Shropshire Star

Gary O'Neil calling for Wolves to kick on after Man City win

Gary O’Neil insists he has ‘no doubts’ in his Wolves side as he calls for more consistency in the face of their win over Manchester City.

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Gary O'Neil (Getty)

A difficult start to the season was made much brighter after their 2-1 victory over the reigning champions.

O’Neil – who is adamant he has full belief in his players – is now calling for consistent performance levels as they look to follow-up their form at home to Villa.

“We need to improve lots of little bits and there has been improvement,” O’Neil said when asked about whether more consistency was needed.

“There’s areas that still need improvement, which will always be the case, and we’ll get it there.

“The lads are fully committed to absolutely everything we ask.

“We’re going to keep going and keep improving them, I have no doubts in the group whatsoever. I can maximise what we have here.”

Skipper Max Kilman, who gave a glowing reference of O’Neil after Saturday’s win, now hopes the performance and result will boost the team’s confidence.

He said: “It’s massive. We needed the confidence and we needed a result like that.

“I think it will really help us push on now. We’ll play with more confidence. You always need those first couple wins and to beat City at home is a real positive. Hopefully it drives us on.”

Pedro Neto’s electric start to the season continued with a brilliant assist for the opening goal, while Hwang Hee-chan’s winner made it five goals in eight games for the South Korean international.

Kilman said: “They’re top. They’ve both really kicked on this season and they’re doing really well, and Cunha as well.

“The front three was electric and we know if we won the ball and put them on the counter-attack, we’d have many chances, and it paid off.”

On Neto, O’Neil added: “He’s been incredible hasn’t he. His energy, his fitness, his work-rate, his diligence, his quality – I’m delighted with where he is.

“There were so many. Bouba coming off the bench, I thought he was excellent as well. We now need to keep pushing.

“There’s always a temptation against Man City to get more defensive-minded players in the team, because you know a lot of the game is going to be that. But we went with keeping an attacking three on there, trying to get them to do the defensive work so we still carried an attacking threat, and I think all three of them carried it out unbelievably well.

“Channy, Pedro, Cunha, all diligent, showed quality and were still a threat going forward.”