Wolves preview
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00:00 [Music]
00:09 Hello, I'm Nathan Judo, I'm here with Wolves reporter, it's Mr Liam Keane.
00:13 Liam, we've heard from Gary O'Neill ahead of the penultimate game of the season,
00:16 the last game at Molineux of the 2023/2024 Premier League,
00:22 and it's against Crystal Palace.
00:23 Let's go with the team news first.
00:25 Quick team news.
00:26 Very quick.
00:27 But important nonetheless.
00:29 Yes, the sun's shining, it's a beautiful day and Pedroneta will not be playing tomorrow.
00:33 Oh, come on lad, come on.
00:35 So the rain has begun to pour.
00:37 Yeah, we were hoping, he's had a couple of weeks of full training,
00:40 now we're hoping this might be the game, with him not being involved at City,
00:44 that this would be an opportunity for him to be on the bench.
00:46 Gary's reasoning is that, which is obviously understandable considering the injuries he's had,
00:50 is that he's not done enough, and I quote, "high speed movements" to...
00:54 Need a view for a while, high speed movements.
00:57 Need a view for that, to guarantee that it's not going to be a risk for him,
01:00 because the last thing Wolves need is him going out there, getting injured again,
01:03 missing the Euros, obviously there's no guarantee he's involved, but missing it completely,
01:07 and then potentially being injured going into the summer.
01:11 So they're hopeful that he'll be around it for the Liverpool game,
01:16 but as it stands he won't be available tomorrow,
01:19 and that obviously joins Craig Dawson who's out for the season.
01:22 Yeah, and look, there will be speculation rife amongst the fan base
01:25 as to whether he's started his last game for Wolverhampton Morningers,
01:29 and we'll have to see in the summer, won't we?
01:31 But if he plays a part against Liverpool, he'll want to,
01:34 and I think they'll be disappointed that he hasn't contributed after this injury,
01:38 because he'll want to be on that plane going to the Euros.
01:40 Oh, he'll be desperate, absolutely desperate to be on that plane.
01:43 Him getting in a plane some minutes is going to give him the best opportunity to do that.
01:47 What does play in his favour is that he's such a talented player,
01:50 Portugal and all the staff there will be well aware of how good he is,
01:53 that he's still got a great chance of making it,
01:55 but two serious hamstring injuries to both legs this season,
01:59 regardless of how good he has been, that's always going to be a bit of a concern.
02:02 So I think you have to chalk it up as a bit of a 50/50, does he make it or not,
02:06 and Portugal have got a very, very good squad as well.
02:08 So obviously the priority is Wolves here and now, but for Pedro Neto,
02:12 understandably, to be honest, I don't blame him if he's feeling this way,
02:16 obviously I can't read his mind.
02:18 His focus, in my opinion, should probably be on Portugal,
02:21 because Wolves have got very little to play for apart from pride right now.
02:25 And Santiago Bueno looks like he could be available from the start if Daryl chooses to select him.
02:30 Yeah, he sort of hinted that he will start him, so that means he'll be on the bench tomorrow.
02:33 Yeah, look, he said he'd only trained on the Friday before the Man City game,
02:37 hence why it was sort of unlikely he'd be able to start the game,
02:41 but he did come on.
02:42 So I would do my predicted team and I would hedge my bets and say he will start
02:46 against Palace tomorrow and that probably makes a back five,
02:49 with Samedo, 8-0 Norwich as wing-backs.
02:52 And yeah, Santi back in the team is probably what we should expect to see.
02:56 OK, well I'll finish off with the team news and then we'll go to what Gary O said afterwards,
02:59 which I thought was very interesting.
03:00 So you've said that back five, do you expect a three or a two in midfield and three up front?
03:04 It's tough, but I think it'll be two midfields.
03:06 I've gone, Djel Gomez, Mario Lamina, and then a front three.
03:09 Kwang and Kuno are obvious shoo-ins to play.
03:12 It's on that right side, is it Sarabia, is it Belagard?
03:15 I think it might be Belagard.
03:17 OK, interesting.
03:18 Played 45, off the bench at City.
03:21 Sarabia's had a bit of illness recently and been out of form.
03:24 I can just see it being Belagard, getting a start back in.
03:28 And I think Gary will want to be more aggressive and more direct,
03:32 which I think Belagard offers.
03:34 I'm going to slightly differ with you.
03:35 I'm going to say that it'll be a midfield three of Lamina, Gomez and Doyle/Triore.
03:40 Yeah.
03:41 And the two up front, just because of that, Alisse has a double threat.
03:44 I think they might need a little bit more protection in midfield.
03:46 But we shall see who shall be correct at three o'clock tomorrow,
03:49 or two o'clock when the teams get announced.
