Gary O'Neil running out of excuses and explanations for Wolves' predicament | Jonathan Liew

Yesterday at 03:26 PM

Team may claim moral victory after latest near miss but they have forgotten how to manage games under pressure

Perhaps we should have known Wolves were in trouble the moment they got the dreaded Pep Guardiola vote of confidence. "I think they have less points than they deserve," the Manchester City manager observed on Friday. Guardiola does this a lot to teams he's about to demolish. Coaches, too. It's his way of saying: trust me, this 5-0 humbling is going to hurt me a lot more than it hurts you.

In the event, the pain was divided on familiar lines. For Wolves, moral victories everywhere you looked. A fine battling performance; a great Molineux atmosphere; a reassuring sense of injustice. Meanwhile, actual Premier League points: zero. Current Premier League position: last. Still, Guardiola magnanimously name-checked every member of the Wolves starting XI in his press conference, so that's something.