Costa ensures Wolves flip form book as Benitez laments ‘mistake after mistake’
Rafael Benitez’s Newcastle United featured in another tale of the unexpected in a Sky Bet Championship that continues to be refreshingly unpredictable.
A team that created 29 chances and scored six times at Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday were woeful in attack yesterday as their pursuit of a sixth successive win faltered against opponents who had previously won only twice.
But Benítez insisted that his players had not been complacent after their Loftus Road triumph. “I don’t think so,” he said. “We talked about it and they knew how important it was to concentrate and do the right things, but we put ourselves under pressure.”
An own goal by Chancel Mbemba and Helder Costa’s smart finish sealed a deserved win for Wolverhampton, who were conceding four late goals at home to Barnsley while United were on the rampage at QPR.
Fans who booed Wolves four days earlier at Molineux, were led in a “thunderclap” celebration at the final whistle by Iceland international Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, an influential figure throughout the game.
“Sometimes you can have ups and downs,” Walter Zenga, the Wolves manager, said: “I’m delighted with the reaction, because we showed our supporters that the last 15 minutes in our previous game was an accident and something that can happen.
“The players wanted to show a reaction because it was shocking for everybody, so the spirit of the team and how they approached the game is a big answer. The approach was very important. The fans came to follow us and we had to give them something back.
“It was difficult to find a player who didn’t give 100 per cent and, when everybody thinks in the same way and play for each other, you have a great match.”
The warning signs were soon apparent yesterday for Newcastle and they were fortunate to survive after nine minutes. Goalkeeper Matz Sels saved in quick succession from Bodvarsson and Costa before Bodvarsson struck the bar.
Benítez was an increasingly agitated figure on the touchline over his side’s failure to get a foothold in the game before Ayoze Perez finally forced an excellent save from Carl Ikeme midway through the half.
Dwight Gayle’s mistimed header deprived him of a 28th minute goal from Matt Ritchie’s cross and, a minute later, an even more abject header from Mbemba at the other end brought the opening goal as he directed Bodvarsson’s cross past his own keeper.
It was the first goal conceded in 524 minutes of football by Newcastle, whose attempt to cancel it out continued to lack quality and conviction in a second-half before Costa capitalised on a slip by Perez and placed another one beyond Sels with a well-judged left-foot shot from 20 yards in the 62nd minute.
Benítez responded instantly by sending on substitutes Christian Atsu and Aleksandar Mitrovic, but Ikeme, well protected by his central defenders Dominic Iorfa and Danny Batth, was untroubled apart from in the 77th minute when he saved with his feet from Mitrovic.
By then, some Newcastle supporters were on their way out of the ground, and they missed little apart from the late dismissal of Vurnon Anita, for a foul on substitute Ivan Cavaleiro that appeared no worse than several other equally late challenges earlier in the game.
“It’s a bad day, but we have to analyse what went wrong and try to understand why,” said Benítez. “It was not expected that we would start the game the way we started. You can make mistakes and have bad luck, but we started making mistake after mistake.
“We had control and they were not creating anything when we scored the own goal. Then. the second goal was another mistake and we made too many. That’s why we lost.
“They were organised and working hard, but we made the wrong decisions and it’s difficult to manage when you have so many things wrong. The good thing [is] when you have another game soon.” That game is on Tuesday in the EFL Cup – and their opponents on Tyneside are Wolverhampton again.
‘It’s a bad day, but we have to analyse what went wrong and try to understand why. It was not expected’