Most of us are told not to pull hair as children, but we are never taught to caveat that with “But what if I’m focusing completely on the ball, ref?” How many playground fights would have been pardoned? How many children have been falsely disciplined, forever tarnished as a dirty hair-puller?
Dan Ballard’s sending off against Wolves has me feeling like the parent of a hair-puller — not angry, just disappointed. And not with my child, but rather with the incompetence shown by VAR and officials once
again.
I try to counter my disdain for this robotic thing with: “But, would we even be in this position had technology not intervened last May?” This all-powerful, faceless adjudicator gives with one hand, but takes with the other.
There was very little in the incident itself. Ballard and Tolu Arokodare were tussling, with both players concentrating firmly on the ball. Unfortunately for Ballard, while grasping at the forward’s shirt, he catches a couple of strands of hair inadvertently.
There is no intent, and while VAR isn’t obligated to prove or disprove subjective intent, and the letter of the law states that hair pulling will always end in dismissal, like most rules, it is open to interpretation.
As for the game, an apathetic malaise consumed Molineux. After a dismal campaign, the Wolves faithful demonstrated nothing but clear resignation, even ironically Olé-ing when 1-0 down.
There were certainly parallels that could be drawn between the Sunderland side relegated in 2016-17 and Saturday’s hosts: a despondent side with precious little quality, a disillusioned fanbase, and a broken ownership model.
The fact we scored from a corner was merely a case-in-point as to why Rob Edwards’ side are going down. It’s fair to say Nordi Mukiele’s first-half header was more a damning indictment of Wolves’ defensive setup, than it was indicative of some kind of improvement from us from dead ball situations.
The hosts were limp going forward, so after we went 1-0 up, we’d have fancied ourselves to protect our lead, claim all three points, and keep ourselves very much in the European conversation… until Ballard’s dismissal.
Even after gifting Wolves the numerical advantage, we remained the better side, admittedly, in a low-tempo game that increasingly felt like a pre-season friendly.
Offensively, we were, well, inoffensive. Chemsdine Talbi carried our greatest threat in what was an afternoon short on quality in the final third at both ends.
The second half provided more of the same, but Wolves began to probe, and it wasn’t long before they restored parity, capitalising on our shortcomings at another set-piece, in this instance, a corner.
After Dennis Cirkin, Habib Diarra, and Wilson Isidor came off the bench, we regained control, with Isidor’s runs in-behind, and Diarra’s attacking application pushing us up the pitch.
Frustratingly, a pinpoint Robin Roefs kick appeared to put Isidor in on goal, only for the forward to prematurely attempt to collect the ball, when all he needed to do was run onto it.
With the game finishing in a disappointing stalemate, our European aspirations took a hit, but if it’s any consolation, at least the point made it mathematically certain that we’ll be playing top flight football again next season.
Following last week’s capitulation against Nottingham Forest, this was definitely a response, particularly when going down to 10 men.
That said, Wolves really are abysmal, and were very much there for the taking had we been more willing to commit bodies forward. Ultimately, it’s in attacking areas where we look most inept, with little creative impetus and cutting edge — something I’m sure we’ll move to address in the summer.
With three huge games still to play, we are still in with a shout at a European spot, and given Granit Xhaka’s visible infuriation at full time, this is a group of players who have evidently bought into that shared aim.
