O´Neil confident Wolves will overachieve this season despite Newcastle setback

Gary O’Neil is confident Wolves will overachieve again in the Premier League this season despite falling to a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle on Sunday.

Mario Lemina had given the hosts a half-time lead, only for Fabian Schar and Harvey Barnes’ long-range efforts completing the turnaround for the Magpies.

Wolves have now failed to win any of their opening four league games this term and occupy the final place in the bottom three.

Their single point against Nottingham Forest makes this their joint-worst start to a Premier League campaign, along with 2003-04, when they were relegated in last place.

O’Neil’s side have now also lost six of their last seven league games at Molineux, losing more games on home turf in 2024 than any other team in the top-flight (eight).

But the Wolves head coach, who oversaw a 14th-place finish in his debut campaign at the helm last year, is confident his players will find their groove.

“We have better depth, of course. The run is the run. The team should be judged on what they did for the whole of last season.

“I am sure we will overachieve what many people will expect of us this season.

“Everyone is desperate for our first win. That was close to being our best today.

“We have gone up against a side that have spent an awful lot of money and were in the Champions League.

“There are not a lot of teams that can go against Newcastle and look the most likely to win.”

A big effort on the pitch, matched in the stands pic.twitter.com/Kh6EzcqPjN

— Wolves (@Wolves) September 15, 2024

There were positives for O’Neil to take from the defeat, however, most notably the performance of new addition Andre in central midfield.

The Brazilian completed all 40 of his passes against Newcastle, the most on record by a player on their first ever Premier League start without misplacing one (since 2003-04).

“Very good, he’s a good player obviously. New system today with the three midfielders in. An awful lot of positives,” O’Neil said.

“Of course the only positives that people are interested in is points.

“From my point of view, to have come up with a new structure for the team and for it to look how it did against Newcastle was a big plus for us.”