Nuno Espirito Santo questions VAR decision to disallow Wolves goal

Boss Nuno Espirito Santo questioned another controversial VAR call against Wolves after their 0-0 draw with Leicester.

Willy Boly’s first-half header was disallowed after a video review ruled Pedro Neto was millimetres offside in the build up.

Hamza Choudhury was sent off for the Foxes after picking up a second yellow card for a reckless challenge on Leander Dendoncker with 14 minutes left.

But Wolves were left frustrated and only Sheffield United, with five, have had more goals ruled out by VAR decisions in the Premier League this term.

Nuno said: “There used to be an expression here in England about ‘clear daylight.’ in these decisions.

“The law is the law, but is there a clear advantage? I’m still positive, I’m upset of course because Molineux was buzzing and suddenly was down.

“Something has to be done. When you have something and someone takes it away, you don’t like it but the law is the law.

“I’m not a specialist on refereeing, we are not judging the work of the referees here. I’m frustrated with the situation and all that is involved. We should not be sitting here talking about this.”

The point lifted Wolves to seventh in the Premier League, three points behind fifth-placed Sheffield United, with fifth now possibly offering a Champions League spot after Manchester City’s two-year European ban for breaching Financial Fair Play regulations.

Nuno played down the race for fifth, though, saying: “You think we are chasing something? We chase a good moment to recover and Sunday we are going to start preparing for Thursday (in the Europa League against Espanyol).

“We don’t think about anything else. Thursday is going to be very tough.”

Clear chances were at a premium until late in the first half when Neto sliced wide after Kasper Schmeichel’s poor pass and Raul Jimenez headed wide.

A minute before half time Boly thought he had opened the scoring, glancing in Matt Doherty’s header, only for VAR to rule Neto was marginally offside.

Choudhury walked after his second caution, for bringing down Leander Dendoncker, late in the second half and Wolves went for a winner.

Jimenez could have won it but headed wide in the final minute of normal time while Schmeichel thwarted Adama Traore’s injury-time effort.

The point kept Leicester third but they have won one of their last five top-flight games with 17-goal top scorer Jamie Vardy having netted just once in his last 11 games.

Boss Brendan Rodgers said: “It was a good game considering it was 0-0.

“The goal which was disallowed came for us a bit of sloppy play from us which led to the corner. Nuno will obviously be disappointed but when you’re the manager on the other side of it it’s brilliant.

“In the last 20 minutes you have to show a different type of courage. For us to keep a clean sheet and get through it in the end was very pleasing.”

But Rodgers questioned Choudhury’s first yellow card after a foul on Jimenez early in the second half.

He added: “It’s a really well-timed tackle. Hamza gets the ball and Jimenez’s foot comes onto his shin. I thought he was unfortunate with the first yellow.”

FourFourTwo Staff

FourFourTwo was launched in 1994 on the back of a World Cup that England hadn’t even qualified for. It was an act of madness… but it somehow worked out. Our mission is to offer our intelligent, international audience access to the game’s biggest names, insightful analysis... and a bit of a giggle. We unashamedly love this game and we hope that our coverage reflects that.