Wolves star Mario Lemina says ‘I GIVE UP’ while Matheus Cunha insists ‘we are tired of hearing excuses’… after referee Michael Salisbury admitted he ‘got it wrong’ in Fulham defeat
Mario Lemina and Matheus Cunha reacted desperately to Wolves’ latest setbacks with refereeing errors after their 3-2 defeat at Fulham.
Several key decisions went against Wolves and three of them have since been proven wrong.
Referee Michael Salisbury told manager Gary O’Neil that the call to award Fulham a penalty after Nelson Semedo’s fair challenge on Tom Cairney should have been overturned by VAR.
PGMOL representatives also confirmed to Wolves that Fulham’s Carlos Vinicius and Tim Ream should have been sent off, with the former receiving a headbutt and the latter a foul in the penalty area.
O’Neil said after the match that Wolves are seven points worse off than they should be after a series of mistakes this year, and it appears his players have had enough.
Mario Lemina and Matheus Cunha were left devastated by the refereeing and VAR injustices they faced at Craven Cottage
‘Now I give up. Enough is enough. Some strong decisions need to be made. These things are ruining football,” Lemina wrote on Instagram
“We’re tired of hearing excuses the next day. You are damaging the work of several families,” goalscorer Cunha wrote on Instagram
Lemina and Cunha both started at Craven Cottage, with the latter scoring an early equalizer to make it 1-1 before the match took its course.
Lemina posted his story on Instagram: ‘I have always tried to understand that it is not easy for the referee at all. I always tried to tell the players that we could do better during the match to win the match.
‘But now I give up. Enough is enough. Some strong decisions need to be made. These things are ruining football.”
Cunha wrote: ‘Difficult result, but we will continue together. We will never look outside for excuses, but some decisions against us must come with greater responsibility.
“We’re tired of hearing excuses the next day. We will never look outside for excuses, but some decisions against us must come with greater responsibility. We’re tired of hearing excuses the next day. You are damaging the work of several families.”
O’Neil complained in the aftermath of the defeat that ‘livelihoods’ and ‘reputation’ are being damaged by the mistakes – after all, there are huge financial differences between finishing in each Premier League place.
He claims that instead of being on 15 points, Wolves should be on 22 points – a shift that would see them comfortably in the top half rather than twelfth.
Wolves have already been wrongly on the wrong side of key refereeing and VAR decisions against Man Utd, Newcastle, Luton and Sheffield United, according to the Premier League’s Independent Key Match Incidents Panel.
Michael Salisbury awarded a penalty for Nelson Semedo’s fair challenge on Tom Cairney as Joao Gomes protested
Carlos Vinicius headbutted Max Kilman, but the VAR decided not to give him a red card
Tim Ream not dismissed despite bringing down Hwang Hee-chan in the penalty area while receiving a yellow card
Gary O’Neil: ‘You can send me flowers. You can call me tomorrow. You can do what you want, but we should be at 22 points instead of 15’
At Old Trafford, the referees failed to award Wolves an injury-time penalty when Andre Onana crashed into Sasa Kalajdzic, denying the visitors a chance to equalize.
Against Newcastle, the referee awarded a penalty for an apparent Hwang Hee-chan foul on Fabian Schar, but the Magpies defender actually appeared to kick the turf and went down before contact was made.
As a result, Wolves were 2-1 behind and had to hunt for the equalizer, which they got in the second half.
Luton were awarded an incorrect penalty when the ball bounced off Joao Gomes’ knee onto his hand, allowing Carlton Morris to score and deny Wolves a 1–0 win.
And playing against Sheffield United, Fabio Silva was adjudged to have fouled Sheffield United’s George Baldock, with Oliver Norwood converting the 100th minute penalty to give the blades a 2-1 win.
The mistakes have left Wolves, who were impressively led by O’Neil, significantly worse off than they should be.
O’Neil said: ‘Looking at this evening, the referee probably would have done a better job on his own and without VAR intervention. What is the point of VAR if all these incidents are missed? I don’t think it helped the game at all.
Wolves furious after Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana was not penalized for crashing into Sasa Kalajdzic
Newcastle should not have been awarded a penalty for Hwang Hee-chan’s challenge on Fabian Schar
Luton were awarded a penalty after the ball bounced onto his hand off Joao Gomes’ knee
Oliver Norwood converted a 100th-minute penalty that was harshly awarded against Wolves
‘The difference between 22 points and 15 points for the thousands of supporters who follow this team across the country is enormous. The difference between 22 and 15 on my reputation when you try to build at a big club is irreparable.
‘You can send me flowers. You can call me tomorrow. You can do whatever you want, but we should be at 22 points instead of 15.
We are going to try to behave in the way that I think is right and I will continue to do that, but the players are extremely frustrated.
‘The players are saying: should we make some noise about this? Do we need social media posts? But my advice so far for tonight is to make sure we were good enough to win the game, no matter what the referees do.