Wolves boss makes VAR claim ‘completely unacceptable’ after Liverpool’s decision

Wolves boss Gary O’Neil has criticized what he believes was a VAR error which favored Liverpool, describing the season for the officials as “completely unacceptable”.

Liverpool ended the Jurgen Klopp era with a 2-0 Premier League win over Wolves at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.

Goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Jarell Quansah in the first half followed the dismissal of Wolves full-back Nelson Semedo for a stamp on Mac Allister.

Referee Chris Kavanagh upgraded his decision from a yellow card to a red after being advised to review his pitchside monitor by VAR David Coote.

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O’Neil, who has seen his side suffer through a series of questionable VAR decisions this season, believes Wolves have once again been unfairly treated, reports the Liverpool Echo.

“The VAR doesn’t even cut it off in the right place when he’s chasing it,” he said. “They stop when Nelson’s leg is really high, in line with his shin, and he still hasn’t made contact, misses his shin and lands on his leg.”

“There’s no way VAR should have been brought in to get involved in things like that when the referee was very clear that it was a yellow card.”

“Most people in football would agree it was a strong yellow card. If the referee decided it was a red I don’t think VAR would have overturned it the other way so I don’t see why he needs to be involved. It’s not his fault technology, but it must be used better.”

O’Neil remarked: “They’ve got to get better. This season has been completely unacceptable from a refereeing point of view. It’s been terrible. We used to complain about the referees when we played, you’d always have an advert but you knew. it was live and things were moving fast.”

“So they can’t show the intelligence that if they watch it in slow motion, it’s probably going to look worse. Consider that first. Consider the referee and his point of view. Do I have to get involved? I thought that VAR was brought in for things like Thierry Henry’s handball against the Republic of Ireland when the referee misses “We saw it and we can help”.

“Not for Nelson who stepped on someone’s leg and was thought to be reckless. I was very disappointed with the officiating this year. It was very poor. For the whole league, the level of officiating needs to be better.”

He also expressed his belief that Wolves deserved a penalty against Liverpool as he weighed in on the incident involving Matheus Cunha and Virgil van Dijk: “I thought Van Dijk was lucky when Cunha got it” , O’Neil said. “Normally one-on-one with the contact not being given, but I thought he got on the wrong side of him and if you put an arm on him, you’re in real danger of giving away a penalty.”

“I thought I had a really good shout for one there. When the ref doesn’t call, you’re pretty sure it’s not going to be overturned. But the game was over when they took Nelson out.”