Heading into Aston Villa’s showdown with Wolves on Saturday, there was big pressure on the team as they push to secure Champions League football.
Dropped points before the International break had people questioning Unai Emery’s team.
In recent times, Wolves have had a very good record against Aston Villa, so this was never going to be easy, despite the huge gap between the two in the Premier League table.
That’s why winning the game 2-0, thanks to goals from Moussa Diaby and Ezri Konsa were ever-so vital.
Both sides came into the game with depleted squads, with key players missing through injury and suspension.
Gary O’Neil had star man Pedro Neto on the sidelines, as well as rejuvenated centre-forward Hwang Hee-chan, midfielder Matheus Cunha and the ever-reliable Craig Dawson.
But his comments after the defeat were beyond baffling, as you can read below, which was transcribed by The Athletic reporter Jacob Tanswell on Twitter.
Gary O’Neil on Villa beating Wolves
“We were facing a team that is in a different place to where we are,” said O’Neil “Villa have all their attackers available. But you could see in the game there isn’t much between us
We were the better team by a long way in the first half an hour. You could sense they realised how good we were. The numbers we produced was a good effort. 99 times out of 100 that (Ait-Nouri) is a goal. If we had Cunha, Hwang, Neto, we turn xG into goals.
“Higher possession, higher xG. You add Pedro Neto, and Cunha to that xG and I’m sure it would have mattered.”
Open your eyes, Gary O’Neil
From refusing to shake Emery’s hand during the reverse fixture and now talking complete and utter nonsense, O’Neil is sure talking from where the sun doesn’t shine.
He talks about injuries, Villa having their attackers available and Wolves having their key players missing.
Well, unless he wants reminding. John McGinn, Tyrone Mings, Emiliano Buendia, Matty Cash, Boubacar Kamara, Jacob Ramsey and Ollie Watkins going off at half-time.
They are all key players that Emery couldn’t call upon, so this isn’t a case of a full-strength vs injury-hit weakened team.
We are all in the same boat here!
Perhaps Emery can make the argument that if he had his key players on the pitch, then Villa would have won the game by a bigger margin.
Plus, talking of XG nonsense. If you want to go down that road, Gary, then perhaps he needs to realise his team is overachieving in that regard.
Anyhow, well done to Wolves for winning on XG. Villa will take the three points!
