Gary O’Neil admitted VAR has lost his support after two penalty decisions went against his Wolves side in their defeat at Craven Cottage, while also believing a pair of Fulham players should have received red cards.
The head coach spent several minutes in ‘grown-up’ discussions with referee Michael Salisbury after the match, which saw Wolves fall to a 3-2 loss on the road, witnessed multiple controversial decisions and VAR calls.
O’Neil said Salisbury admitted Fulham’s first penalty should have been overturned by VAR, while also disclosing that a representative from the refereeing group has also admitted Carlos Vinicius and Tim Ream should both have been dismissed.
On defeat against Fulham
“The game was fairly even. For the neutrals it would have been a good game to watch. Two teams going at it, end to end, trying to win it, but I’m just disappointed. We should have done better as a team in the second half. In the first half I thought we had decent control, we had some good chances. But I’m just gutted for everybody really.
“The supporters were excellent, singing right until the end, and they’ve suffered some tough moments, especially late in games this season, but it was incredible backing from them, a big effort from the players, and, unfortunately, fine margins have gone against us.
“The players will be fine. They know that it’s the Premier League and we’ll give everything – like we did this evening, and of course there’ll be mistakes, but they’ll be ready to make sure we’re ready to go against at the Emirates on Saturday.”
Wolves are LEVEL! 🔶
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 27, 2023
Brilliant work from Bellegarde and Cunha heads home 💪👏 pic.twitter.com/6meoGpwn79
On controversial decisions going against Wolves
“It’s bad luck that it keeps going against us, but there are bad refereeing decisions in there. I’ve had a real grown-up conversation in there with him [Salisbury], I’ve tried to remain calm, and I’m not angry with anybody, I’m not in there abusing people, it’s just a conversation around it being six, seven points now have gone against us.
“You can phone me and tell me I’m wrong. You can phone me and apologise, you can send me flowers if you like, but the difference from 22 points to 15 is huge. I’m managing a big football club here and the difference that you’re making to my reputation, to the club’s progression up the league, to people’s livelihoods, it’s huge.
“It can’t be like this with all the technology and all the time in the biggest league in the world that we’re getting so many wrong. It can’t be ok. We should discuss the game, but, unfortunately, we have to discuss these because they’re such big decisions.”
On discussions with the referee after the match
“We discussed a lot of decision. Tim Ream should have been sent off for his second bookable offence on the penalty. They sent out a representative to one of my staff after the game and said by the letter of the law, Ream should have got a second yellow card.
“Vinicius should have been sent off for headbutting Max. It was clear. He headbutts him on the nose, he isn’t sent off, he’s given a yellow. He [Salisbury] debated that with me, and said it was a ‘soft’ headbutt. Which I said was crazy. Absolutely crazy.
“So, we can headbutt people on a football pitch, as long as it’s deemed ‘soft’ or ‘not hard enough’? My son, watching that at home, millions of children watching that, we’ve told them that you can headbutt someone on a football pitch as long as it’s ‘not too hard’? They since came out and sent a representative who said by the letter of the law that should have been a red card as well.
“Then there are the penalties that went against us. Nelson [Semedo] plays the ball, he doesn’t touch Tom Cairney, and I watched that with the referee and he admits that they got that one wrong and he should have been sent to the monitor. It doesn’t help all the fans who have travelled all this way to watch their team, it doesn’t help the players who are left frustrated again.
“The referee basically admitted they made a mistake with the Nelson one, but the one with Harry Wilson, we disagree a little bit. They think that got that right. He thinks there’s enough contact there to give a penalty. I think it’s really soft.
“You could argue that maybe two of those could go against us, but for all four situations to go against us is a tough one for the lads, the supporters and myself to take because we’ve been here a lot of times this season and it’s tough because we didn’t deserve to lose.”
"Tonight has finally turned me against VAR."
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 27, 2023
Gary O'Neil reveals what he discussed with the match officials after full-time at Craven Cottage 🔊 pic.twitter.com/dknwqBFyEB
On the negative impact of VAR
“It’s really complex. I’ve always been for VAR, but I think it’s causing a big problem at the moment. The fact that the first one isn’t deemed a clear and obvious error and the second one is, I just think VAR has cost us there.
“If it was just the referee at that point, we maybe concede one penalty from a mistake, and the fact we’ve conceded two in that game, for me, VAR is not helping much with subjective decisions.
“Maybe tonight has finally turned me against VAR when I thought it would help, but it doesn’t.”
On improving refereeing standards
“I won’t be calling anybody because what can I do? I have two options now; I keep behaving in a way that I should, and I make my players behave in a way that they should and we respect everybody, and we respect the decision making, or we start to go, ‘That’s not working. We’re going to have to make some noise.’ They’re the two decisions.
“I’d rather be a decent human being and answer things honestly and have honest chats with people, but things need to get better because I can’t accept us being on the wrong end of decisions as often as we are. That needs to get better.”
