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Matheus Cunha’s fine double gives beleaguered O’Neil a timely lift
When so many have doubted him, Gary O’Neil fights on. And on. While Wolves have Matheus Cunha to hand and in such form there will be hope of redemption. The Brazilian, with two fine finishes and an adept assist, made it two wins in succession, catching Fulham cold before killing them off with a spectacular strike as they pushed for a late equaliser.
After breaking their winless duck by beating Southampton, and surviving the international break that can be so deadly for managers, O’Neil’s employment prospects, bleak for much of the season, take a turn for the positive. Victory at Fulham was a coup. Wolves had soundly beaten a club in a position their owners aspire to.
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Marco Silva’s team only briefly flickered. Kicking off in seventh, there was the possibility of Fulham being in the top four by full-time. That said, they needed to overturn a poor record when coming off international breaks, having previously won just two such matches under Silva, and gained just a single point from those matches this season. That tawdry run continued.
With Storm Bert’s headwinds whipping off the Thames, Raúl Jiménez, against his former club, soon had his crisp white shirt muddied but could not land a blow on Wolves, who after initially looking ragged, eventually mastered Fulham’s phalanx of forwards. Silva’s team continue to lack a top finisher.
When Kenny Tete made a galloping solo run through the Wolves midfield, it had suggested a soft centre that could – and would – be exploited. O’Neil has sought to remodel his approach, adding flair in the likes of goalscorer João Gomes, using Mario Lemina as a deep-lying controller, and reaping the benefits of Cunha’s incendiary form.
Such liberalism comes at the cost of the grit associated with O’Neil, a determined character of rough edges. Here were signs of the moral courage that will be required to stay up, a team personifying their manager. Matching up Fulham and duking it out was risky, since Silva’s team was yet fuller of flair. They should have been ahead earlier than they were when Jiménez ought to have done better than rattle a post after the ever willing Antonee Robinson’s overlap.
No problem, for Fulham at least. Reiss Nelson’s pace had defenders back-pedalling and when his pass went awry, Tete found Alex Iwobi, another member of Silva’s swelling riverside entertainer’s club. Granted far too much space, Iwobi beat José Sá with a searing finish.
O’Neil’s exhortations for his team to press harder and higher drew Fulham out, and those Lemina’s playmaking abilities were shown off by a pearling ball from the halfway line, faded into the path of Cunha, using the wind. The control was exemplary, the finish just as good for a 13th away goal since the start of last season, a record bettered only by Erling Haaland.
That was enough shock and awe from a first half that fell away beyond some trademark grumbles about officiating from both sets of fans. The second period began with similar torpor before Fulham, attempting to up the ante, found themselves again caught out. Cunha had begun to zip around with intent, and his stabbed pass found Gomes, whose low angled drive caught out Bernd Leno, unable to stop the skidding ball. Fulham’s centre had been found to be just as soft as Wolves’.
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Stunned into action, Fulham attempted a revival. Another Robinson overlap might have set up Iwobi, only for Rayan Aït-Nouri to come to the rescue. After a loose pass from Tom Cairney, Cunha seemed set to score again, only for Calvin Bassey’s boot to stop him at the very last moment. When Jørgen Strand Larsen attempted an overhead and collapsed to the floor, Wolves fans bayed for VAR, but to little avail.
Could Fulham find their way back? Harry Wilson, lately in goalscoring form, rattled the crossbar, the ineffective Emile Smith Rowe having been replaced. Wolves did not seek to sit on their advantage. Instead, they put Fulham to the sword. Gomes fired wide from an inside-left position before Cunha saved his best for last, finding space outside the box to beat Leno. Gonçalo Guedes slotted home in injury time for a Wolves team by now rampant and full of vitality for the fight ahead.
