Head coach Gary O’Neil says there’s no magic wand to turning form around and Wolves must “work hard” if they’re to get back on track after defeat at Ipswich Town.
A much-changed side led 2-0 at Portman Road, only to suffer a comeback defeat at the hands of the Championship side, meaning the Carabao Cup journey ended there. While impressed by some of the individual performances, O’Neil admits it was difficult for his makeshift side to gel and was disappointed to lose the game from what was a commanding position.
On how the tie went
“I thought we looked like a team that hadn’t played together much. I thought the boys gave everything and there were some good bits and then there were some bad bits that looked like a team that had been put together, versus a team which has been together a long time, and we came out on the wrong side of it.
“I don’t think there was much in it, especially second half, I don’t think they had much at all. ‘Bents’ didn’t have much to do. Obviously, the boy scores a worldie from a long way out and we huffed and puffed with a few chances. There wasn’t much in the game.”
On not forcing an equaliser
“We came up against a side in a good vein of form. Disappointed to go from 2-0, where we were in control. A sloppy first goal changed the momentum a bit. Second half they didn’t cause us many problems at all, and we missed a couple of decent chances around their goal.
“There’s no magic wand, it’s hard work, and there’s stuff which needs to be fixed and we’re working hard on fixing them. We’re disappointed with the result, but we have to pick ourselves up and be ready to go again. Tough game coming at the weekend.”
On the squad selection
“There were some changes enforced, Sasa was asking to come off because he’d run his race and couldn’t do any longer. Channy’s had some hamstring injuries and definitely wasn’t one who needed to do 90 this evening with big games coming. Some of the other lads got some good minutes into them which will be important. I thought Bouba Traore was excellent.
“The game’s changed a lot and you have big squads, and you need people to get minutes. Some of them deserved minutes, they work their socks off every day and have been waiting for an opportunity. Some of them got that today and I thought Bouba did well, Tommy Doyle did well, Channy obviously did well.
“Channy’s fine. He was feeling a bit tired towards the end, and he was doing a lot of running. He had a good game, to be fair, he caused them some problems running in behind, but the squad’s not the biggest or deepest, especially in those areas where Channy plays. It’s always a tough balance between wanting to keep him on, but if something happens and we lose him for league games we’d be kicking ourselves.”
On Santi Bueno’s debut
“I thought he did OK. There were points were Ipswich caused him some problems, first game, new team, new partnership, so not an easy one to come into, but one he needs. I need to see him, and he needs to play with his team mates.
“We’re still very early, I know there’s a desperate need for results, that’s the nature of the business, but we are six weeks in against a team which has been doing that stuff for a long time.”
