Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Gary O’Neil has warned his players they will be replaced unless they improve before the start of the January transfer window.
O’Neil was angry with his players’ decision-making in a 2-1 home defeat to Ipswich, sealed by Jack Taylor’s headed goal deep into stoppage time.
Clarke became the latest opposition player to exploit Wolves’ weaknesses at set-pieces after the visitors had opened the scoring in the first half from an embarrassing Matt Doherty own-goal that came about after Liam Delap outmuscled new Wolves captain Nelson Semedo.
And O’Neil, who has steadfastly defended his players throughout his 16-month reign, pulled no punches on Saturday evening in his post-match press conference.
“The first goal is unacceptable for Premier League level. Liam Delap did that a lot when he played under-18s against kids that were 2ft smaller than him, when he looked like he was playing two years up, bashing people out of the way and running through,” said O’Neil.
“But that’s not acceptable to concede that goal at Premier League level. Liam Delap won’t score that goal against any other Premier League team.
“So that’s two areas we’re really struggling with and both are really related to physicality and being able to cope with physicality in our defending areas.”
Matheus Cunha drew Wolves level and his side then pushed for a winner in the final half-hour before being beaten by Clarke’s late header.
O’Neil is eyeing defensive signings in January if he survives himself, with fans still calling for a management change.
“That group was close to the maximum today,” he said.
Rayan Ait-Nouri was sent off for a second yellow card after the final whistle and had to be restrained by team-mates (Getty Images)
“But the really damning verdict is when we are close to maximum, we’re still not able to come out on top in a game that we should have come out on top of easily because of two really basic goals.
“We need to be really honest with where we are because you either find a way to be good enough or you get replaced. That goes for me, that goes for the players. That’s the nature of the business, it is a very competitive industry, especially at Premier League level.
“And change will come if you constantly keep falling below the level, which we have in two key areas. It’s really difficult for me to protect them from that.
“I can protect them from a lot with a game plan but that wasn’t a problem today.
“It was similar to Everton, where Jordan Pickford’s going to boot it to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and against Ipswich Dara O’Shea’s going to boot it to Delap, and until you can cope with that it’s very difficult for you to win a football match.”
Rayan Ait-Nouri was sent off for a second yellow card after the final whistle and had to be dragged down the tunnel after being involved in an angry spat with Ipswich players.
The Algeria international was already set to be suspended for next Saturday’s game at Leicester after receiving his fifth yellow card of the season in the first half.
But he will now miss that game because of his red card and will return afterwards still on four bookings, one more away from a further ban.
“I haven’t seen it but Rayan will know how I feel about it already because getting a second yellow card and being unavailable for next week’s game can have catastrophic consequences,” said O’Neil.
“However much stress and however much pressure we’re under at this moment, we need to keep control.
“We saw it a little bit when we went down to 10 men when Matheus Cunha came off (for treatment) and our central midfielder goes and presses Ipswich’s goalie and we’re down to 10 men.
“It’s absolutely ludicrous. It’s a ludicrous decision, and then when we’ve got 30 seconds left, having just battered Ipswich’s door down for the whole second half, two people decide to change positions to defend a corner.
“They need to make better decisions.”
Wolves are next in action against Leicester City a week on Sunday.
(Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
