Wolves fans will be left furious after comments made by former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher surrounding Raul Jimenez.
Bruno Lage’s men’s hopes of making it into European football took another big blow on Friday night as they fell 3-2 at home despite leading 2-0 at half-time in a game that turned on a rather controversial decision just after the break.
Wolves forward Jimenez, who had been booked earlier in the game for a tackle on Leeds United’s Robin Koch, chased down a long ball from Willy Boly but was involved in a 50/50 challenge with goalkeeper Illan Meslier, with both men going for the ball, only for the Frenchman to get there first, but leaving both men worse for wear.
Both men would end up leaving the pitch, with Jimenez doing so immediately as he was shown a second yellow card for the challenge and subsequently sent off. Meslier departed moments later after trying to play on.
Speaking about the incident on Sky Sports News, Gallagher claimed that the Mexican was unlucky to be sent off in this instance, explaining that part of it was down to the procedure and how things stood at the time for him whilst also talking about the impact it will have on things going forward for him:
“The irony of it is, is that VAR can’t get involved, as we spoke last week – it’s all or nothing, because he’s already on the yellow card; he gets a second yellow card.
“He’s desperate unlucky, I think, to be sent off. He’s desperately unlucky now that he’s going to serve a ban, and he’s even more unlucky that he can’t appeal because you can’t appeal a second yellow card. So he didn’t have a particularly good night.
“If that was a red card, that would have been overturned. There’s no doubt whatsoever.”
TIF Thoughts on Dermot Gallagher’s comments on Raul Jimenez at Wolves…
Should Jimenez have been sent off?
Yes
No
This really comes down to bad circumstances for Jimenez as Gallagher hints at, and if he weren’t already booked from his earlier incident, he would have stayed on the pitch.
But given the aftermath of the incident, with the Mexican set to serve a suspension which can’t be appealed as Gallagher hints at, Wolves fans should feel rather annoyed with how things played out.
Indeed, the fact that a former Premier League referee believes that it shouldn’t have even been a yellow just adds even more insult as it ended up costing Wolves the game and just further shows how bad the decision from Kevin Friend was. The most annoying part is arguably the fact that nothing can now be done in a game that could end up having significant importance in the club’s race for Europe.
Not only did they miss out on having their joint-top scorer unavailable for the rest of the night when they could have really turned the screw and put a few more on Leeds, but now he’ll be missing for their next game which could end up having a big impact in their chase for European football.
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