Hasenhuttl: Refs Saint fair on us
BOSS BLASTS VAR ‘INCONSISTENCY’
RALPH HASENHUTTL reckoned Southampton were robbed by inconsistent VAR after two crunch penalty calls went against his side.
The Saints boss was already unhappy when Stockley Park intervened to award Wolves an opening penalty just before the break – cooly converted by Raul Jimenez.
But, having made rookie ref Michael Salisbury review that one, Hasenhuttl could not believe the same did not occur in the 50th minute as Oriol Romeu was caught by Leander Dendoncker.
Full of praise for Salisbury – in charge of only his second Premier League clash – the same did not apply regards Hasenhuttl’s take on video ref John Brooks.
The Austrian rapped: “There were two decisive moments. The penalty against us, if the ref is made to check the monitor for that one, it should be the same for the one on Romeu. But there was no check and I don’t understand the difference. But I thought the referee did a superb job in what was a tough game for him.
“We tried everything and never gave in – it’s disappointing.”
Wolves appeared to be cruising when Conor Coady’s first home Premier League strike made it 2-0 – only for James Ward-Prowse’s late free-kick to set home nerves jangling.
However, substitute Adama Traore scored in added time, to send Bruno Lage’s Black Country outfit into eighth.
And that was Lage’s reward for refusing to request the game to be postponed despite Ruben Neves being ruled out through Covid yesterday. It left him with just 12 first-team outfield players.
Lage, who gave a debut to teenager Tote Gomes, said: “It was a very hard week trying to prepare, but we are in a good moment and we prefer to play these games.
“We don’t want lots of games later in the season. We follow the rules. It’s my job and life to find solutions and to sometimes take risks.
The most important things is to complain about nothing. I’m very happy with how it worked today.”
To be fair, this looked as if it would anything but a thriller during a tepid opening. It took until the 18th minute for anything close to a proper chance.
And the real drama came with 10 minutes of the half remaining.
Jimenez wasted a sitter and in the ensuing scramble to reach the loose ball French wingback Rayan Ait-Nouri went tumbling over Saints defender Jan Bednarek.
The ref waved play on only for VAR to send him to review – and overturn – a very close call. It was hardly a clear and obvious error, that’s for sure.
Not that Jimenez cared a jot as he fired Wolves ahead with his fifth goal of the season, sending
Fraser Forster the wrong way.
And it then required a stunning Jose Sa save from Mohammed
Salisu’s point-blank header shortly afterwards to keep the hosts’ lead intact, going into the break.
Hasenhuttl was soon screaming for his Saints penalty amid the Romeu incident. Much to his dismay, he barely got a glance from fourth official Andre Marriner – let alone anything from Stockley Park.
Just five minutes later, his mood darkened more as England defender Coady headed home after Max Kilman’s initial effort struck the post. That looked game over until Ward-Prowse’s 35-yard dead-ball stunner on 84 minutes ensured a dramatic and tense finale.
Romain Perraud thought he had levelled when his header struck the bar – but from there Wolves went up the other end at speed to bury the contest with Traore’s low, crisp finish.