Wolverhampton Wanderers were knocked out of the EFL Cup at the hands of Newcastle United at St. James’ Park on Tuesday evening.
Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez shakes the hand of Wolves manager Walter Zenga before the match
Wolverhampton Wanderers couldn’t make it two wins over Newcastle United in three days as they lost 2-0 to Rafa Benitez’s side at St. James’ Park in the EFL Cup.
Matt Ritchie opened the scoring for the Magpies in the 29th minute after he played a neat one-two with Jack Colback before slotting the ball past Wolves keeper Andy Lonergan and into the bottom left corner.
And less than two minutes later Ritchie was involved again as he burst down the right wing before picking out Yoan Gouffran whose flying left-footed volley rocketed into the roof of the net from 15 yards.
Newcastle United’s Yoan Gouffran celebrates with teammates after he scores his sides second goal
That gave United a comfortable lead at half time and they managed to protect it for the remainder of the match as they progressed through to the fourth round.
Here are how the Wolves players rated for the match…
Andy Lonergan: 6/10
Couldn’t do anything about either goal and otherwise wasn’t really troubled a great deal
Silvio: 6/10
An encouraging debut from the Portuguese full-back will please Wolves fans particularly given the fact that he played 90 minutes despite looking to have picked up a knock.
Didn’t really put a foot wrong in a professional albeit unspectacular performance.
Wolves’ Silvio lies injured
Dominic Iorfa: 7/10
A strong, no nonsense performance from the big defender limited Newcastle’s threat through the middle and was probably Wanderers’ best starting player.
Two strong performances over the Magpies in quick succession can only be seen as a big positive for Walter Zenga’s side.
Wolves’ Dominic Iorfa (L) in action with Newcastle United’s Daryl Murphy
Kortney Hause: 6/10
Decent enough but nothing too noteworthy from the youngster who just seemed to play things safe and get on with proceedings.
Partnered Iorfa in the centre of defence relatively well but probably won’t be staking a claim for a regular starting spot in the league any time soon.
Cameron Borthwick-Jackson: 5/10
A mixed performance from the Manchester United loanee who looked calm and composed at left-back one minute but then looked a bit out of his depth the next.
Against Ritchie he was always going to be in for a difficult night and the fact that both goals came down his side isn’t the best sign in the world.
He was caught out by the Scottish international twice as he failed to track his run in the build up to both of the Magpies’ quickfire goals.
Conor Coady: 6/10
A decent display from Wolves’ captain on the evening as he covered the back four competently although he didn’t have too much to do as the majority of United’s threat came from Ritchie on the right wing.
Mohamed Diame and Jonjo Shelvey slightly overpowered him in the middle as he lost out a few time and was drawn into some silly fouls before he was eventually booked late on.
Joao Teixeira: 5/10
Made hardly any impact bar a few clever passes and was subsequently withdrawn at half-time.
George Saville: 5/10
Ran all night but was largely anonymous for the 90 minutes and really should have done better for Ritchie’s opener as he was caught flat footed inside the area.
Newcastle United’s Deandre Yedlin (L) in action with Wolves’ Joe Mason
Joe Mason: 4/10
Much like Savile, Mason had little impact on the game at all, the fact that it took him to be substituted just to realise he was still on the pitch says it all really.
Paul Gladon: 6/10
Led the line the best he could but struggled to break through the Newcastle defence as the service to him was limited.
He still kept Ciaran Clark and Grant Hanley on their toes which is the least you want from your forward so Zenga won’t be too disappointed with the Dutchman’s performance.
Jed Wallace: 5/10
Missed a good opportunity to give Wolves the lead but fluffed his line with the first real chance of the game as United keeper Karl Darlow blocked his effort relatively comfortably.
The wideman was then punished for fluffing his lines as Newcastle soon went two goals as he failed stop Gouffran’s threat leading up to the second.
Newcastle United’s Yoan Gouffran (L) scores his sides second goal
Substitutions
Ola John (for Teixeira 46): 7/10
Wolves’ best player on the night, had he started Newcastle could have been in for a much more difficult evening as the Dutchman was a real handful in the second half.
He had a great chance to pull a goal back for the away side late on but Darlow was equal to it.
Jack Price (for Mason 62): 6/10
An improvement from Mason as he displayed some good passing at times but at 2-0 down, Newcastle were happy just to shut up shop and see out the win.
Jon Dadi Bodvarsson (for Wallace 78): n/a
Not enough time to make an impact.
Wolves Manager Walter Zenga (C) applauds the fans after the match
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