Add to that a first FA Cup quarter-final since 2019, and it is evident whatever he is doing is working wonders this term.
The team spirit has been excellent and O’Neil has a core group of players he can work with in order to secure the club their highest league finish since they achieved a seventh-placed finish in the 2019/20 season under Nuno Espírito Santo.
Their attacking options have been key to this revival, as in previous seasons, certain players failed to pull their weight, including the likes of Diego Costa, Fabio Silva, and Raul Jimenez.
This term, however, Hwang Hee-Chan, Matheus Cunha and Pedro Neto have been exceptional.
Record of Wolves’ forwards in 23/24
Between them this season, the aforementioned attacking trio have contributed 25 goals across all competitions, while in the Premier League, they have registered 18 assists, and it is clear that when fit, all three need to be starting for Wolves.
Since the start of the 2020/21 season, the club have struggled in the final third. Indeed, over the previous three campaigns, the Old Gold have scored just 36, 38 and 31 goals, ranking them in the bottom five teams in the table in each of those seasons.
Throughout 2023/24, O’Neil’s men have already netted 42 goals and with ten matches still to come, this will no doubt increase rapidly before the end of the term.
What a difference it makes to have reliable forwards who are effective in front of goal, and it makes up for the dismal players the club have signed since they were promoted to the top flight in 2018.
One name is arguably worse than the rest, especially considering how much was paid to sign him – Patrick Cutrone.
How much Patrick Cutrone cost Wolves
Santo led Wolves to a stunning seventh-place finish in their first season back in the Premier League during 2018/19, and he was looking to consolidate this with some quality signings that summer.
Jimenez, Neto and Leander Dendoncker were all new signings during the transfer window, but it was the capture of Cutrone which looked like the most exciting of the lot.
The Italian had been a regular for AC Milan during the previous two years and had scored 27 goals for the Serie A club in 90 appearances, hardly prolific by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a decent strike rate.
