Express & Star

Gary O'Neil reveals 'reality check' after Wolves loss

Gary O’Neil admits Wolves’ loss to Rayo Vallecano was a ‘reality check’ ahead of the new Premier League season.

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Gary O'Neil (Getty)

After a promising tour of the US, Wolves struggled against their Spanish opponents on Saturday at Molineux.

Despite dominating possession, Wolves failed to create many chances and O’Neil was frustrating with the performance.

He said: “I’ve got quite a lot out of the others, but I didn’t enjoy today. I thought it was flat and I didn’t think we got much out of the game.

“The way Vallecano played didn’t help us get much from it either because they were really direct, went 1-0 up quite early and let us have the ball, and we struggled to progress, which we might face sometimes, but it wasn’t like a Premier League game.

“But what I did get from it, was that we really struggled with large parts of it. We were obviously trying to win the game but trying to get a few people ready for the weekend against Arsenal, which will be a very different test.

“It was my least favourite game so far, and sometimes it can be a bit like that, the last game of pre-season, and you want it to be everything to get you prepared, and then they go 1-0 up early, it’s hot, and then the pitch gets slow, and we were not at our level quality-wise.