Gary O'Neil said he was “devastated” by the “worst performance” of his Wolves tenure after a 5-3 defeat at Brentford left them winless at the foot of the Premier League. A wild first half at the Gtech Stadium brought six goals, four of them for Brentford, who fell agonisingly short of scoring in the first minute for the fourth game running.
Nathan Collins’s header after one minute and 15 seconds set the visitors on their way to a chastening defeat, yet Matheus Cunha levelled in the fourth minute. Bryan Mbeumo converted a penalty for Brentford after Mario Lemina wrestled Collins to the ground, before Jørgen Strand Larsen poked Wolves level for a second time. Christian Nørgaard drilled in to give Brentford a lead they would not surrender, and Ethan Pinnock headed a fourth on the stroke of half-time. Fábio Carvalho and Rayan Aït-Nouri scored late on to complete the scoring.
“There was no structure,” said O'Neil. “A complete loss of control as to what the team were meant to do and where they were meant to be. The worst performance I’ve seen from the group since I’ve been here. The early goal knocks them maybe. But just far too open, no real understanding.” He accepted full responsibility, adding: “Today they weren’t able to carry out what we needed, so there needs to be a rethink around how we go about things. I’m absolutely devastated with the way the team performed today.”
Thomas Frank, whose team climbed into the top half with their third win of the season, reflected on how close his players came to making an unlikely piece of history by scoring inside the first minute for the fourth consecutive match. “We’ve been joking about it,” he said. “All jokes aside it’s fantastic. It’s a great mentality in the group. We want to play forward as quick as possible.”
