O’Neill made one perplexing Wolves move involving a ‘amazing’ £5 million whiz in the Forest draw.
Wolves drew 1-1 with Nottingham Forest on Saturday, and Gary O’Neil revealed afterwards that his team had a “technical breakdown.”
Wanderers fell behind early on after some sloppy defending resulted in a goal by Harry Toffolo.
The winger outjumped Nelson Semedo at the back post to head past Jose Sa. The Portuguese defense did not shine, but it was a series of errors that included Toti Gomes, Hugo Bueno, and Jose Sa.
Wolves held the most of the ball throughout the game but lacked ideas and creativity.
Gary O’Neil said after the game that his team wasn’t up to par, lamenting his team’s technical weaknesses on the day.
This only adds to his odd decision not to put on Tommy Doyle…
Gary O’Neil’s decision not to start Tommy Doyle for Wolves against Forest was strange.
The majority of the game was spent by Wolves simply moving the ball from side to side in front of the Forest defense.
Cunha’s goal was a rare example of superb Wolves play, and it was a shame there weren’t more build-ups like that.
After the game, O’Neil (Wolves official) stated, “We didn’t really show enough quality.” We had too many technical turnovers of the ball, and we got into some nice circumstances, but sloppy touches forced us to move backwards, forcing us to recycle it.
“There was a technical breakdown today and I understand it, but I don’t accept it.”
If O’Neil felt there was a technical breakdown, surely it would have made sense to bring in Tommy Doyle, a Manchester City player who is all about getting on the ball and trying to be incisive with his passing.
Doyle, who Wolves are likely to sign for £5 million next year, hasn’t played much for Wolves so far, but when he has, he has looked to play forward and break the lines, which wasn’t happening on Saturday.
Doyle had the potential to make a difference for Wolves versus Forest.
O’Neil decided not to deploy Doyle at all against Forest, which was perplexing.
When Mario Lemina limped off with a hamstring injury, he was forced to make a substitution, but it was Boubacar Traore who received the nod from the head coach.
Wolves weren’t producing or threatening, so Doyle – whom former Molineux winger Mark Kennedy dubbed ‘excellent’ – had to be someone to turn to. If not when Lemina was leaving, then certainly soon after.
But O’Neil entirely ignored him, instead bringing on Matt Doherty and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, with Sasa Kalajdzic going on for the final few minutes.
Wolves finished the game with 69% ball control but only four attempts on goal, and it just feels like O’Neil not turning to Doyle was a mistake, especially given what the head coach stated after the game.
