Gary O’Neil sends stark warning to incoming new Wolves boss Vitor Pereira

Whoever takes over in the Wolves hot seat must be aware of two key areas the club are suffering in, as discussed by O’Neil in his final press conference.

The 41-year-old suggested Wanderers are severely lacking the presence of a central defender with both pace and physicality. O’Neil believes the lack of replacement for Maximilian Kilman has been incredibly costly with the situation worsened by the long-term knee injury suffered by Yerson Mosquera.

“We’re not blessed with loads of defenders, we’re definitely not blessed with lots of physicality in defence,” O’Neil said after Saturday’s fateful 2-1 defeat to Ipswich Town.

“Yerson was excellent pace-wise, aerially. Max Kilman was excellent physically, pace-wise and aerially. We don’t have one of those now that are good at both of those.

“Santi Bueno is a centre-back we’ve signed to be capable to deal with the level. I would expect him to be able to deal with the stuff he was asked to deal with. And Toti Gomes is similar really, he’s working his socks off to get to this level but there’s only so much you can do to protect them from these moments,” he said.

Those words turned out to be some of O’Neil’s last as Wolves manager as he spoke to the media for the final time, relieved of his duties after picking up just nine points from the first 16 matches.

Al Shabab boss Vitor Pereira is in advanced talks with the Old Gold and looks set to take the head coach position. The incoming manager probably doesn’t need advice as he’s won four league titles throughout spells in Portugal, Greece and China – but O’Neil makes a fair point about the current state of the defence.