Wolves ended the 2023/24 season with more VAR controversy during their defeat to Liverpool, with Sky Sports pundit Stephen Warnock now sharing his verdict on a key moment in the game.
Gary O’Neil saw his first season at Wolves end in a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool, seeing the Old Gold finish in 14th place in the Premier League.
The Midlands club bettered their tally of 2022/23 by five points however, the campaign presented a feeling of ‘what could have been’ as form dipped significantly in the final two months.
In Wolves’ final 10 games in the league, the squad recorded just one win, picking up five points from a possible 30 to see their position drop.
Injuries played a big part in the struggles that O’Neil’s side faced, with another complaint of the season being VAR, which caused more controversy at Anfield on the final day.
Stephen Warnock shares his thoughts on Nelson Semedo’s red card against Liverpool
Unpicking the refereeing decisions from the final day of the season on Sky Sports, pundit Stephen Warnock shared his views on Nelson Semedo’s sending-off against Liverpool.
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher thought that the red card was deserved, an opinion that wasn’t agreed with by Warnock, who said the dismissal was ‘harsh’.
“I think it’s harsh, I really do. I think it’s one of them movements where you’re moving towards it and you go with the outside of your foot to almost block that tackle coming in. I thought it was very harsh.”
The Wolves right-back went clattering into Alexis Mac Allister on the 28-minute mark, with referee Chris Kavanagh initially showing a yellow card for the tackle, which was upgraded to a red after VAR’s intervention.
There’s no denying that it was a bad challenge however, some will say that a booking would have sufficed as punishment so early into the fixture.
Stephen Warnock views support why Wolves want VAR to be scrapped
Following on from his comments on Semedo’s red card, Warnock touched upon the issue he has with VAR, using the Wolves defender’s dismissal as an example.
When asked if the game was being ‘re-refereed’ as the on-field decision was eventually overturned after VAR’s involvement, Warnock said:
“That’s the issue again that we go back to, but I think it’s very harsh.”
The referee had a view of the challenge enough to deem it a bookable offence, as Semedo stepped over the ball and nastily caught Mac Allister on the ankle.
It was a decision that has certainly split opinion, with Warnock’s comments only reinforcing why Wolves are calling for VAR to be scrapped next season, with the issue of the game being re-refereed arising once more.
The problem is that Semedo will now miss the first three games of the 2024/25 Premier League season if he is still a Wolves player at the end of the summer.