03:51 Right, more importantly, there was a question asked about Gary O'Neill,
03:54 as you'd expect at this time of the year, about summer, about spending,
03:57 about players coming in, players leaving the club.
04:00 And Gary O'Neill gave an answer that I thought was very, very interesting.
04:05 Look, there's a certain amount of potential déjà vu.
04:08 Déjà vu?
04:09 Déjà vu.
04:11 You can't do that.
04:12 Déjà vu here, in terms of getting players into the club.
04:18 And I get it, it's very difficult,
04:19 but he didn't seem to be particularly happy with maybe early talks.
04:26 Yeah, it seemed to me, and obviously we're speaking for him here,
04:31 but it seemed to me that he was slightly frustrated with his answer.
04:34 Not by any means overboard, but I think if we're reading between the lines
04:39 of what he was saying, slightly frustrated in my opinion.
04:42 And what he was saying was really backing up exactly what we've been saying
04:45 for quite a few months now about how we're going to go into this summer.
04:48 It's a case of being self-sustaining, it's a case of on the football side of things,
04:52 if you're going to bring in a number of players and spend a little bit of money,
04:55 it's going to mean selling one or two players that are big assets,
04:58 that will bring in big fees.
04:59 Big names, yeah.
05:00 So what Gary basically said exactly that, he said it's unlikely that I'm going to have
05:04 any money to spend in the summer without a big player leaving, bringing in a big fee.
05:10 He did say that can change, there's little things we can do,
05:13 there's some loan players that will have value that will leave.
05:15 Obviously they can look into the loan market, free agent market,
05:18 which I'm sure they'll be looking at.
05:19 These kind of things that they can work around it and bring some players in
05:22 and do some business, but they have to be really cute and really clever
05:25 with how they do that.
05:26 And on top of that, exactly what we've been saying the whole time,
05:28 is selling, I don't know, a Neto, an Aint Noree, a Jao Gomez, a Max Killman,
05:33 whoever it is that might bring in the fee, whatever the interest is obviously
05:35 for these players, letting one or two of them go to raise enough money
05:39 to add to what is a very small squad.
05:41 They need depth and that's what Gary's really important.
05:43 But then at the same time, he also spoke about there are players he doesn't want to leave,
05:47 that he's got to try and figure out between the club and what the management team want
05:52 in Gary obviously, with letting certain players go, certain players that will be key
05:56 to how the team develops next season.
05:58 So it's a lot of moving parts and it's going to be really interesting going into the summer,
06:02 but he seemed, I wouldn't go anywhere near as far as saying he was a Loppetegui-esque angry.
06:08 At times, probably similar time this time last year that we saw Loppetegui.
06:12 Not anywhere near that.
06:13 I think he's a lot more, again, subtle and clever with the way that he discusses things.
06:18 But I think there was a tinge of disappointment in what has been, he says, early talks,
06:23 a lot more to come based on how the summer's going to go.
06:25 Yeah, look, I know he says some of those plans haven't, they haven't had discussions yet,
06:29 but at the same time, there will have been discussions.
06:31 There'll be some, definitely.
06:32 Plenty, plenty.
06:33 There seems to be a little bit of tugging back and forth, and you're always going to get that, aren't you?
06:37 Because, of course, every manager wants more.
06:39 He wants more money, they want more players, they want to keep what they've got,
06:42 you're going to increase, but Wolves have got to realise the decision that they're in.
06:46 And by the way, that could change very much.
06:48 Wolves could finish ninth in this table in this season, they could finish 14th,
06:51 which again is probably the difference between about, I would say, probably £10-11 million difference.
06:56 So again, that with loan players coming back, I just wonder whether Gary Neill will get his way,
07:01 because there's a frustration there that he showed in January with not getting the players over the line,
07:06 and some of that was, I guess, Wolves letting loan players go,
07:09 and another of that was people moving the goalposts, as you're going to get.
07:12 But at the same time, he'll want to get some players and some quality over the line sooner rather than later, won't he?
07:17 Because there are massive areas, and he said huge areas of concern that he needs to change.
07:21 Yeah, I...
07:22 Not positions, areas, he said.
07:23 Exactly, it comes down to depth, doesn't it?
07:25 Again, we looked at the injuries to the forward line,
07:27 very unfortunate the amount of injuries they had on specific areas of the pitch,
07:31 but at the same time, they are very short in these areas.
07:34 So, look, for me, it's a depth issue more than anything else.
07:36 There's a lot of quality in that squad, it's purely adding quantity,
07:40 but within the quantity you need quality, because you can't have a load of 16, 17, 18-year-old lads...
07:45 No, a lot of Lemmings playing for you.
07:46 Exactly, you don't have Premier League quality there.
