Media View: Expert insight on Wolves

Head coach Andoni Iraola has seen the Cherries collect three points from draws against West Ham, Brentford and Chelsea in eight league games since taking the reins in the summer.

His predecessor Gary O’Neil replaced Julen Lopetegui at Molineux in August and has presided over wins against Everton and Manchester City as well as draws with Luton and Aston Villa.

Wolves lost their opening two Premier League games against Manchester United (1-0) and Brighton (4-1) before Saša Kalajdžić netted the only goal against the Toffees at Goodison Park.

Back-to-back defeats against Crystal Palace (3-2) and Liverpool (3-1) were followed by a 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road where Pedro Neto’s opener was cancelled out by a Carlton Morris penalty.

Despite exiting the Carabao Cup at the hands of Ipswich, Wolves responded by registering a memorable 2-1 win against Manchester City, ending the champions’ unbeaten start to the season.

Hwang Hee-chan, who scored for South Korea against Vietnam in midweek, bagged the decisive goal against Pep Guardiola’s team and has now hit seven for club and country this season.

Nicknamed ‘Hwangso’ in South Korea – the Korean word for bull – due to his aggressive playing style, the 27-year-old was also on target in Wolves’ 1-1 draw with Aston Villa before the international break.

Ahead of Saturday’s clash, afcb.co.uk caught up with Mike Taylor who covers the fortunes of Wolves in his capacity as a commentator for BBC Radio West Midlands.

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS PROFILE

Founded: 1877

Ground: Molineux Stadium

Nicknames: Wolves

Record appearances: Derek Parkin – 609 games (1968-1982)

Record goalscorer: Steve Bull – 306 goals in 561 games

Head coach: Gary O’Neil (appointed August 2023)

Club captain: Maximilian Kilman (pictured below)

League position: 14th

Leading goalscorer: Hwang Hee-chan (six in all competitions)

Last game: Wolves 1 Aston Villa 1 (Premier League) 

afcb.co.uk: How has the season started for Wolves?

MT: Overall, eight points from eight games is not a bad start.

It’s been an up and down ride to get there and there have been some very good performances, the win against Manchester City being the stand-out one.

They played well at Manchester United and could easily have ended up with a point.

There have been one or two other contentious refereeing decisions which have gone against them and may well have cost them a few more points.

There was a penalty against them at Luton when they were leading which was very contentious.

They’ve got eight points and could have had more.

There have been one or two bad performances in there and they were steamrollered by Brighton.

But, on the whole, I think that’s satisfactory at this point, given where they were at the start of August.

afcb.co.uk: Who has been the pick of their new signings?

MT: It’s tricky to say because we haven’t seen a lot of them.

There was a lot of nervousness around in the summer as they were very slow at adding anything to their squad and it seems to have played a part in the departure of the previous manager.

Julen Lopetegui made no secret of his feelings that they needed reinforcements and hadn’t made them.  

Suddenly, several players arrived near the end of the window and we haven’t seen too much of them yet.

However, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde (pictured above) made a good impression in his first game against Liverpool before he was suspended after being sent off at Luton.

There’s not a lot of evidence to go on but he certainly seems to be a plus.

There’s a lot of optimism that the others will add more, certainly Tommy Doyle had a good season with Sheffield United in 2022/23 and there’s a lot of excitement about him.

But, so far, most of the progress that’s been made has been made with players who were there previously.

afcb.co.uk: What are your first impressions of Gary O’Neil (pictured above)? 

MT: Pleasingly straight forward to deal with from a media point of view and he seems to be a very straight speaker.

I was interested to hear from one or two people who followed him at Bournemouth that he was very much a manager who thought very carefully about plans for each individual match and that’s something we’ve started to see in evidence already.

My impression is that he’s quite a deep thinker and theorist about the game.

But, crucially, the way he’s able to communicate with us seems to be the way he’s able to communicate with the players.

Clearly, the messages are landing to be able to pull off a plan like they did against Manchester City.

Everyone agreed, even those fans who were slow to warm to him, that that was not only an excellent performance by the players but it was a tactical triumph for Gary O’Neil.

On that side of things, he is winning people over – there’s nothing that wins people over like positive results and that was a gold-plated result. 

afcb.co.uk: Explain why Hwang Hee-chan (pictured above) seems to be enjoying a new lease of life under O’Neil?

MT: He’s in a purple patch at the moment.

When he’s playing well, he plays with a smile and he looks like he’s enjoying himself.

There was a time at the start of last season when, from the outside, he didn’t look like he was enjoying himself.

But he had a good time at the World Cup and scored a crucial winning goal for South Korea and looked better afterwards until he was interrupted by injury.

He started this season injury-free but the thing that’s marking him out is he looks like he can finish and that’s been an issue for Wolves over the past three seasons.

They have averaged less than a goal a game and haven’t had a reliable finisher.

Suddenly, here is Hwang in a lovely run of form – five goals in his past six appearances.

Generally speaking, when he’s been fit, he’s been in the team and clearly managers like him because they know what they are going to get.

He’s dependable and works hard and he’s forming a great partnership with Pedro Neto who is creating many of the chances for him.

afcb.co.uk: Who is their rising star?

MT: You can count Rayan Ait Nouri (pictured above) as a rising star because although he’s been around for a little while, he’s still young and is competing with Hugo Bueno for a full-back position.

Bueno emerged during the troubled part of early last season when it was a bit messy before the World Cup break.

Bueno’s competition with Ait Nouri is going to make both young players better over the course of this season and perhaps beyond.

afcb.co.uk: Are any key players either injured or suspended against the Cherries?

MT: They are doing okay for injuries at the moment but suspensions are a problem.

Bellegarde is back for this game but they are without Mario Lemina who was sent off against Aston Villa (pictured above). He has been so important since he signed in January.

Nelson Semedo is also suspended. There has been some dispute about how many yellow cards he’s picked up because I think he got one after the final whistle against Manchester City game. That puts him on five now.

afcb.co.uk: How do you see the game panning out and what’s your score prediction? 

MT: At the risk of offending my hosts, I’m going for a 2-1 win for Wolves.

They now look like they can score goals and create chances, more reliably than they have in the past two or three years.

Gary O’Neil has been asked about Bournemouth and has been very diplomatic.

I think he’s had enough to deal with coming into a new club.

I think he’s moved on and his hands are full with the new job.

Although this will be written up as the Gary O’Neil derby, I sense he’s probably looking at the bigger picture now.

You can follow Mike on X – @miketaylorsport 

Officials: Paul Tierney (referee), Neil Davies (assistant), Scott Ledger (assistant), James Bell (fourth official), Andrew Madley (VAR).