Wolves captain Lemina squares up to assistant coach after wrestling with Bowen

Lemina started for Wolves in their 2-1 loss to West Ham United on Monday, with the defeat heaping even more pressure on embattled coach Gary O'Neil.

The frustration of a 10th league defeat evidently got to the Wolves captain as his emotions boiled over in ugly post-match scenes.

West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen tried to shake Lemina's hand but the Wolves midfielder appeared to brush him off.

Lemina's handshake snub sparked Bowen's fury as the pair grabbed each other's shirts and ended up on the turf, with players from both teams rushing in to break up the scuffle.

West Ham's Jean-Clair Todibo was the man who dragged Lemina away from further harm as the Wolves skipper also picked up a yellow card for his troubles.

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O'Neil and his coaching staff were soon on the field in an attempt to diffuse the situation, but it only got worse.

Wolves' Toti Gomes tried to play peacemaker but Lemina wasn't having it.

In rather staggering scenes, Lemina then squared up to assistant coach Derry as the two pressed their foreheads together.

Lemina fires off some more choice words in Derry's direction before Toti manages to drag him away from further trouble.

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Speaking after the contest, O'Neil defended the 'passionate' Lemina and felt it spoke to the pressure some of his players are under amid Wolves' poor run of form.

"He took a bit of calming down but everything's fine now," O'Neil said.

"Everybody understands things like that can happen in the heat of the moment.

"It speaks of the amount of pressure that senior players are under and the situation they find themselves in at the moment. It's been tough for them, trying to help the younger ones get up to speed. Everyone at the football club is under a lot of stress and pressure at this moment.

"I'm sure when Mario sees it back there will be things he would have done differently. But everything Mario does comes from a place of wanting to do well for the football club."

Although O'Neil leapt to his skipper's defence, one Wolves supporter blasted Lemina's conduct in the post-match fracas.

Dale, the Wolves fan, took aim at Lemina on talkSPORT's Sports Bar and felt the way he carried himself after the contest was not how a club captain should act.

"The writing has been on the wall since late last season, but the more important thing I want to talk about tonight is the embarrassment of Mario," Dale said.

"The captain of the club is meant to be our leader. The one the players look up to the one the fans look up to. He lost his head at the end of the game. He pushed and had a fight with Bowen, pushed one of the Wolves players and then went over to the assistant manager had a scuffle with him and pushed him.

"Let's have it right boys and you've got to agree with me on this. If this was Bruno Fernandes, Jim White and Simon Jordan in the morning would absolutely be killing him because it's an embarrassment and what he's done.

"You can't be doing that on a pitch, especially with what's going on at the club. What's going on with the manager? We can't win games. It's an embarrassment."

Sports Bar co-host Jamie O'Hara replied: "He's lost his head. I get that. It's frustration, isn't it? All round from the players and it's spilled over.

"He should do better. He should set an example, but also this is showing a bit of passion, I guess."

Dale added: "I knew he was going to come out with that. Like the passion side of things, but that's the wrong kind of passion surely to be portraying about the club and what's going on and bringing more attention to the club in this situation."

The 2-1 defeat to West Ham left Wolves sitting 19th and four points from safety.

However, O'Neil's side can inch closer to safety as they take on 18th-placed Ipswich Town next Saturday, followed by a trip to Leicester City on December 22.

Gary O'Neil's full-time verdict

Under-pressure Wolves boss O'Neil spoke to talkSPORT's Sam Matterface after the full-time whistle.

Gary O'Neil: "I think they're penalties. I think the Guedes one is a blatant penalty. I'm really, really surprised that we don't get that one.

Sam Matterface: "We were told that it was because it was outside the box."

GON: "I don't think it was, but maybe I can recheck that. But I thought it was a penalty and Emerson's on a yellow card at that moment as well.

"So obviously a penalty and a second yellow would have made a big difference. I think the one on Bellegarde is a penalty as well. I know there's minimal contact, but enough to kick his leg onto his other leg, which makes him fall over.

"There's a blatant foul on Santi Bueno in the build-up to West Ham's second goal too.

"So I'm not criticising the officials really because I know how tough their job is, but in a big game like today, which was a big game with not much in it, we needed some of those to go our way. They make a big, big difference.

SM: "You will know the statistics. You don't need me to remind you of the number of defeats in the last 25 Premier League games. And you know football well enough, you've been around it long enough to know that there'll be speculation.

"Do you think that that is unfair noise, bearing in mind the context of the players that have been sold and the replacement and the amount of spend that has gone on?"

GON: I understand the noise and I'm happy to be judged on my team's performance. But context is important.

"When I arrived, the club had just managed to get 39 points in the Premier League under Julen.

"Since that moment, we've sold £200 million worth of players. So if you start at 39 and you lose £200 million worth of players, it's going to be tough.

"Basically every pundit that I saw last season had us get relegated and we were nowhere near relegation.

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"We were a hair away from getting to an FA Cup semi-final. We went away to Stamford Bridge and beat Tottenham 4-1.

"We beat Man City, beat Tottenham and Chelsea at home. Some incredible, incredible performances and I definitely haven't become a worse coach."