"I've never seen anything like it" - Gary O'Neil dissects 'unacceptable' Wolves errors in Chelsea demolition

O’Neil was in disbelief at the manner in which his Wolves players were torn apart early in the second half, falling from 2-2 at half-time to a staggering 5-2 deficit within just 15 minutes of the restart.

Noni Madueke’s ruthless hat-trick silenced a Molineux crowd that had been riled up by derogatory social media comments made by the winger earlier in the weekend. The 22-year-old - alongside teammate Nicolas Jackson - was at the heart of controversy on the field as there were several confrontations between both teams throughout.

Wolves’ true Jekyll and Hyde performance brought out total bemusement from O’Neil post-match. The manager - much like much of the home crowd - is yet to fully understand just how Wanderers capitulated as they did, as the players acted in a way never seen before.

“What a crazy game, we gave Chelsea so many good situations from crazy episodes that were so avoidable. We were badly punished,” O’Neil said in the Molineux press lounge.

“To go from where we were in the first half to what happened - going from 2-2 to 5-2 in that spell - was unrecoverable for us. There’s a lot there we need to look at and understand. It’s unacceptable it went like it did.”

Emotions got the better of Wolves, O’Neil admits

So, what went wrong? Was it the wild emotions on the pitch, confusion in understanding instructions, or something else entirely? O’Neil and his staff will take many hours dissecting the performance over the coming days.

“Last season we conceded three goals when we suffered from emotion,” O’Neil told Birmingham World after being asked about his players’ lack of focus.

“I was conscious of that and I did speak to the players about it at half time. We need to remain focused when the game is at full tilt, it’s something we definitely need to improve upon.

“We were out of position and shape, perhaps a loss of focus like the question I was just asked. Maybe with the emotion, we got caught up in the frantic nature of the game. It took us away from thinking clearly enough and focusing on our own jobs, where we were supposed to me.

“They were crazy goals and I’ve never seen anything like it from us before. We’ll need to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” O’Neil admitted.

Wolves will have taken quite the confidence hit from Sunday’s freak result, especially as it was inflicted on home soil. Molineux has been a fortress for several years and especially against the big teams, but this season’s first visit was nothing short of a disaster.

“That’s my fault,” O’Neil said. “I want to be very clear that I’m not blaming just the players, it’s our responsibility whatever goes wrong out there. Whether it’s part of my plan or part of a misunderstanding, or the players going off to do what they think is best, it comes down to me.”