Wolverhampton Wanderers head coach Gary O’Neil says the prospect of losing his job is “the least of my worries” as he prepares to face Southampton with pressure on his position mounting.
O’Neil’s side are without a win in their first 10 Premier League games of the season and have just one victory in 20 league fixtures dating back to last season.
Failure to beat Russell Martin’s side tomorrow would lead to intense pressure for Wolves to make a change, but 41-year-old O’Neil said in Friday’s pre-match press conference: “There is an acceptance that this is the job.
“If you’re going to shy away from it when it gets tough and you’re going to spend your whole life worrying about whether you lose your job or not, then you’re not going to be able to perform very well,” O’Neil continued.
“So my job and my future is the least of my worries. The next three points for Wolves is all that we’re focusing on and trying to make sure we get them tomorrow.”
A large section of home fans turned on O’Neil when he made a triple change during the second half of last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace, nut he says he expects a supportive crowd tomorrow.
“I would expect them to be fully behind the team,” he said. “Nothing will never change the way I feel about the support that I’ve had here because we have been through some tough moments and they’ve had to suffer through them with us.
“I’m just desperate to make sure that we give them a good day tomorrow.”
Defensive struggles increase scrutiny on O’Neil
O’Neil has enjoyed some memorable moments in his relatively short time as Wolves boss, from beating Manchester City at home last season, to the late goals that turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 home win against Tottenham Hotspur, to the victories at Spurs and Chelsea.
He gave Wolves a playing identity that had been missing under their previous two head coaches.
He has also been dealt a difficult hand through the injuries that wiped out his entire forward line for the final part of last season, the fixture list that has seen them play seven of the current top eight in their first 10 games this season, and the club’s failure to land players in the positions he prioritised in each of his transfer windows.
But there comes a point when even such strong mitigation cannot override the sheer magnitude of a horrid run of results, and in Wolves and O’Neil’s case that is compounded by their failure to find a way of plugging a chronically leaky defence.
They face six more games against some of the league’s lesser sides immediately after the forthcoming international break that will make or break their season.
If they fail to record that elusive win against Southampton tomorrow it would take a brave club not to strongly consider a change.
(Top image: Jack Thomas – WWFC/Wolves via Getty Images)
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