Wolverhampton Wanderers crashed out of the Carabao Cup after a disastrous loss to Ipswich Town at Portman Road, with Gary O’Neil’s side suffering a 3-2 defeat to the Championship outfit.
Journalist Steve Madley described the fortune of the game as “infuriating”, as O’Neil’s side looked to be the squad in the second-tier for the majority of the tie, in a result that saw them exit the cup early on.
The manager made 10 changes from his side that played in the draw against Luton Town last weekend, switches that proved to be costly as the squad struggled to maintain their fast start.
Who scored for Wolves against Ipswich Town?
It was an opening 15 minutes that Wolves could have only dreamed of considering their lacklustre start to the season, as Hwang Hee-Chan netted his fourth goal of the 2023/24 campaign after just four minutes played.
The Korean’s goal was quickly followed by the Old Gold’s second, as Toti Gomes put the visitors 2-0 up early into proceedings, marking their dominance over the heavily-rotated Championship side.
At the point of the second goal, it seemed as though O’Neil’s squad had already started their trip back to the Midlands, as the hosts got back into the game before halftime via goals from Chelsea loanee Omari Hutchinson and Freddie Ladapo.
After the interval, Wolves’ hard work in the opening minutes was ripped apart, as Jack Taylor put Ipswich ahead with an ambitious strike and some questionable goalkeeping by Dan Bentley, who had a shocking night.
The Express and Star’s Liam Keen stressed in his match report that the keeper “could have done better” for the third goal, as well as the second as he earned an inadequate Sofascore match rating of just 6.0.
While it was more difficult to pick out the better performers from the poor on the night, one player suffered as much as Bentley, as O’Neil handed Santiago Bueno his full-debut for Wolves.
How did Santiago Bueno play against Ipswich?
Signed on deadline day from Girona, the lightweight defender was thrown into the mix in the cup, with the hope that he could show his worth against a theoretically lesser opposition.
That was far from the case as the defender was shunned by Talking Wolves founder Matt Cooper as enduring a “tough debut”, which was matched by his notable frailties in the back line.
The £30k-per-week Uruguayan won just four out of eight of his attempted ground duels, as well as losing possession five times and committing two fouls in the heart of defence, via Sofascore.
While his numbers were far from impressive, his lack of game time of late shone through, as he was beaten to the ball by Hutchinson for the Blues’ opener, where he was criticised for looking “flat-footed” by journalist Steve Madeley.
With Manchester City up next in the league, Wolves fans expressed their upset at Tuesday night’s result, as fan account ‘Official Wolves Fans’ described the squad as being “disjointed”, which was a fair account of the evening’s entertainment.
To look so out of place on his debut against a side in the Championship was a worrying sight for Bueno and Wolves, however on what was a pitiful night for all associated with Molineux, the 24-year-old will have a shot at redemption in the future.