Many Wolves fans are still seething from the decision to rule out Max Kilman’s injury-time header against West Ham United – but Mario Lemina’s assessment of the game is quite brilliant.
Wanderers fell short against the Hammers on Saturday, losing 2-1 at Molineux.
It was a fantastic first-half display from Wolves, who totally controlled the contest and played some delightful football.
But the second-half was a completely different story, and West Ham were allowed back into the game.
Wolves went on to lose, and the decision to rule out Max Kilman‘s header deep into injury-time has rather dominated all the analysis of the game.
Mario Lemina was asked about it – and his response was actually superb…
Mario Lemina shows his leadership yet again, as he responds to Wolves VAR controversy
Gary O’Neil branded the decision to chalk Kilman’s equaliser off as ‘terrible’.
Even Jeff Shi expressed his dismay, issuing an official statement in Sunday calling out the level of officiating.
Neil Cutler slammed the decision and also took issue with the ‘arrogance’ of referee Tony Harrington and his team of officials.
Understandably, there was real fury about what happened at the end. But Lemina was actually keen to shift the focus away from that and onto something that Wolves actually could control.
The Gabon international was asked for his thoughts about the disallowed goal, but said (via E&S): “To be honest, I don’t really care about the referee’s decision,
“I’m really disappointed with our second half. We were fantastic in the first half and the way we didn’t control the second half, we are really disappointed with it. We could be better. We showed it in the first half.
“Of course, I would have been happy with the disallowed goal because a draw with West Ham would be good for us to continue to fight for what we aim for.
“We need to work, continue to show character and personality and control the second half better. We are at home and we didn’t control it, which I didn’t like.”
Lemina is a captain without the armband
As frustrating as the Kilman decision was, Lemina is absolutely right.
It is another case of Wolves getting stung, but the team need not have been in the position had they been better in the game. The second-half performance was really disappointing, and that needs to be a big focus and it’s good Lemina is drawing attention to it.
Obviously, Wolves are stretched at the moment and so, it is perhaps difficult to maintain a high level for 90 minutes. But it was still frustrating to see the team play so poorly in the second-half, especially after taking the lead.
It’s a great response from Lemina, who really is every inch a captain for Wolves – just without the armband.
The £10 million star has become an extremely mature player these days and Wolves are seriously lucky to have someone like this in the team.