Gary O’Neil Faces Crucial Decision: Wolves Urged to Unleash £5m Star in Rare Tactical Shift Against Sheffield United
Gary O’Neil masterminded another brilliant result at the weekend, with Wolve beating Tottenham Hotspur once again.
Joao Gomes scored two goals for the visitors, and Wolves won the game 2-1 and were fully deserving of the three points.
O’Neil got it spot on tactically, but it will likely be a very different game on Sunday at Molineux.
Wolves are hosting bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United – and surely, it’s a game that calls for Tommy Doyle…
Sheffield United are having a terrible season.
The Blades currently sit rock bottom and have taken 13 points from their 25 games.
They have a goal difference of -43, which is truly abysmal and they have a serious job on their hands staying in the division.
It is a major opportunity for Wolves to get another three points on the board, and the expectation is that Wolves will have the lion’s share of possession in this game, unlike against Tottenham.
Mario Lemina believes Wanderers will ‘have the possession’, and so, Wolves need to make good use of the ball.
Therefore, O’Neil should be considering bringing in Tommy Doyle for this particular game.
There is going to be a lot of probing from Wolves, with United looking to sit in and defend. So it will surely pay to have someone Doyle – branded ‘quality’ by Andy Thompson – getting on the ball for Wolves.
It will be less about hunting the ball down and winning it back, and more about being creative to breach a team that will try to defend.
Doyle – whom Wolves are expected to buy for £5 million this summer – has a fantastic passing range and is more incisive from deep than Lemina and Joao Gomes.
Lemina and Gomes have been outstanding though, and neither would really warrant being dropped.
That is why O’Neil should genuinely consider going with a back four and adding Doyle in with Lemina and Gomes, rather than at the expense of one.
Perhaps there is less of a need for someone like Toti Gomes to play in this game.
We saw when Brentford came to Molineux earlier this month the way they sat in after scoring, and Wolves just couldn’t breach them, with Lee Naylor suggesting Doyle should have been thrown on sooner.
Perhaps this weekend, he should simply be thrown in from the very start.