Lemina loses Wolves captaincy as O'Neil acts

Mario Lemina had to be restrained at the end of Wolves' defeat at West Ham

Mario Lemina has lost the Wolves captaincy after talks with boss Gary O'Neil.

The 31-year-old midfielder has been replaced by defender Nelson Semedo as skipper in the lead-up to Saturday's visit of Ipswich.

The decision was made after Lemina had an altercation with West Ham's Jarrod Bowen following the final whistle of Monday's 2-1 defeat at London Stadium.

It is the latest problem for O'Neil, who has been under serious pressure at Molineux with Wolves second bottom of the Premier League.

"We've decided to move the captaincy to Nelson and Nelson will captain the group from now on," said O'Neil, who only handed Lemina the armband in the summer.

"Of course, the other night sparked the conversation, but it was an important conversation that had to be had. Mario and myself have a good understanding now of how we move forward and what it looks like.

"We've spoken a lot this week - me, Mario and some of the other senior players. What happened after the game can't happen.

"We all understand emotions can rise, that we're in a tough moment and everyone's fighting and giving everything under big stress and pressure. But they're scenes we won't see again, definitely."

Former Southampton player Lemina will remain part of the squad's leadership group and O'Neil believes Wolves will be in a better place with 31-year-old Semedo as skipper.

He added: "The discussions with Mario were good. We get on very well and he's been a big part of what we've been able to do here, especially since I've been here. We have a large amount of respect for each other.

"These things - sometimes they can be tough to deal with and sometimes you can come out of them in a good spot, and I feel like we have [come out in a good spot].

"He'll still be around that group of senior players who lead the team, but at this moment we feel it's best for Nelson to lead the group."

Wolves host Ipswich at Molineux with O'Neil having been backed by chairman Jeff Shi this week, and he said a sense of perspective remains at Molineux.

O'Neil added: "I'm pretty sure if I had been put into a situation where we were free spending and I was cherry-picking Premier League players and we had won three games I'd have lost my job a while ago."

'I couldn't care less who's linked to my job - O'Neil

O'Neil also dismissed any anger or frustration at seeing others linked to his job.

Graham Potter, David Moyes, Sergio Conceicao, Niko Kovac and Max Allegri have all been touted as potential replacements after Wolves' poor start to the season.

Chairman Jeff Shi publicly backed O'Neil, who signed a new four-year contract in August, on Thursday and the head coach remains unconcerned.

He said: "I couldn't care less who's linked to my job, it doesn't bother me at all. It's not been a consideration at all. I'm fine, I'm really enjoying my work every day and desperate to make sure we can turn this situation [around].

"Being able to rise from moments like this will feel very gratifying at the end and we know it's a season's work well done when we get to where we're going to get to.

"My focus in this room with you guys [the media] always gets taken to who might take my job, but my focus when I'm not in this room is always around getting every little bit out of the group.

"I feel we can do better, the players feel we can do better. We have a good opportunity from tomorrow's game to the end of January to impact on and off the pitch what the rest of the season looks like."