Wolverhampton Wanderers’ tortuous start to the Premier League season has its defining image.
As the final whistle blew on a fifth defeat in six games, Mario Lemina dropped to his knees, covered his face and could not hold back the tears.
While the captain could be forgiven for letting everything out after an early evening of fruitless, painful toil, the fate of Wolves’ season may hinge on his and Gary O’Neil’s ability to manage the emotions within the squad.
Once again on Saturday, Wolves let theirs control them. The result, therefore, was predictable.
O’Neil’s side did plenty right on Arne Slot’s first visit to Molineux, maintaining discipline and shape for most of the game to ensure Liverpool played largely in front of them.
They showed the bravery to take the ball in tight positions — a challenge O’Neil had issued before the game after admitting they had “lost their way” in possession during the second half of their 3-1 defeat at Aston Villa.
They also kept up their energy levels throughout, yet when they needed cool heads and composure they were again found wanting.
Having clawed their way back into the contest with the help of Jorgen Strand Larsen’s persistence and Ibrahima Konate’s carelessness to allow Rayan Ait-Nouri to cancel out Konate’s headed opener, Wolves needed a spell of calm game management.
Instead, they got carried away, went looking for another goal, forgot their defensive responsibilities and conceded a needless penalty that proved costly.
Had it been a one-off, it could have been overlooked as an issue; a forgivable lapse against one of the Premier League’s most formidable opponents.
But this season Wolves have capitulated to lose 6-2 against Chelsea when they were holding their own, allowed a match against Villa in which they were in charge to slide away and now failed to seize a crucial moment at home to Liverpool.
Three times in six games is something more than an aberration.
— Wolves (@Wolves) September 28, 2024
“The error was born from emotion,” admitted O’Neil in his post-match press conference. “It was, ‘OK, we’ve scored, let’s go,’ whereas when we were in a controlled shape and structure we were better.
“We got carried away after we scored and went chasing things that we shouldn’t, opening the game up on one of the very few occasions that we did.
“And, as it’s going for us at the minute, we got badly punished for that lapse.”
Not for the first time, a team O’Neil has likened to a wild horse in need of taming reared up and kicked him, not that the head coach was without questions to answer after a third straight defeat.
The decision to leave potential match-changers Goncalo Guedes and Rodrigo Gomes unused when Wolves were chasing the game was strange.
But Wolves’ fate over the next few months is likely to be decided less by O’Neil’s ability as an in-game tactician and more by his skills as a sports psychologist.
Because if Wolves’ emotional control in key moments of games is a concern, then it follows that their macro psychology is even more important than the micro.
Wolves could enter November at the bottom of the table — one point from six games with three more difficult games to come in October does not bode well.
So much will depend on the mental state in which O’Neil’s players arrive at the point of their season when the fixture list turns, with three potentially winnable home games in November – against Crystal Palace, Southampton and Bournemouth – and another against Ipswich Town in December in between some away trips that will inevitably be testing but which look less daunting than what has gone before.
Get there with a level of belief intact and Wolves have every chance of putting this grim start to the season behind them, but arrive with spirits on the floor and the situation has the potential to spiral out of control.
“We’ve suffered a lot over the last six games, but we have always been ready to go again and will be ready to go again next week,” said O’Neil, who takes his side to Brentford on Saturday.
“We lost against Arsenal and we were ready from the off against Chelsea.
“We lost against Chelsea and we were ready to go again against Forest and ready against Newcastle, ready against Villa.
“And if anyone thought there was any hangover and we were feeling sorry for ourselves, that’s what the lads are still ready to show.”
Yet while Wolves have started most games after defeats looking solid and determined, Lemina’s open show of emotion at the final whistle hinted at the scale of the job O’Neil has to prevent his players from losing faith.
There was praise after the game from Liverpool head coach Slot for Wolves’ organisation and words of comfort for Lemina from his former Southampton team-mate and Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk.
“He works very hard and he’s the captain and he wants good results for the club. He puts a lot of fight into the game,” the Dutchman told assembled reporters after the game.
“I just wanted to shake his hand like I do with all the players but I have a bit more history with him.
“They’ve had a difficult start to the season but they have had some unlucky games where they could have got a result and didn’t, but they have to keep going.”
On the evidence of the season so far, Van Dijk is right that Wolves will turn out in London next weekend, and to the games that follow, with determination and a plan.
But they and O’Neil desperately need to combine it with an emotional control that has been lacking.
(Top image: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
