Former Old Gold midfielder Karl Henry believes there has been a bit of ‘unfair’ criticism about Wolves manager Gary O’Neil recently.
It has been a season of real surprise at Molineux after the chaos of last summer, when Julen Lopetegui left the club and a host of top players left.
Everything pointed to a season of struggle, and plenty of people had reservations about Gary O’Neil when he came in ahead of that first game with Manchester United.
But he’s done a sterling job so far with the resources at his disposal.
Just lately it has been tricky for O’Neil though, with injuries to key players really halting his side’s momentum.
Those injuries perhaps came about because of an increased workload as a result of a small squad, due to the club’s inability to spend.
Over the last couple of months or so, O’Neil has voiced his frustrations a few times about the size of the squad and how the injuries have just curtailed things a little bit.
That has led to criticism, mostly from rival fans, but former Wolves midfielder Karl Henry is having none of it…
Karl Henry defends Wolves manager Gary O’Neil after ‘unfair’ criticism recently
You will be hard-pressed to find a Wolves fan who genuinely believed the team would be sitting in 11th place with just three games to go, on 46 points.
It seemed that Wolves were dead-certs for a relegation battle. But O’Neil came in and got the players to buy what he was selling immediately.
It’s been a fantastic campaign, and it might have been even better had it not been for a string of terrible VAR decisions and injuries to key players.
Wanderers being without Matheus Cunha, Hwang Hee-chan and Pedro Neto for a number of games has really ended up stinging, and the manager’s frustrations have been understandable.
Ahead of Saturday’s game with Luton Town, Henry spoke to journalist Tom Gibson about O’Neil and feels criticism of him has been a tad ‘unfair’. He said in a video for Gibson’s YouTube channel: “I’ve got every sympathy for Gary O’Neil. We all knew the squad size and I think he’s maybe taken a little bit of criticism. I’ve seen little bits of criticism about him maybe going on about it a little bit too much.
“I personally think that’s unfair. We’ve all seen how great the team is with the front three, with Cunha, Hwang and Neto available. We’ve got some real strong players.”
Henry is right, criticism is unfair
O’Neil has had every right to express his frustrations about the injuries at Wolves and the lack of depth.
He’s a great manager, but he has been stopped from achieving even better things because he’s had to call on young and inexperienced players, and put square pegs in round holes.
He’s allowed a moan about the situation given where he’s got the club. Wolves may well have been in the European places right now had he been able to rotate more.
