Wolves fans are desperately hoping for a turnaround this season after a truly awful start.
Gary O’Neil is still looking for his first Premier League win of the season, having just overseen another draw against Crystal Palace.
It was once again a case of Wolves not being able to see a game out from a winning position, and fans are really starting to lose patience with the manager.
On Saturday, there were chants of ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ aimed at O’Neil, as he took off Tommy Doyle as part of a triple substitution.
And there were plenty of boos during other parts of the match.
Fosun recently backed O’Neil, but many Wolves fans are now ‘O’Neil out’ and even his most ardent supporters are losing faith.
But there is one statistic that O’Neil himself will be keen for Wolves fans to digest, as the pressure on him mounts at Molineux.
Three PL clubs have survived after taking three points from 10 games, but two sacked their managers
The situation right now is extremely concerning.
Wolves have taken just three points so far, and have shipped a whopping 27 goals in their 10 games.
It’s just one win in 20 stretching back to last season, and Wolves have not kept a clean sheet in any of their last 22 in the league.
But there is one statistic doing the rounds to suggest that all is not lost just yet.
As shared by BBC Sport on X, there are three clubs who have previously taken three points from their first 10 league games like Wolves – and gone on to survive relegation.
They are Everton in the 1994/95 season, Crystal Palace in 2013/14 and Newcastle United in 2018/19.
But, some context needs to be applied here. Everton sacked their manager Howard Kendall in December 1993, replacing him with Mike Walker in January 1994. Everton would go on to finish 17th with 44 points.
Crystal Palace also sacked Ian Holloway in October 2013. He was replaced a month later by Tony Pulis, who kept the Eagles up comfortably with a final points tally of 45 points (11th).
Unlike Everton and Palace though, Newcastle United had the same manager for the whole season in 2018/19 in Rafa Benitez. The Spaniard turned things around after three points from 10 games, finishing with a final tally of 45 points (13th).
Wolves players must keep fighting
No one is happy with the current situation. But the players have to continue fighting as hard as possible.
Wolves are slightly unlucky to find themselves on just three points so far and it is probably demoralising to look at the table right now.
Position | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Diff | Points |
16 | Everton | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 17 | -7 | 9 |
17 | Crystal Palace | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 13 | -5 | 7 |
18 | Ipswich | 10 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 21 | -11 | 5 |
19 | Southampton | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 19 | -12 | 4 |
20 | Wolves | 10 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 27 | -13 | 3 |
Key:
Position 1 – 4 : Champions League
Position 5 : UEFA Europa League
Position 18 – 20 : Relegation
But there is enough quality in that squad for Wolves to follow the examples of Everton, Crystal Palace and Newcastle.
It just remains to be seen which route the club goes down regarding the manager. Everton and Palace both survived by sacking their managers.
But Newcastle kept faith with Benitez and ended up turning things around and surviving comfortbaly in 2019.
One gets the feeling the next game on Saturday for Wolves is absoultely huge for the manager. If O’Neil doesn’t beat Southampton he could really struggle to stay in his job.
FOR MORE STORIES LIKE THIS CHECK OUR HOME
Be the first to comment