Wolves were never heading for the abyss — aka, the Championship — under Gary O’Neil because they had players befitting of the bottom three. They were never falling headfirst towards the Premier League ’s relegation trapdoor because they were employing dodgy tactics or an unworkable formation. Sure, they lack a centre-back, but in terms of midfielders, wing-backs and forwards, Wolves are at mid-table level on paper.
They have three Brazilian players with 30 caps between them, four Portugal internationals and one of the Premier League’s form players in Matheus Cunha — whose goalscoring brilliance was being compared favourably with Arsenal great Dennis Bergkamp a couple of weeks ago. Advertisement Goals haven’t been an issue either; even before Sunday’s 3-0 win away to fellow strugglers Leicester City they were on track to score 53 times in the Premier League this season, more than they have ever managed in one campaign in the competition (their current trajectory is now to get 60, a total only ninth-placed West Ham United could match outside the division’s final top seven teams last season). No, the reasons they were dropping like a stone towards a second tier they hadn’t been part of since 2018 were primarily a glaring lack of belief and a defence that has been about as robust as an arthritic blancmange.
Wolves were just crying out for a new voice. That was clear some weeks ago, but by the time O’Neil publicly admitted players weren’t standing where he .