Gary O’Neil has complimented ‘professional’ Tommy Doyle for putting in the effort to seize his Wolves opportunity.
This season, the midfielder has had to wait patiently for his chance, but with Mario Lemina on compassionate leave, Doyle has started the last two games.
He followed up a fantastic performance against Everton with his first Wolves goal in the FA Cup against Brentford, a magnificent shot from 25 yards, and the head coach is not shocked to see Doyle reaping his rewards.
“He works so hard, Tommy, every day around the place,” he remarked.
“To add to that, when we got the new balls from Mitre this week — normally, we play with a Nike ball in the Premier League — Tommy wanted to do extra work with the ball to get used to it.”
“He did a lot of shooting and long-range passing this week.” That demonstrates his diligence and professionalism. He wants to give his all and cover as much ground as possible.
“When he dragged the ball onto his left foot, I thought to myself, ‘oh, not sure Tom,’ but he rifled it into the top corner, such an incredible goal and he deserves it.”
“His performances against Everton and Brentford were fantastic for us during a period in which we were missing one of our key players, Mario.” Tommy took the initiative.”
Doyle taking his chance sends a message to the Wolves’ other peripheral players, as O’Neil is working with a tiny team.
“You build trust from the manager, your teammates, and the fans, and it’s no surprise that he does well when he comes in because he trains so hard,” he continued. He doesn’t have a single minute off throughout training. He never seems to be disappointed.
“You never see him train at 80%.” He puts forth a lot of effort, and those guys are always prepared.
“You can throw them in at any time; they may not have played in three or four weeks, but because of how they approach it every day, you know you can and they will be ready.”
“I’m overjoyed for Tommy because this is his first real shot at the Premier League this season.”
“We had two fantastic midfielders in front of him who played a lot of minutes.” He’s had to wait and be patient, but he’s done exceptionally well since he arrived.”
Meanwhile, Dan Bentley, Craig Dawson, and Hugo Bueno were all injured and missed the trip to Brentford, although O’Neil wants to get them back soon.
“Bentley had a minor medical procedure,” he explained. He’ll only miss this game and then return for the next.
“Daws was unavailable due to a minor injury to his knee sustained during the Everton game.”
“Hugo has a minor calf problem.” We have Doc, who can play left-back, but he’s the club’s sole left-footed left-back, and Rayan (Ait-Nouri) could be out for four to five weeks.
“With Hugo not training much this week and scans showing a small amount of damage in his calf, it was just one we couldn’t risk.”
“Hugo isn’t far away.” I expect him to rejoin the training group in the coming days.
“Pushing him through a 90 minute game could have turned into a four to six week injury, which we can’t afford at this moment.”
