Wolves manager Gary O’Neil has backed his players to speak out on their frustrations with VAR after the Old Gold’s defeat to West Ham
It was another frustrating week for Wolves who were denied a vital point due to the incompetence of VAR last weekend.
The Old Gold thought they’d found a way back into their Premier League duel with West Ham on Saturday, all for Max Kilman’s last-gasp equaliser to be controversially chalked off following VAR intervention.
A decision was finalised to rule the goal out in the 101st minute not because of Kilman being offside, but due to concerns that Tawanda Chirewa was blocking the view of Lukasz Fabianski in an offside position.
After the game, Gary O’Neil branded the decision as “terrible” and “crazy”, with many other figures of the game sharing a similar opinion to the dejected Wolves boss.
Now, the 40-year-old has admitted that he won’t stop his players from voicing their anger at the decision, in what has been a terrible season for the Old Gold when it comes to the controversial decisions of VAR.
READ HERE for every controversial decision that has gone against Wolves this season.
Gary O’Neil explains that he supports his Wolves squad in voicing their concern
O’Neil rightly had a lot to say about the decision that denied his wilted squad a point late on at Molineux.
Speaking to the media after the game, the manager explained that he won’t deny his players the right to speak up about their frustrations towards the decisions of VAR, as relayed by Express and Star.
“They had discussions as a group of players earlier in the season around they don’t feel like they’re being respected by the officials.”
“I’ve talked them down a couple of times from figuring out what they want to do about that and how they want to handle it, but I can’t expect them not to this time.”
“I understand how they feel about it and whatever they decide to do about it is up to them.”
“I know they feel incredibly frustrated by the decisions that have gone against us this season.”
Wolves will hope to bounce back after another terrible VAR decision
The most frustrating element for O’Neil and his squad is to now regroup after suffering a loss that they had rightly earned a draw from, had it not been for the questionable VAR decision.
It’s an extremely difficult time for the squad who have had their resources stripped bare due to their limited numbers and increased injury woes, making every game a struggle for O’Neil to navigate.
With seven games left to play, Wolves will continue to fight to aim to finish as high up the table as possible, with the squad showing time and time again this season that they’re not phased by adversity.