal at Newcastle. This is even more impressive when you take into account that O’Neil has been in charge of two teams predicted to be scrapping for Premier League safety. Right now Wolves are one of the in-form teams in the division. No team has taken more points from their last four league games. There will be plenty of confidence going into the game against an inconsistent Man United next Thursday at Molineux, and three points would take O’Neil’s side above Ten Hag’s in the table. The job the Englishmen is doing in the West Midlands is surely beginning to catch the eye of the league’s biggest clubs.

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