Murphy and Jordan react to Lemina controversy in West Ham v Wolves
Danny Murphy and Simon Jordan don’t think Mario Lemina’s incident with Jarrod Bowen in the West Ham game against Wolves is something that should be read into too much.
The Hammers triumphed 2-0 over strugglers Wolves on Monday (9 December) and left the London Stadium with all three points to their name.
At the end of the game, Lemina went to shake the hand of Bowen but the pair got into a disagreement and they both ended up on the floor with Lemina also squaring up to Wolves’ first-team coach Shaun Derry.
Speaking live on talkSPORT (11 December), Murphy and Jordan shared their thoughts on the situation.
“I don’t know what [Jarrod] Bowen said, I don’t know if he shook his hand with good intent and how they ended up on the floor, who knows because players have little things that go on in a game that could have wound Bowen up,” Murphy said.
“Maybe he rattled him in a tackle, I can’t quite recall, I didn’t see it, I don’t think Shaun Derry will mind [being squared up to] because he’s in a passionate state of mind.
“A little misdemeanour at the end, showing some passion because Bowen has wound him up a bit, he’s ended up on the floor, come on, what do you want to see.”
To which Jordan replied: “Yeah I would think it was nothing.
“Shaun won’t have a problem with it, Shaun was my captain at Crystal Palace for three years and he won’t have an issue with the fact he’s had a confrontation with the player.”
West Ham ace Jarrod Bowen got into it with Mario Lemina
On the day, Lemina was by far and away Wolves’ best player and while the reason for his frustration isn’t known, it feels likely that he’s just starting to get fed up with the poor performances of some of his teammates.
In the summer, O’Neil lost star man Max Kilman in a transfer that saw him make a switch to the London Stadium.
Since then, things haven’t been quite the same within their camp and the games seem to be getting increasingly difficult.
While Murphy and Jordan believe the spat between the two players should be brushed under the carpet and forgotten about, it feels like Lemina may have been let off too easily.
Of course, Bowen was just as much to blame as the Gabon international but the altercation seemed to mainly affect the central midfielder.
These things happen in football of course but if another incident such as that occurs again with Lemina at the centre of it, it feels like some sort of sanctions should be put into place.
In other West Ham news, Real Betis have had their stance shared regarding the potential return of Guido Rodriguez.
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