07:48 So, finding that balance is going to be really difficult,
07:51 but something that they're going to have to work very closely on.
07:55 And that is, again, the point you made, it's Gary wanting what he wants,
07:59 which every manager wants in the world, of course they do, because they want to succeed.
08:02 And then having the football club, which will be here longer than Gary O'Neill will be here,
08:07 the football club will go on...
08:08 Oh no, he's going to be here forever.
08:10 The football club will go on once he's long gone and left.
08:13 So they've got to try and have their own strategy and their own system and the way they do things.
08:17 So, the club are moving towards this self-sustaining thing for the summer.
08:21 We spoke about it with the Matt Hobbs interview a few months ago.
08:25 It's going to be interesting, the to-and-throw and the power struggle.
08:28 We're trying to figure out who gets what.
08:30 I don't suspect anything blowing up.
08:32 I think there's a lot of concern from fans with Loppetegui, what happened last year.
08:35 I don't envisage that happening at all.
08:38 What I do envisage is Gary O'Neill pushing hard, like every manager does, to get exactly what he wants.
08:43 And he'll probably get somewhere in between.
08:45 Yeah, and look, what he's got to say, and I'm sure these are the discussions that are taking place,
08:49 is he will know and the fan base knows and the players will know
08:52 that yes, they will finish comfortably mid-table this year,
08:54 but at the same time, they brought in £100 million worth of player sales last summer.
08:59 And Gary O'Neill will say, "OK, if I'm going to lose one or two big players,
09:04 and maybe a couple of others as well, we've massively over-performed this season.
09:08 Massively over-performed.
09:10 So what happens if you lose a few more, bring in maybe four, five or six bodies,
09:14 but we don't over-perform?"
09:16 And I guess that's the concern there, because they've got to have, like you say,
09:19 quality and quantity going forward.
09:21 And if that's not possible, then there may be a real issue there.
09:24 Yeah, I think you can't rely on the same players, well, on the same size of squad,
09:29 to consistently over-perform.
09:31 It would be naive to think this team will guarantee the same level of performance next season.
09:36 Now, they could do it, they could even do one better,
09:39 but the odds are they're going to need some reinforcements to add to it.
09:42 So, with that in mind, again, it just comes down to that same word,
09:45 I'm going to keep banging this drum, it's depth.
09:47 They need to add to this squad.
09:49 Once you lose a Mateus Cunha, a Juan Gui Chan, a Pedro Neto to injury,
09:53 you need players who are going to step in, proven, experienced players to step in
09:57 and play Premier League football and perform and keep the same momentum and trajectory.
10:01 The Wolves won't win every game, but they have to have that momentum.
10:04 The momentum is a key word, they have not had that at all this season.
10:07 Every time there's been an injury, momentum lost.
10:10 Regain a bit of momentum, couple of results, another injury.
10:13 That's what's been the most restraining part in the second half of the season.
10:16 So, that is the biggest focus for me for the summer going into next season.
10:21 Yeah, and they've been working on all aspects and all departments as well
10:23 because there's a lot of these injuries that you pick up as you do in a season,
10:26 and they're one week, two weeks, three weeks,
10:28 but it feels like every single injury they've had to a major player has not been that.
10:31 It's been eight, nine, ten.
10:33 So, yeah, fingers crossed that he gets his way, or the majority of his way,
10:37 and we get plenty more bodies in of quality between now and the end of the season,
10:42 or start of next season.
10:43 In terms of scoreline prediction tomorrow, I've changed mine.
10:47 You have?
10:48 I've changed mine, so I'll give you yours first.
10:50 I settled the podcast 2-1, and I'll stick with 2-1 to Wolves.
10:53 OK.
10:54 I'm going to...
10:57 That's bang out of order there, I can't believe he's doing it.
10:59 I think I'm going to change.
11:01 Still think Wolves pick up points.
11:03 Point, erm...
11:05 Desmond tomorrow.
11:06 Desmond.
11:07 Desmond's back.
11:08 I love Desmond to be back.
11:10 I'm thinking 2-2.
11:11 And look, La Paz tomorrow, and the players deserve it, don't they?
11:14 Yeah, absolutely.
11:15 Players deserve it, fans deserve to be sent off into the summer,
11:18 or at least the home fans sent off into the summer with a bit of a cheer,
11:21 something to hold on to, some positivity,
11:24 because it's been a brilliant season, regardless of the fact that they've fizzled out.
11:29 There could have been a semi-final FA Cup, there could have been European football,
11:32 if but to maybes, but it's been a brilliant season for where they were.
11:35 The situation that Gary and I walked into, and the players and the management team,
11:38 I think have done an excellent job.
11:40 I'll see you at Palace tomorrow.
11:41 For the build-up of this one, make sure you log on to expressandstar.com.