- Wolves are rooted to bottom of Premier League table and without a single win
- However, Gary O’Neil is not worried about sack amid fans voicing disapproval
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Gary O’Neil is in greater danger than at any time in his Wolves reign and Saturday’s clash with Southampton looks pivotal for his long-term future at Molineux.
The Wolves board have remained supportive of O’Neil, who signed a new four-year deal in the summer.
Yet they are bottom of the table having failed to win any of their opening 10 games and have won only one of their last 20. Not many managers survive such a dreadful sequence of form, when the cost of relegation is so great.
Fans started to turn on O’Neil during the second half when he made a triple substitution, soon after Trevoh Chalobah had put a depleted Crystal Palace side in front, with the South Bank chanting ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’.
‘Zero concern for my position,’ O’Neil insisted. ‘I’m fine. It’s my job. The place is not going to be rosy and smiley. I fully expected this to be a tough atmosphere, especially when we went behind.
Gary O’Neil is in greater danger than at any time in his Wolves reign after the draw with Palace
Wolves are rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table and without a single win
‘The fans can voice their opinions, of course. It’s my job to make the right decisions. The three substitutes made a big difference and we were excellent after they came on.
‘We have not been in the market to sign Premier League-quality players. We are trying to work with players to get them ready and they are learning to perform on the toughest stage in the world. We have to keep fighting.’
Wolves were lucky to escape with a point. Goals from Jorgen Strand Larsen and Joao Gomes had Wolves looking at an unlikely win yet their defending is so poor that they held the lead for only five minutes. Marc Guehi was left alone at the far post to tap in the equaliser following a corner.
O’Neil has railed against VAR for most of his time at Wolves yet he may have had a lucky break from it here. There seemed little wrong when Jean-Philippe Mateta fired home for Palace in stoppage time when Jose Sa fumbled, but the goal was ruled out for a foul by Daniel Munoz on the goalkeeper and the decision was not overturned.
Jean-Philippe Mateta fired home for Palace in stoppage time but VAR ruled it out for a foul
There were more boos for Wolves at full-time and Palace boss Oliver Glasner confronted referee Anthony Taylor after the final whistle, baffled that his team had been denied three points.
‘If he had judged that incident the way he judged most things in the previous 98 minutes, he would have given the goal,’ lamented Glasner.
