2023/24 Premier League club previews: Wolves

Ahead of the 2023/24 Premier League season, Alex Keble takes an in-depth look at each of the 20 clubs.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

There is little worse that can befall a Premier League club in the build-up to a new season than the loss of a manager.

It can be viewed as a harbinger of doom, and yet Wolves fans may find themselves oddly relieved that Julen Lopetegui has been replaced by Gary O’Neil.

See: Wolves and Lopetegui part company

First of all, there is no value in having a manager who does not wish to be at the club as the statement over a “difference of opinion” that accompanied the Spaniard’s exit alluded to.

And second, if anyone is to hit the ground running at Molineux it’s the man who took charge at AFC Bournemouth after a 9-0 defeat by Liverpool last season and implausibly kept them up.

Performance last season

2022/23 final positions

Position Pos	Club	Played Pl	GD	Points Pts
12	Chelsea CHE	38	-9	44
13	Wolves WOL	38	-27	41
14	West Ham WHU	38	-13	40

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PL performance last five seasons

How to improve on 2022/23

Lopetegui, a former Real Madrid coach and a major coup when he arrived in November, took Wolves from the foot of the Premier League to mid-table. Indeed, Wolves were joint-10th with Tottenham Hotspur in the form guide after his appointment, taking 31 points from 23 matches.

O’Neil has something to build on then, although Wolves never solved their goalscoring concerns. Only Chelsea, with 21 goals, and Bournemouth (19) scored fewer than the 23 goals registered in 23 Premier League matches since Lopetegui’s arrival.

Their best hope is that Fabio Silva and Matheus Cunha, neither of whom have yet to properly settle at Wolves, are able to step up this season under new management, particularly with Raul Jimenez and Diego Costa both departing.

Cunha's pre-season penalty v Celtic

Silva scored 16 goals across loan spells at Anderlecht and PSV last season, so there are high hopes the 21-year-old will finally find his feet. Meanwhile Cunha, signed from Atletico Madrid, scored only twice from 12 starts last year.

And with new signings in short supply, O’Neil also needs more from Goncalo Guedes, who started only eight Premier League matches following his move from Valencia.

Key transfers

The only incomings so far are Matt Doherty, re-joining Wolves on a free from Atletico Madrid, and a back-up goalkeeper in Tom King.

The exits have been more plentiful. Wolves have sold Ruben Neves, Conor Coady, Nathan Collins, and Jimenez. Neves is by far the most significant loss, a stabilising central midfielder gone, leaving O’Neil with rebuilding to do in almost all areas.

Tactics

O’Neil is a surprisingly seamless replacement for Lopetegui because pragmatism played a bigger part in the latter’s Wolves revival than we anticipated.

Unlike his Sevilla team, renowned for slow possession football built meticulously through the lines, Lopetegui’s Wolves were often a little more direct from within their 4-4-2.

Emphasis was placed on long switches to either flank, where touchline-hugging wingers would often look to cross into the two strikers, while build-up play from the back sometimes appeared to lack focus.

On the flip side, Wolves were sturdy defensively, holding a firm mid-block rather than pressing high up the pitch in the way Lopetegui’s Sevilla did.

All of this is similar to the simple and direct tactical strategy O’Neil used at Bournemouth, where he also used a 4-4-2 designed predominantly for the counter-attack.

Reasons to cheer

There is quality in the Wolves team and O’Neil should be able to improve individual performances, just as he did with a Bournemouth squad that even Scott Parker didn’t think was up to the challenge.

What’s more, Wolves’ defensive record is a good foundation upon which to build. Their 34 goals conceded in 23 matches under Lopetegui were only two more than Arsenal in the same period, suggesting O’Neil’s conservatism can succeed in the Black Country.

Reasons to fear

Some of Bournemouth’s wins under O’Neil last season were a little lucky, and indeed according to understat.com’s xPoints league table (a calculation of expected goals for and against over the season), Bournemouth were bottom.

It’s also important to note that O’Neil was assistant manager at Bournemouth and therefore he already knew the club inside out. Adapting to Wolves at speed will be considerably more difficult.

MUN

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WOL

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TV Info - Broadcasters

Opening six matches

It’s a very tough start for Wolves, who don’t have a straightforward home match for quite some time.

They could emerge from a trip to Manchester United and a match at home to Brighton empty-handed. These are then followed by Everton (A), Crystal Palace (A), Liverpool (H), and Luton Town (A). Manchester City and Aston Villa are the next two at Molineux after that.

Predicted XI v Man Utd

4-4-2: Sa; Semedo, Kilman, Dawson, Ait-Nouri; Hwang, Lemina, Nunes, Neto; Cunha, Silva.

See: Each club's 2023/24 preview