Wolves’ Ruben Neves in disbelief as he reveals what referee told him after Lemina’s odd red card

Wolves’ Ruben Neves was in absolute disbelief as he reveals what referee Jarred Gillett told him after Mario Lemina’s odd red card.

Premier League officials had a terrible day at work on Saturday. VAR missed an offside in Brentford’s equaliser against Arsenal. Pervis Estupinian could have denied Brighton a goal at Crystal Palace, because the offside lines had been drawn incorrectly. See more on all of that by clicking HERE.

Jarred Gillett was the referee in Wolves’ win against Southampton, with Julien Lopetegui’s side coming back from 1-0 down after 27 minutes.

Speaking to BBC Sport after the win, Wolves’ Neves said: “You really want to know what he told me? So he told me there were two players running to him and because Mario was the third one he gave him a yellow card. So now we go and check the rules, if there is any.”

While they will be without Lemina for their next Premier League fixture at home to Bournemouth next Saturday, though they’re now 15th in the table and five points clear of safety.

Julen Lopetegui also hit out at Jarred Gillett for his decision to send off Mario Lemina.

He said: “The referee told us that it’s because he said something, but we have reviewed the images and he was the third player to come and say something – Joao and Ruben were very close (to the referee).

“Mario was so far (away) but he chose the third player to show him the second yellow card.

“For me it’s an unbalanced and unfair decision. If you are going to lose a player in this kind of match, you can’t lose a player for this.

“They have to manage this. In the end they are judges, they have to be equal and balanced.

“It’s not easy, his work, I know that, but maybe he can be more calm in these moments.”

Ruben Neves talking about why Lemina got a second yellow card is pretty damning 😬pic.twitter.com/17DUA5aHrz

— SPORTbible (@sportbible) February 12, 2023

Still in shock at that red card for Lemina. Apparently “aggressively running towards the referee”.

Lemina jogs towards him, the ref isn’t even looking anyway. See’s Neves/Moutinho complaints, ignores them. Spots Lemina and books him😂

Check Jarred Gillett’s betting accounts… pic.twitter.com/9UiF55jmYT

— Official Wolves Fans🐺 (@WeAreWolvesFans) February 11, 2023

Lopetegui added, as per BirminghamLive: “It was a crazy match because we played 70 minutes with one player less.

“It was very difficult.

“Fortunately, the players showed they have big hearts, they fought a lot and believed a lot in the second half.

“We knew if we were able to arrive at 70 minutes without conceding the second goal we would increase our possibilities.”

Player ratings

Southampton: Bazunu (6), Bree (6), Bednarek (5), Salisu (5), Perraud (5), Alcaraz (7), Lavia (6), Ward-Prowse (5), Maitland-Niles (6), Sulemana (7), Onuachu (5).

Subs: Adams (4), Lyanco (3), Aribo (n/a), Edozie (n/a), S.Armstrong (n/a).

Wolves: Sa (7), Semedo (6), Dawson (6), Kilman (6), Ait-Nouri (6), Neves (6), Lemina (4), Nunes (6), Moutinho (6), Sarabia (6), Cunha (6).

Subs: Bueno (6), Traore (8), Costa (7), Gomes (7), Otto (n/a).

Player of the match: Adama Traore

Southampton manager Nathan Jones:

“Tough afternoon. For 60 minutes we were excellent – the best we’ve played at home. We had to go after the second goal. We did. If we make it two we go on to win the game. We settled for a sucker punch. We lost control second half. They scored using the ounce of quality needed to get the second goal.

“You are always susceptible to counter-attacks [against Wolves] because they’ve got pace and quality. We’ve got to deal with situations far better. We had enough situations to score again.

“It was more what we want to be. We were aggressive, we did have territory. We had our tails up and were front-footed. We did lose an ounce of intensity. We’ve got to get that second goal.”

Speaking about heading straight down the tunnel at the full-time whistle, he added: “I’ve never done that before – 390 games I’ve not done that. But I’m not sure going around clapping would have showed respect, so that’s why I did that.”

This is what Twitter users had to say with Wolves’ Ruben Neves in disbelief as he reveals what the referee told him after Lemina’s odd red card…

@willjoy13: Officiating in the English game is pathetically bad

@96DruceO: We really need refs mic’d up. Currently no accountability for their decisions and leaves fans in the dark. The same goes for their conversations with VAR.

@PaddyStavros: Something fishy about that second yellow, MOTD picked up on it. That ref should not be a PL ref.

@Tabelo2000: Man turned and saw Lemina and was like this guy his middle name is RedCard lol 😂 so let me just give him one

@connorreeddx: Very poor from the ref, think every saints fan wondered why he got sent off.

@stuartmyershot1: Let’s see him do the same thing when Man Utd have 5 players running towards him. Var doesn’t even send them off for a stamp to the head. The premier league is a joke

@StevenTania: Neves probably getting fined for telling the truth

@lufc_mot_mb: Think ref had a bet placed somewhere to have a red in the match.

@Westywwfc: What was Lemina thinking of? He was already on one yellow. He should know that the ….erm.. the third person to run towards the ref get’s a yellow card

@lukewwfc9: This is either racism or match fixing, there is simply no other explanation

@MarioEnzo1989: How many times each week does this happen in mostly every game but nothing seems to happen? Refs consistently inconsistent 🤦‍♂️

@Danjesmeeth: Jesus Christ 🤣🤣🤣 Fuck the PGMOL. Bunch of fucking charlatans who can’t take any criticism for the absolute jokes that they are.

@timmyboy556: The refereeing and VAR is farcical for all teams. I can guarantee there will be multiple players running to the referee in todays games and can also guarantee not one of them will be booked.

@Fotbalfann: Wowowowowoowow. So the ref panicked at too many players running at him so he booked the last one? And he happened to be on a yellow already? What?????

@SznChelseafc: Oh my god, I have just seen this. Teams need to come together to say Enough is Enough. Arsenal, Chelsea, Wolves all robbed over half a gameweek.

@foxinperu: That looks absolutely dreadful from the referee. Damage limitation from @FA_PGMOL as to what is the least appalling reason for that decision.

@AFCMikey: That’s absolutely shocking refereeing, control the game, keep the players on the pitch. This is right up their with the double yellow Martinelli received last season.

@nffclukee: usually one of the decent refs but that decision is actually mental

@NatChatsBall: It’s so bad it’s almost funny 🤣 even Neves is sort of smiling with disbelief, how on earth is that a sending off 😭

So, just to confirm, @FA_PGMOL, you can shout at the ref, but not if you’re the third person to approach him? Sorry, it’s just really hard to keep up these days. pic.twitter.com/4sOkrotoZm

— Matt 🐺 ◣ ◢ (@SouthBankMatt) February 11, 2023