Wolves players in more ugly clashes as defeat leaves Gary O’Neil on the brink

Wolves players were involved in ugly clashes for the second time in a week as defeat by Ipswich Town left manager Gary O’Neil on the brink.

Just days after Mario Lemina argued with coach Shaun Derry in defeat at West Ham United — an incident that led to the midfielder being stripped of the captaincy — both Rayan Aït-Nouri and Matheus Cunha were involved in unsavoury incidents as Wolves’s season descended into chaos.

It was not immediately clear what triggered Aït-Nouri’s furious reaction at the final whistle but he was restrained by Wolves staff afterwards as the crowd vented their fury. Ipswich’s Wes Burns had his hand on Aït-Nouri’s neck in the melee, while footage showed Wolves coach Craig Dawson man-handling the defender and pushing him towards the tunnel. Aït-Nouri was shown a second yellow card after the final whistle.

O’Neil said: “We are under a lot of pressure. We are trying to push the group beyond our level and you can’t get yourself in trouble. We are stretched as it is. We need Rayan and now we don’t have him. I will deal with that internally. I understand the players being emotional but we have to keep control better.”

In a separate incident, striker Matheus Cunha had to be held back by Wolves players and staff as the club’s season unraveled further. Cunha clashed with a member of the Ipswich backroom team and appeared to place his hands on their face as tempers boiled over. Cunha had equalised after a Matt Doherty own goal had put Ipswich ahead, before Kieran McKenna’s men won it in injury time through Jack Taylor.

“It is a big blow for the group,” O’Neil said. “Especially with how we fought to get back into the game and be the better side for the second half, We were at maximum and felt like we would go on and win the game. To suffer that goal so late, the nature of the goal is crazy.

“I have worked at this level for, this is my third year now and I have never had such a struggle to help the group cope with being at this level. We have to find answers. That second-half performance was us at maximum and them not really threatening. But we still found a way to concede two.

“That is the group performing at maximum today. Until we can defend our goal then we are going to struggle. The emotion affects a lot. We started the game well and then Ipswich scored a goal they will never score against another Premier League team.”

Boos rang down from the stands as Taylor struck in the fourth minute of time added on, sparking jubilant celebrations for the visitors and angry recriminations among Wolves players.

A fourth straight defeat leaves Wolves four points off the bottom of the table, having now conceded 40 league goals — six more than any other side.

Telegraph Sport had reported ahead of the match that O’Neil will be given the chance to reverse Wolves’ alarming run of results and that he retains the immediate backing of the club. O’Neil’s position as manager is in serious doubt after just three victories from 26 Premier League matches but the Wolves hierarchy is determined, for now, to avoid a knee-jerk decision on his future.

Wolves have been seeking replacements for the 41-year-old, but no suitable candidate has come forward as yet. At the end, there were angry chants towards both Wolves chairman Jeff Shi and Fosun, the conglomerate that owns the club.

“I can stand here and say we deserved more but we have some issues we have got to sort out,” said Wolves midfielder Tommy Doyle. “It has to be improved and we will give 110 per cent, but it has to be better than that.

“The be-all and end-all is that we are not winning football matches. It is difficult for me to stand here and put a finger on it. Hopefully, tonight, the fans will see the effort was there.

“The dressing room is a difficult place to be at this moment in time. We have to be honest with each other and figure out ourselves why we aren’t getting three points. Honest conversations need to happen.”