Wolves boss Gary O’Neil delivers unpopular Coventry City verdict

Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Gary O'Neil has called for fewer presumptions over his side's chances of reaching the Emirates FA Cup semi final after the Old Gold were drawn at home to Coventry City.

An unpopular opinion, perhaps, given many are confident in Wolves advancing with relative ease, but O'Neil believes Coventry will be mightily tough opponents. The head coach has revealed the game will be approached with the utmost caution, especially as Wanderers quite often struggle against teams performing a low block.

“Coventry will be a massive test. They’re local rivals firstly and they’re a good side, I’ve seen a lot of them in the Championship," O'Neil said on Wednesday night. "They play good football but we’ll be expected to roll them over easily by everyone outside the changing room. That can create a really difficult afternoon for us. 

“They’ll need to be respected and we’ll need to take it extremely seriously as we have done. I’ll make sure we’re ready to put on a top-level performance because even 95 percent against Coventry won’t be enough. I get a little bit concerned with people just assuming because we’ve got Coventry at home we’re going to make it through to the semi final. 

“It will be a really tough game. We’ve seen what teams below us have been able to do to us here — they’ve frustrated us. It’ll be a tough game for us and we’ll get the boys ready to go. The home draw was important to us, the boys love playing here and the fans cannot be underestimated," O'Neil concluded.

Wolves have had a tricky run to the quarter final and they will need to show the same character again when Coventry come to town. Wanderers earned a replay against Brentford despite playing with 10 men for 80 minutes away from home before the Bees forced extra time in the replay at Molineux.

Having beaten Brentford late on in that game, Wolves went on to face bitter rivals West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns. Albeit a 2-0 win in the end, the hostile environment made it a tricky afternoon. Last but not least, beating Brighton was no easy feat. Neither will be winning against Coventry.

Wolves are one game away from Wembley but they will have to be at their absolute best to get there. The other teams still left in the competition are Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Chelsea and Leicester City.