And to think Stuart Attwell was hoping for a quiet week clear of controversy. The referee was again the subject of rage, this time not from a Greek shipping magnate but from Wolves’ irate supporters, after he disallowed Hwang Hee-chan’s second-half equaliser at home to Bournemouth for the meekest of tangles in the buildup. Attwell initially awarded Hwang’s header before the VAR, Darren England, advised him to visit the pitch-side monitor to review a brush between Matheus Cunha and Justin Kluivert, albeit a petulant one.
Kluivert went to shove Cunha and the Wolves substitute responded by flinging an arm in his direction but did not appear to make any contact with the player. It was a brief contretemps but, tellingly, Kluivert did not appeal after Hwang converted Nélson Semedo’s superb cross. Gary O’Neil placed his hands on his head in disbelief – not for the first time this season – and the fans let Attwell know the rest. “It’s not football any more,” bellowed the South Bank.
For Bournemouth, a late red card for Milos Kerkez for a crude challenge on Matt Doherty and Hwang’s disallowed strike undoubtedly overshadowed an encouraging performance and result for Andoni Iraola, who replaced O’Neil last summer. Bournemouth require two points from their final four matches to reach 47 points, which would be a club-record tally in the top flight.
Until Kerkez was sent off, it was relatively plain sailing but they survived a late scare when Maximilian Kilman saw another strike disallowed in the 100th minute, moments after the Wolves goalkeeper, José Sá, got the green light to go up for a corner.
The assistant referee immediately flagged Kilman offside and England confirmed the decision. England only returned to VAR duties this month following his glaring error in Tottenham’s win over Liverpool in September.
Attwell’s ears have presumably been burning since Nottingham Forest voiced various elements of dismay – on several occasions, via numerous methods, both publicly and privately – at his performance as VAR, a role he will fulfil at Euro 2024, in Forest’s defeat at Everton last Sunday.
Here it was back to being the man in the middle and with both of these teams marooned in mid-table, on the face of it at least Attwell could hardly have had a more low-key appointment to return to action. But the spotlight never softens in the Premier League.
So weary is O’Neil of VAR, he politely swerved the obvious line of questioning afterwards, for fear of being seen to be “moaning” about decisions. “Let’s let those guys figure out what is the correct decision and let me figure out how to get this team some more points between now and the end of the season.”
The Wolves manager said he had “no qualms” about Attwell returning to action so soon. “I hope he is doing OK, a tough few days for him,” said O’Neil, who was more bothered about his side’s anaemic first half display. Antoine Semenyo scored the only goal after feasting on Kilman’s clunky touch when the Wolves captain failed to clear Kerkez’s cutback from the left flank.
From a Wolves perspective, it was all too easy. Rob Edwards, the Luton manager taking in the game from the stands before his team travel to Molineux on Saturday, will surely have spotted flaws. Wolves struggled to get Hwang and Pablo Sarabia involved, while Bournemouth’s trio of Semenyo, Kluivert and Dominic Solanke caused problems. Ryan Christie was again Bournemouth’s best performer, driving forward in one breath and extinguishing attacks in another.
Wolves moved to a back four in the second half and the early signs were encouraging, the half-time arrival Doherty springing into the box before being crowded out in the opening seconds of the restart and then Doherty headed over from a Mario Lemina cross.
Then came Cunha. Wolves thought they equalised when Hwang’s bullet header rippled the Bournemouth net, but VAR and Attwell had other ideas. “I think Justin gets involved in the play after and he cannot defend the cross properly and that is why I think it is clear and obvious and everyone sees the foul,” Iraola said. “I don’t think it’s controversial.”
