Gary O’Neil has his say on Wolves’ mistakes and penalty decisions

A number of individual errors handed the hosts chances and goals as Wolves wilted at the Etihad.

And O’Neil was keen to point out that his side’s mistakes were the sole reason for the heavy defeat.

“We and I have to take responsibility for how the game unfolded,” O’Neil said.

“We made a lot of mistakes in the match, including unforced ones, which gave Manchester City some really good chances.

“The second goal, losing the ball like we did. The last goal, losing the ball like we did. The goal right after we scored, while we were too late in the urgent phase.

“Mistakes against this team can be punished and they were. They punished us mercilessly.

“I will talk to you about the decisions, but I would like to say that the referees have no real role in the way the match ends.

“We are fully responsible for the performances and mistakes we make to give Manchester City such a lift.”

Rayan Ait-Nouri gave away the first penalty in a team-up with Josko Gvardiol, while Nelson Semedo caught Erling Haaland for the second penalty that was eventually awarded after a VAR check.

“The first penalty was a very bad decision,” O’Neil added.

“I can sit there and say how bad my team was at certain times with some mistakes, not in application or determination, or effort – just some really bad mistakes.

“But I thought the awarding of the first penalty was terrible. Gvardiol probably plays just as big a role in contact with Rayan as Rayan does.

“He’s got his shot and his leg is still moving through it, and his movement is probably creating as much contact with Rayan as it is with Rayan. I don’t know what Rayan should do in that case, he can’t disappear.

“You don’t often see them given when the shot has been hit over the bar and there is a coming together. It was a strange one.

“The second penalty was a penalty.

“I was surprised how they achieved it, but I thought they would give that on the pitch.

“But then I was surprised that it was destroyed. There was contact with Nelson, but not much, so I was surprised that it was taken as clear and obvious, but they did come to the right decision on that, to be fair to them.

“There should have been a possible check on Akanji’s handball, I thought. Not much was made of that. I heard the Wolves fans calling for it, but I was quite far away from it.

“When I saw the replay, he was lying on the ground and appeared to be punching the ball with his hand.

“But, like I said, there’s so much I can focus on within my own group.

“Against other teams you can get away with a few mistakes, but when we came here we knew we had to be as close to perfection as possible and we fell short repeatedly.”

Mario Lemina came off the field during the defeat, but the head coach hopes he has avoided an injury with a hamstring problem.

O’Neil said: “He felt tension in his hamstrings and didn’t feel like he could push 100 percent in the second half.

“Because the second half was going to be so tough, I thought it was important to make a change.

“Hopefully Mario is doing well, but he felt some tension in both hamstrings.”

When asked if it was a precaution to take Lemina, O’Neil added: “I hope so and he seems to think so too.

“It would have been a risk to send him back.”