Wolverhampton Wanderers head coach Gary O’Neil says he is “not interested” in discussing his future after his team’s winless start to the season extended to 10 games.
Wolves now have just one win in their last 20 Premier League games dating back to the end of last season and fans voiced their anger at O’Neil when he made a triple substitution during a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace at Molineux today.
O’Neil is under increasing pressure with his side bottom of the table but he says he is not keen to talk about his own future.
“I’m just going to carry on and do my job,” he said. “I enjoy working with a group. I enjoyed this evening.
“We need to be better, of course we do. As I’ve said many times, a lot of it ends up being my responsibility, which I’m happy to take.
“Criticism around substitutions, criticism around the goals can land on my doorstep, no problem.
“That’s what I’m here for and we’re working very hard to make it as good as we can get it.
“It’s not the time for me to speak overly honestly around the whole bigger situation because whatever I say at this moment will be seen as excuses and I’m not interested.
“We need to win football matches and I get back to work now on the way home to make sure that we get ready for Southampton.”
Supporters were unhappy to see midfielder Tommy Doyle taken off as part of the triple change and sang “you don’t know what you’re doing” at O’Neil.
But his replacement, Mario Lemina, went on to play a crucial role in the equalising goal for Jorgen Strand Larsen. Wolves then took the lead through Joao Gomes before conceding a second Palace goal to Marc Guehi.
“They can voice their opinions, of course,” said O’Neil. “My job is to make the right decision.
“Tommy’s excellent. He did well last week and did well while he was on today, but there wasn’t a lot of time on the ball and Mario made us an awful lot better when he came on, not because Tommy’s poor, just because Mario is — physically excellent.
“He snuffed out so many second balls and turned them into attacking situations for us.
“I’m fine. I’m absolutely fine. It’s my job.”
Wolves return to action next weekend against Southampton, who are one point and one place above them in the table.
(Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
