Southampton who were last season’s runners-up in the Carabao Cup has once more been humbled again, this time by Wolverhampton Wanderers.
They had previously lost to Manchester United during the Wembley final held in February, in a game which ended 3-2. This time around, the game played in Southampton’s home saw the Wolves maul their hosts to bring the game to a 2-0 win at the close of the game. The 67th minute saw Danny Batth head in the corner kick played by Ivan Cavaleiro to give his team a 1-0 lead. The game continued until three minutes left on the clock when Donovan Wilson who came in as a substitute made it 2-0.
The game made it Wolves’ third Premier League scalp in cup competitions for the year. During the last season, they had emerged victorious in FA Cup games against Stoke City and Liverpool. Despite the team falling to a defeat by Cardiff City and NunoEspirito, the club’s manager making 11 changes to the team that featured in the game, Wolves still went on to thrash Southampton. Mauricio Pellegrino, the Southampton manager who spoke after the match expressed his disappointment and noted that the defeat was quite shocking to them.
“I’m disappointed,” he said. “We knew Wolves would be strong defensively and it was a pity we could not take chances at the end of the first half. The best news for us is maybe we’ll have more time to prepare better for Premier League games, and try to learn from [the defeat],” he added.
The Wolverhampton manager expressed his own delight in how well his players performed in the match. He further stated that he was proud of his team and the way they had prepared. Nuno also noted that the results of the match had shown that there was no permanent starting XI in the team.