Brentford defeat 'my worst game as a coach', says O'Neil

Gary O'Neil believes Wolves' 5-3 defeat against Brentford was his "worst game as a coach" as the visitors remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table.

Nathan Collins' second-minute header was cancelled out by Matheus Cunha soon after, only for in-form Bryan Mbeumo to put the Bees in front from the penalty spot.

Jorgen Strand Larsen levelled the game once again, but the hosts then raced into a 4-2 lead by the break thanks to efforts from Christian Norgaard and Ethan Pinnock.

The final two goals of an enthralling encounter came in the closing stages, with Fabio Carvalho scoring Brentford's fifth before Rayan Ait-Nouri netted a late consolation.

Wolves are now winless in their first seven games of the 2024-25 Premier League season (D1 L6), their worst run at the start of a top-flight campaign since 2003-04, when they also went without a win in their first seven (D2 L5).

They have also managed just one win in their last 17 league matches, but it was the manner in which his team collapsed that left O'Neil feeling downcast.

"It's the furthest I've seen the group from what we wanted to look like. An unbelievably disappointing afternoon for us. Crazy, crazy goals we gave away," O'Neil said.

"There's a lot to think about and a lot to put right. We’ll get straight to work. Some players will be away [on international duty] but we need to find a way for the team to be better than this afternoon.

"Today was so loose. [We made] crazy decisions with and without the ball. It was a really poor performance.

"The responsibility is on me. Of course, the players are going to make decisions, but I need to give them something that makes them make better decisions than they made today, make fewer mistakes than we made today. It’s the worst game I’ve been involved in as a coach.

“I'll do the best I can with the group I have. The club do what they can do off the pitch. My responsibility is to find results. This league can be tough. There are no hiding places. We can do better than that."

Defeat. pic.twitter.com/DlIFT1SJZs

— Wolves (@Wolves) October 5, 2024

For Thomas Frank and Brentford, they continued their impressive home form in the Premier League this term.

The Bees are now unbeaten in their first four home games of the 2024-25 Premier League season (W3 D1), their longest such run at the start of a top-flight campaign since 1936-37.

Saturday's triumph was also their first home league win against Wolves since a 3-0 win in the Championship back in February 2016.

They also netted four first-half goals for the second time in the Premier League following their 4-0 win over Manchester United back in August 2022.

Brentford continued their lightning starts to matches this campaign, with Collins' opener coming after a minute and 15 seconds, with the Bees falling agonisingly short of scoring inside the first minute for the fourth game running.

"We've been practising winning the coin toss all week, and we lost it. That’s why it took us so long [to score]," Frank joked.

"AIl jokes aside, we want to get forward as quickly as possible and put crosses into the box. After they made it 2-2, we scored 32 seconds after the kick-off.

"Offensively - wow! Unbelievable. We seemed to create a chance every time we went forward, and we were such a threat from set pieces.

"Defensively, I’m mostly angry about the first goal. The second one, we lost the ball - it was quite good play from them. For their third goal we could have done better.

"We gave less away compared to the West Ham game, but we still need to improve."