What Mario Lemina really said about Gary O’Neil after 5-3 Wolves defeat

What Mario Lemina really said about Gary O’Neil after 5-3 Wolves defeat

Mario Lemina has come under fire from Wolves fans after Saturday’s 5-3 defeat against Brentford.

The Wolves No.5 and his teammates were subjected to boos inside the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday, after suffering a sixth defeat from seven Premier League games so far this season – leaving the Old Gold bottom.

Gary O’Neil was also subjected to derogatory chanting, with cries of “you don’t know what you’re doing” coming from the away end after Hwang Hee-chan was introduced.

After the 5-3 defeat, Mario Lemina sought to defend his boss, and his actual comments have now been cleared up after a misquote angered Wolves fans.

Mario Lemina misquote on Gary O’Neil put right

Steve Madeley of The Athletic has now shared what the Gabon international really said about the man from Beckenham.

Initially, Lemina was criticised by fans after it was wrongly reported that he said: “If you say Gary O’Neil is the problem then you are liars and cheaters.”

That misquote did not go down well with Wolves fans, who took the comments as being aimed towards them.

In actual fact, Lemina was speaking about himself and his teammates, as he said: “If we say Gary O’Neil is the problem then we are liars and cheaters.”

The 31-year-old is not the only one who is backing the 41-year-old to steer Wolves out of trouble.

TBR Football understand Fosun plan to keep faith with O’Neil after a tough start, with those at Molineux under the impression they did not back the Londoner well enough in the summer transfer window.

Aside from a lack of incomings, Wolves were also severely depleted by the sales of Max Kilman to West Ham and Pedro Neto to Chelsea.

Who Wolves could hire to replace O’Neil

Wolves are keeping faith with O’Neil, who could change formation, for now, but with tricky fixtures against Brighton and Manchester City on the horizon, the situation may get worse before it gets better.

Should Fosun end up feeling they need to pull the trigger, there are a few options who could be hired immediately.

David Moyes – who is keen on a Premier League return – is one after his departure from West Ham at the end of the season.

Frank Lampard, Graham Potter, Gareth Southgate, Sam Allardyce and Javi Gracia are also available, so should Wolves decide to hand O’Neil his P45 soon, they will not be short of experienced options.