Wolves slipped to another defeat in the Premier League on Sunday against Manchester City and after the game, some fans did not take kindly to what Gary O’Neil said about Jose Sa.
Wanderers lost 2-1 at Molineux, and came so close to taking a point.
John Stones broke Wolves hearts at the end when he powered in a header from a corner. The goal was initially ruled out for offside against Bernardo Silva, who had been stood in front of Jose Sa.
But the goal was given, after the Portuguese was deemed not to be interfering from the point Stones made contact with the ball.
It was a real shame for Sa, who had been impressive throughout on his return to the side. Indeed, Alan Shearer described Sa as ‘incredible’ in terms of some of the saves he made.
Sa played after Sam Johnstone picked up an injury during the international break, and made a string of great saves to keep City at bay and Wolves in the contest.
It has been a tough past few weeks for Sa. He’s been warming the bench after Johnstone came in as the new number one, and fans watched Sa struggle against Brighton in the Carabao Cup on his previous appearance.
Sa did very well against City. But after the game, Gary O’Neil made some rather peculiar comments.
What Gary O’Neil said about Jose Sa after Wolves’ loss to Man City
Despite a top performance from Sa, O’Neil seemingly wasn’t all that blown away.
He was asked by a reporter whether Sa’s display had given him a ‘headache’, regarding who to play in the next game.
O’Neil responded by saying: “No headache. Johnstone was injured today, yes. Not a headache, Jose has trained very well since Sam came in. He’s been excellent. Sam was injured today but Jose was always ready and put in a real good performance.”
“No headache, really clear on where we go next.”
Wolves fans not happy
The clip of O’Neil talking about Sa has been doing the rounds on social media and has not gone down too well.
Some believe that O’Neil is hinting that Johnstone will be restored to the starting XI despite Sa’s brilliance against City, and they believe that would be totally unfair.
Dropping Jose Sa would send out an awful message
O’Neil was a little vague with his answer to whether he now has a headache with his two goalkeepers.
Some believe that he is planning to start Johnstone despite Sa’s masterful showing against City. Simply put, that would send out an awful message.
Sa does not deserve to be dropped after playing so well. He showed great character to put in that kind of performance following a tough past few weeks after losing his starting berth.
What is the point of training hard and performing really well in a game if your manager is then going to drop you?
We will see what O’Neil does against Brighton. But if it’s Johnstone in goal and he ends up struggling, the manager will have serious questions to answer.