‘Suffered’: O’Neil says three Wolves players had a virus before West Ham loss, they all played today
Wolves lost 3-0 to West Ham United in the Premier League – and Gary O’Neil said after the game that three players came into the game having had a virus.
Wanderers were easily beaten by the Hammers at the London Stadium, with Mohammed Kuduas and Lucas Paqueta having a field day.
The lively Kudus scored two goals in the game and really gave Toti Gomes the runaround. Jarrod Bowen then added a third in the second-half, with Paqueta assisting all three goals.
Wolves were all over the shop today, but things weren’t much better in attack.
It was a horrible performance – and Gary O’Neil said afterwards that three of his players actually did well to play in the game after suffering from a virus
Gary O’Neil says three Wolves players have had a virus
Today, Wolves lacked creativity in the final third which is actually not something the team has had too much trouble with this term. Certainly compared to last season.
But Wolves couldn’t break down the Hammers’ defence, with Hwang Hee-chan and Matheus Cunha showing signs of fatigue having played so much this term.
It was hard not to think about Neto and how much the team could have done with him today.
Neto is back in training, and will hopefully be in contention to play against Chelsea.
There seemed to be a lethargy about Wolves at times today, and O’Neil did say after the game that some of his players have recently been struck down by a virus.
According to BBC Radio WM Sport, Mario Lemina, Craig Dawson and Matheus Cunha all played today despite suffering.
He said: “There are reasons why we’re not quite at full strength. Mario, Cunha and Daws all played ill today. They suffered a virus overnight in the hotel. Fair play to them for putting themselves forward to play.”
Jose Sa was unavailable due to a shoulder injury.
O’Neil seemingly not comfortable rotating
So three of Wolves’ most important players had been struggling leading up to this game, but all three started and none of them covered themselves in glory.
They have all obviously shown themselves to be very important to the team, but perhaps it was an oversight from O’Neil not to rotate any of them.
Some Wolves fans are starting to find O’Neil’s faith in the same crop of players a little too unwavering.
There are players on the bench, like Tommy Doyle and Sasa Kalajdzic who are not playing as much as they should be. It is a bit concerning that the manager would still go with players who aren’t, or haven’t, necessarily been at 100% rather than turn to his fringe players.
