Wolves defender Toti Gomes: Officiating mistakes help the big teams

The defender thought he had scored Wolves’ third at Anfield in the FA Cup third round clash, only for the linesman to flag for offside.

It was ruled out for corner taker Matheus Nunes allegedly being offside when a ball was headed back to him in the build-up to the goal.

VAR was unable to provide any images that proved the decision was correct, but still did not overturn it, and Wolves are adamant the goal should have stood.

Now, Toti believes Wolves have suffered due to officiating mistakes out of their control.

“I didn’t understand what happened because I really thought it was a goal, and then it was disallowed,” he said.

“From the effort we put in, we deserved a happy ending, but this is football sometimes.

“Mistakes happen and we go again for the next one.

“At the end I tried to speak with them (the officials) and they said it was offside by a little bit, but I don’t understand how.

“At the end I saw the replay and still don’t understand how it wasn’t a goal. They (the officials) should have done better. In this type of moment, they help the big teams a little bit and for us that’s not good.

“Sometimes these mistakes help the big teams. It’s frustrating because we fight for a good result and these small things make a difference in the end.

“I’m still proud of the team because we gave everything until the end, it was a good game.

“It was a really good performance from us and we defended well.

“Everyone was running and giving everything for the win.”

Wolves impressed at Anfield, despite making nine changes to the team and missing some key players to injury.

For Toti, he believes new boss Julen Lopetegui has been integral in Wolves’ progress in a short space of time.

“He’s been really good,” Toti added.

“As a team you can see the environment in the changing room has changed since he came in.

“He’s brought something different and everyone is working well in training.

“You can see from our performances lately that we’ve been improving a lot and we still have more to show.

“We are all together in this moment.

“If you go to play, even if it’s 45 minutes, 15 minutes or 10 minutes, you have to go with everything to help the team.

“At this moment, every player is important, including the players that come from the bench or start. Even the players that don’t play.”

When asked if he is ready to force himself into the regular starting XI, Toti said: “Sure, every day I am working for it and waiting for the right moment.”