Wolves duo Matheus Cunha and Max Kilman have shared their verdict on VAR and the decisions of Craig Pawson during Saturday’s 5-1 defeat to Manchester City.
It was a difficult afternoon for Wolves at the Etihad on Saturday, as Gary O’Neil watched from afar as his side lost 5-1 to Pep Guardiola’s treble winners.
The Old Gold will be disheartened by the scoreline, in a game that saw the gulf in class between the two squads exposed, as the hosts flexed their muscles as the side in control of the Premier League title race.
Despite seeing Erling Haaland net four goals and Julian Alvarez claim one for himself, Wolves were left agitated when the score still sat at 0-0, as Craig Pawson pointed to the spot to award City a controversial penalty.
Plenty was said about the decision to penalise Rayan Ait-Nouri for his collision with Josko Gvardiol, seeing Ian Wright brand the call to award a penalty as ‘ridiculous’.
In the aftermath of the game, Wolves pair Matheus Cunha and Max Kilman shared their views on the defeat and the decision of the referee.
Matheus Cunha and Max Kilman in agreement about VAR after Man City loss
As relayed by Express and Star, the duo were in agreement that it was a controversial call for Pawson to award the penalty, which subsequently saw City smell blood and sacrifice Wolves for three points.
Kilman branded the decision as ‘questionable’, but focused on the lack of conviction that his side showed at the Etihad.
“That’s the only one I really look back on and it was quite questionable.
“It was early in the game and both players came into each other. Rayan didn’t know where the other player was, but stuff like that is stuff to overcome. We had to be better.
“It was a tough game. We started the game really poorly and some decisions are quite questionable, but when you’re 1-0 or 2-0 down against City early on, it’s really tough to overcome.”
The skipper’s opinion was shared by Cunha, who was more direct at his dissatisfaction over Pawson’s standard of officiating this season.
“It’s the same referee that already gave some things against us at Molineux.
“It’s hard to talk about this. Maybe we’ve lost 12 points with these controversial decisions.
“But we’re not coming here to put a decision on the referee because we didn’t play well also and we have to take responsibility.
“It’s hard to play City at home and then at the start of the game, there’s a penalty. It’s hard to manage but we need to keep going.”
Wolves must dust themselves off and go again after Man City defeat
While Cunha’s views on Wolves becoming a victim of incorrect VAR calls this season ring true, the Old Gold were simply not good enough on the day against City.
READ MORE: Premier League without VAR: How Wolves’ season would be different
It was frustrating to see the penalty awarded after just 10 minutes of play for a challenge that was not cynical, but going in 3-0 down at halftime to a Haaland hattrick was inexcusable.
Next up for O’Neil’s side come Crystal Palace at Molineux, who having built recent form themselves, will be a difficult side to overcome.
The most important factor will be a notable increase in performance level against the Eagles, who beat the Old Gold 3-2 at Selhurst Park back in September.