Gary O'Neil refuses to blame Wolves players for Chelsea humbling
- Planet Sport writer
- 26 August 2024
Wolves manager Gary O'Neil admits he was at fault for his side's second-half collapse in the 6-2 home defeat against Chelsea.
The teams were locked at 2-2 following an entertaining first period at Molineux, Matheus Cunha and Jorgen Strand Larsen netting for Wolves with Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer scoring for Chelsea, but a brilliant second-half display from the Blues saw them walk away with the points.
Noni Madueke claimed the headlines with a quickfire hat-trick - having been heavily booed by home fans following his negative comments about the city of Wolverhampton - before new signing Joao Felix wrapped things up with a goal on his second debut for Chelsea.
Defeat for Wolves means they are without a point from their first two games, having suffered a 2-0 loss to Arsenal in their season-opener, but O'Neil was keen to stress the buck stops with him and he apologised to fans for Sunday's result.
He said: "I want to be really clear, I'm not sat here blaming players, I'll never ever do that. It's always our responsibility.
"Whatever goes wrong out there whether it's part of my plan or a misunderstanding, it all comes down to me.
"A tough one for them (fans) because they were probably sat there enjoying their team having a real good go against a team that spent billions.
"Going toe to toe and then feeling like there was a huge gulf between the two sides for the rest of it.
"A tough afternoon for the fans which I apologise for on my part because I don't want them to suffer games like that. We played Arsenal and Chelsea, lost our captain (Max Kilman) and probably best player (Neto), if anyone thought this first two weeks was going to be easy, I knew it wasn't.
"(Chelsea game) showed how difficult it can be if you fall below the level we try and set."
Palmer played a key part in Chelsea win, scoring in the first half before setting up all three of Madueke's goals in the second.
Blues boss Enzo Maresca described his talisman as "special" after bagging his first goal of the new Premier League season.
He said: "I know Cole from four or five years and had a season with him at (Manchester) City in the second team and first team.
"He's a special player, special guy and person and not surprised about the goals he scored last year and the goal he scored today. Cole is a top player."
