Danny Murphy and Alan Shearer both criticised the decision to send Mario Lemina off for Wolves against Southampton yesterday.
Wolves ran out 2-1 winners at St. Mary’s Stadium, after coming from 1-0 down.
It was a fantastic show of character by Julen Lopetegui’s side.
Wolves deserved to the win the game, and were much the better side in the second-half despite being a man down.
Mario Lemina had been dismissed in the first-half by referee Jarred Gillett.
He picked up a booking inside 10 minutes for a foul on Carlos Alcaraz.
Then came the highly controversial second yellow card. Lemina came over the Gillett to remonstrate, and the official brandished a yellow card. His back was turned to the player, he then turned around and sent him off.
Supposedly, it was because Lemina ran over ‘aggressively’. And Ruben Neves revealed after the game that Gillett bizarrely booked Lemina because he was the third player to come over.
Speaking on Match of the Day last night, pundits Murphy and Shearer both slammed the decision.
Shearer said: “I don’t think it’s that aggressive, (him) running to the referee. Neves and (Joao) Moutinho are there first, Lemina’s actually the third one. That’s not aggressive towards the referee, is it? Neves said he didn’t (say anything).
“If that is true, that’s extremely harsh.”
Murphy added: “It’s an awful decision. I think it’s another horrendous decision and one that I can’t fathom.”
Mario Lemina sending off decision was yet another awful refereeing decision Wolves have had to deal with
It was another abysmal afternoon in the refereeing front for Wolves.
Thankfully though, Lopetegui’s players were able to rise above that and go on to win the game.
Right now, there seems to be a lot of poor officiating in Wolves’ games. And the players deserve real credit for grinding out good performances and results in spite of that.
It was a huge show of character to come from behind to win with 10 men against Southampton.
It’s a result that could well now be the catalyst for Wolves moving forwards.