VAR CALLS HAD TERRIBLE IMPACT SAYS WOLVES BOSS
NUNO ESPIRITO SANTO admitted it was hard for Molineux to adjust to the mixed emotions VAR can bring.
Wolves and striker Raul Jimenez were twice denied goals by VAR in the first half to make it six times Southampton have been reprieved by the new system this season.
Jimenez finally got his way y with a 61st-minute penalty to cancel out Danny Ings’s fifth goal in four games eight minutes earlier.
Wolves head coach Nuno said: “We celebrate, then the momentum was lost. This is what is tough: We feel the stadium was celebrating then it was really down.
“It had a terrible impact on the mood of the players from the team that the goal is not t allowed, then the other team m celebrates a ‘non goal’. So, this is VAR and we have to get used to it. It’s fine margins and small details, but there are to judge, to analyse and they decide.”
Nuno admitted he wasn’t counting his chickens when referee Peter Bankes awarded the penalty to Wolves after Matt Doherty fell after Pierre- Emile Hojbjerg’s challenge. “Every time the referee goes like this (puts his finger to his ear), every body is worried,” he added. The first one that was disallowed was clear- cut as Jimenez handballed but the second was marginal as Patrick Cutrone’s right leg was offside.
“It’s small details, small details. It will happen to all teams,” was as far as Nuno would go in offering any criticism of the decision.
Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl admitted it was time his team showed up after three straight defeats.
“You could feel it in the d dressing room. Everyone k knew it was time to show u up,” said Hasenhuttl.
“I know it was two d difficult games we lost before, but we were very critical with ourselves and that is the right way to make something better.”
Not surprisngly, the Austrian applauded the VAR decisions.
“The VAR makes the game fairer. That’s the positive thing of it. I know it’s not always nice if you score a goal and have to wait,” he said. “It’s a mental boost for one team and a disaster for the other team. But it makes it fairer.
“The VAR did a good job. The first was a clear hand and the linesman immediately raised an arm. The second was a little luckier because nobody thought the player was offside.”
Hasenhuttl added: “It’s important we have VAR. I like it.”
A draw was a fair result as Wolves’ only on-target effort was Jimenez’s penalty, while Wolves keeper Rui Patricio brilliantly denied James Ward- Prowse’s curling free-kick late on.