Express & Star

Mario Lemina frustrated at Wolves' second half display

Mario Lemina insists Wolves' second half performance in the 2-1 loss to West Ham was 'not acceptable'.

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The team let a 1-0 lead slip to lose 2-1 at Molineux on Saturday, following an impressive first half display.

The biggest storyline from the game was the latest VAR controversy, but when asked about it, Lemina instead wanted to focus on the poor performance.

"To be honest, I don't really care about the referee's decision," the midfielder told the Express & Star.

"I'm really disappointed with our second half. We were fantastic in the first half and the way we didn't control the second half, we are really disappointed with it.

"We could be better. We showed it in the first half.

"Of course, I would have been happy with the disallowed goal because a draw with West Ham would be good for us to continue to fight for what we aim for.

"We need to work, continue to show character and personality and control the second half better. We are at home and we didn't control it, which I didn't like.

"We need to be honest with ourselves. It's not possible to play like that in the first half, maybe even the best first half we've played, and the second half is not acceptable for us as a group."

When asked where it went wrong in the second half, Lemina said: "The gaffer told us they would be aggressive, but if we show character we would try to play and find the space behind them.

"With the clever players we have like Sarabia and Cunha, we didn't do anything like that. We didn't play in the right way."

He added: "If we want to stay where we are and play for something better for the fans, to show them we compete at the top of the league.

"We cannot play a first half like that against a really top team and show a really bad second half."

With seven games remaining, Wolves’ chances of getting into Europe are now much slimmer as West Ham and Newcastle have created a bigger gap to Wolves and the surrounding teams.

However, they do have games coming up against Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Luton as they look to avoid the season from fizzling out into a mid-table finish.

"It cannot fade out," Lemina said.

"We need to be honest and understand what we've been missing in the second half and try to work on it even harder.

"We want to do better and show a better side."

When asked if his team-mates share his frustration, Lemina added: "I don't know if they share it, I can only give my view but I told them and they know.

"They're really good guys who work really hard, but we need to be better and work harder."