Marcus Tavernier’s goal shortly after the restart proved to be the difference at Molineux, the 1-0 win Cherries’ first since November, and only their second league victory on the road this campaign. Jefferson Lerma was an enforced change at the break, the midfielder coming off with illness and replaced by Joe Rothwell. Cherries spent most of the opening 45 minutes camped in their own half, with O’Neil’s side unable to make the most of their opportunities on the break.Discussing the game,
Gary O’Neil said: “I felt the first half, we were slightly more passive than I wanted us to be. A couple of reasons – we sat a little bit too deep, too early, and we turned the ball over too easily. So we just had to suffer constant phases without the ball. Under massive threat, the boys dug in. First half, I felt we could have been better. We had some real good counter-attacking situations that we wasted, but, yes, second half, couple of tweaks to try and help the boys be more aggressive at half time. I thought the second half was very good. Should have probably took more from some of the situations that we had. Overall pleased, but as always, still things that I would have liked to have been better.”
When pressed for the tweaks he made at the break to change Cherries’ fortunes’
Gary O’Neil explained: “We tried to get Dango (Ouattara) slightly higher, press slightly higher up, try and win the ball back slightly higher than we were. Because although we were well organised first half, and they weren’t ripping us apart, it’s just a long time to be without the ball. So tried to help the boys. We had to be aggressive, but the shape first half maybe didn’t allow us to be as aggressive as we wanted to. Second half, just tried to change a couple of things and I thought Joe Rothwell did well when he came on.”
