Gary O’Neil defends his position as Wolves manager despite West Ham defeat and also hits out at VAR | Football news

Wolves manager Gary O’Neil says he understands his own fan base’s anger towards him – but defended his record at Molineux after the pressure mounted after the defeat by West Ham.

Wolves suffered a third successive defeat at the London Stadium and remain in the relegation zone with nine points – and four more from safety.

Sky Sports News reported last week that Wolves had been carrying out due diligence on a number of candidates in recent weeks as pressure mounted on O’Neil – who still believes he has the support of the hierarchy despite his poor run of form.

“People above me support me,” said O’Neil, who joined the club in August 2023. Sky Sports after the game. “Of course the fans want their football club to be successful.

“I understand they are pointing fingers at me, it’s my team and I have to take responsibility, but when I came to this club, they only won (41) points in the Premier League (last season).

“From that moment we managed to make £200m in player sales. We sold a lot of players if you go back to Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Daniel Podence, Adama Traore, Raul Jimenez, Diego Costa, Pedro Neto and Max Kilman.

“And we are not buying on that market now, we are looking for others who are for the future and who can help us in the present.

“As we see in the Premier League, it’s a ruthless league. The group is doing everything they can to keep up. But I’m really proud of them.

“I know we only have nine points and we’re in a difficult place in the league, but they’re doing their best. So I hope the fans are still proud of the players even though they hate the position we’re in. They won. I don’t hate it more than I do , I’m here with them, whether they know it or not.

“We’re not going to give up and we’re going to keep pushing. Next up is a big game against Ipswich. And hopefully a few little things, our little things, little things from the officials will go our way.”

Carragher: O’Neil is not holding them back – I can’t see a better manager

Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher believes O’Neil is not the root of the problem at Wolves – and the new manager will not rejuvenate things at Molineux until the end of the season.

Carragher also sympathized with O’Neil’s argument that he was dealing with a less experienced squad that had sold many key players to big clubs.

“That’s a group of players that we felt would be in and around these positions now,” Carragher said. “The worry for Wolves is not so much that they are in the bottom three, but the fact that there seems to be a three or four point gap between them and Leicester.

“You look at three relegated teams – and three relegated teams struggled last season – and you think it could be difficult for Southampton this season, maybe even Ipswich, but Leicester have made a change, with Ruud van Nistelrooy taking four points from last two games That will be on the minds of the Wolves hierarchy, no doubt about that.

“I don’t see a change of manager rejuvenating this whole team or Gary O’Neil holding this team back and they should achieve more – I really don’t.

“There are definitely areas where O’Neil will think they need to be better. I think what he did last season and what he’s doing now, if you look at it as a body of work over the last 18 months, I think he’s done a good job for Wolves.

“I think most people were afraid last season where they are now. I don’t think the manager should hold the group back and should do more than what they are doing.”

O’Neil: We should have had two penalties – and it’s ‘crazy’ that West Ham’s winner stayed

O’Neil took another swipe at VAR – claiming West Ham’s winner through Jarrod Bowen should not have stood for an “obvious” foul on Santi Buena in the build-up.

While Wolves were defending a free kick, Dinos Mavropanos challenged Bueno in the air, and the referee on the field did not call a foul. Eleven seconds later, Mohammed Kudus set up Bowen to coolly slot home the winner.

VAR argued he could not go back and penalize Bueno as it was a new phase of play – even though only 11 seconds had passed between the alleged foul and Bowen’s shot crossing the line.

“It’s crazy,” O’Neil said. “Santi Bueno will head the ball, so it is irrelevant (that VAR said it was a new phase of the game) because we would have kicked the ball out.

“It’s a clear foul on Santi Bueno and there’s no way it’s a different phase. The ball is still in the same area.

“They’re going to find reasons, and of course they will, and I understand there’s going to be gray areas and the wording of the rule can be interpreted in a lot of different ways. But it’s a flagrant foul on Bueno seconds before the goal. It’s a flagrant foul.”

Later in his press conference, O’Neil argued that Wolves should have been awarded two penalties in the second half. VAR reviewed fouls by Emerson on Goncalo Guedes and Mavropanos on Jean-Ricner Bellegarde in the second half – but on both occasions upheld the on-field decision of no penalty.

“I understand how difficult the job is for the officials, but you need some of that to go your way,” added the Wolves boss. “Some really big calls didn’t work out there.

“I don’t think Guedes is out of the box. The contact definitely continues into the box. Definitely. I’ll look at it and have an honest conversation with them (PGMOL).

“It’s probably not clear and obvious, (Bellegarde), but he tripped twice, I think the referee on the field should say that, the same as the first time.

“I think that Guedes… Emerson also has a yellow card so that would be a big turning point in the game.”

Wolves were further damaged as the corner for West Ham’s first goal was clearly taken by Hammers defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka – so it shouldn’t have counted either.

“A lot of things went against us,” O’Neil said.