Wolves skipper calls for unity after first win.
Mario Lemina has called on Wolves and the supporters to ‘stick together’ as he backs head coach Gary O’Neil to get them out of trouble.
A first win of the season eased pressure on O’Neil after Wolves beat Southampton 2-0 at Molineux.
The squad have remained faithful to their head coach and skipper Lemina is publicly backing him to succeed, as he calls for unity across the board.
“I understand the crowd but we know our manager and he is doing everything and working so hard to find the best tactical way to play the game,” Lemina said.
“Sometimes it is not about him, it is just about what we do on the pitch and today showed he’s a good tactical manager.
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Wolverhampton Wanderers fans will still be seriously worried about their side falling through the relegation trapdoor come the end of the Premier League campaign, even as the Old Gold won their first game of the season last time out versus Southampton.
Gary O’Neil’s men will have to beat relegation rivals to try and stay afloat, and they did just that when overcoming Russell Martin’s rock-bottom Saints 2-0 last match, but the worrying regularity with which they leak goals must make for grim reading in their continued fight to not sink down to the Championship.
gary o’neil
The Wolves boss hasn’t had luck on his side in the defensive department this season either, with Yerson Mosquera’s long-term injury severely weakening his team at the back.
Wolves’ defensive numbers this season
Wolves do boast healthy goalscoring numbers to somewhat counteract their leaky displays at the back, with 16 goals registered across 11 league clashes, but the Old Gold have also conceded the most for the division at 27.
It wasn’t as if the clean sheets were piling up high when Mosquera was fit, but his displays were very promising at the back, with a stunning 4.8 ball recoveries averaged per league game as a lively performer defensively, on top of winning a hefty amount of duels on average at 5.8.
Mosquera-Hwang-Cunha-Wolves
Therefore, it must have been a kick in the teeth for O’Neil when the encouraging season his standout number 14 was having was cut short away at Aston Villa in mid-September, with a lengthy time in the Molineux treatment room then greeting the Colombian.
The often under-fire Wolves manager has had to deal with just three centre-backs at this disposal, therefore, with Santiago Bueno stepping up to the mark in recent weeks as a first-choice option, as he helped his side keep their first clean sheet of the season against the Saints.
