Gary O’Neil’s squad are currently out in the United States preparing for their first of three pre-season friendlies, starting with a clash against West Ham in Jacksonville.
O’Neil has welcomed three new faces to his squad in pre-season following the additions of Pedro Lima, Rodrigo Gomes and Jorgen Strand Larsen while Jose Sa, Nelson Semedo, Pedro Neto and Joao Gomes have been given an ‘extra holiday’ after a packed summer of action.
It’s expected that the quartet will return from their holidays next week ahead of fixtures against Crystal Palace (August 1st) and RB Leipzig (August 4th).
In the meantime, though, O’Neil has been working hard to mentally and physically condition his players as they aim to improve on their 14th-place finish.
How Gary O’Neil is ‘mentally’ preparing his Wolves players
Wolves have arguably one of the toughest fixture runs of all clubs at the start of the season, as they play Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester City in six of their first eight matches.
Last season, O’Neil’s men claimed the most points of any team against the ‘big six’ than any other side, posting victories over Manchester City, Tottenham and Chelsea in the Premier League.
The Wolves boss made his side hard to break down in their usual 3-4-3 system, while they were dangerous on the counter-attack through the pace of Hwang Hee-chan, Matheus Cunha and Pedro Neto.
In an unforgiving fixture schedule at the start, O’Neil is already readying his side for the mental and physical demands to try and overcome Arsenal in the first game.
As revealed by E&S journalist Liam Keen, he’s been telling his players to imagine they’re 1-0 up against the Gunners in the 80th minute, as a tool of motivation to drag every ounce of effort out of his squad.
Speaking after day two of their pre-season training in Miami, Keen said: “They’re going to put Wolves through the wringer and it’s going to be tough and you’ve got to be prepared for that.
“And I could hear Gary at one point in the five a side, obviously split into teams, all desperate to win and trying to score. At one point, there was a team 1-0 up, almost at the end of their game and Gary starts shouting, ‘1-0 up at the Emirates, two minutes to go’ like he was starting to mentally prepare the players for that game.”
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