Following the announcement that Wolves would host the Sky Blues in the FA Cup quarterfinal, Gary O’Neil gave a detailed speech about Coventry City.
Gary O’Neill, the manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers, has urged people to have less faith in his team’s ability to advance to the Emirates FA Cup semifinal after the Old Gold were drawn at home against Coventry City.
Unpopular as it may be given that many people think Wolves will advance rather easily, O’Neil thinks Coventry will be extremely difficult to play against. The head coach has stated that the match will be played with extreme caution, particularly since Wanderers frequently have trouble against teams that use a low block.
Coventry is going to be a huge test. First and foremost, they are good opponents from my hometown; I’ve seen a lot of them in the Championship,” O’Neil remarked on Wednesday night. “They are good football players, but everyone outside the changing room will expect us to roll them over with ease. That could make for a very challenging afternoon for us.
“We must respect them and treat it with the utmost seriousness, just as we have.” Even ninety-five percent won’t cut it against Coventry, so I’ll make sure we’re prepared to play at the highest level possible. People’s assumptions that we will advance to the semi-final simply because we have Coventry at home worry me a little bit.
“This game will be extremely difficult. Here, we’ve witnessed what teams beneath us are capable of accomplishing: they have irritated us. We’ll prepare the boys for the challenging game ahead of us. The guys love playing here, and the fans are amazing, so we really valued the home draw,” O’Neil said.
After a challenging journey to the quarterfinals, Wolves will need to exhibit the same resolve when Coventry visits the city. Despite playing with 10 men for 80 minutes away from home against Brentford, Wanderers earned a replay before the Bees forced extra time in the replay at Molineux.
Following their late-game victory over Brentford, Wolves travelled to The Hawthorns to play fierce rivals West Bromwich Albion. Even though we won 2-0 in the end, the hostile atmosphere made the afternoon challenging. Not to mention, defeating Brighton was no small accomplishment. Neither is going to prevail over Coventry.
Wembley is just one game away for Wolves, but they will need to perform at an elite level to get there. Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Chelsea, and Leicester City are the remaining teams in the competition.
