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Last Updated: 09/21/20 11:23 pm
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Man City begins with an important victory
2:45 FREE TO SEE: Highlights from Manchester City’s victory over Wolves in the Premier League.
Given Manchester City’s preseason problems that robbed them of seven first-team regulars for their first Premier League game of the season, a trip to the Wolves was almost the last game Pep Guardiola would have wanted. But City had a solid showing, winning 3-1 at Molineux against a team that took six points from them last season. This was a good victory.
City were strong in the first half with Kevin De Bruyne, man of the match, winning and converting from the penalty spot. When Raheem Sterling set up Phil Foden for the second, the game changed: Guardiola’s team was pressing when out of possession and purring with the ball at their feet.
The City manager still wants a new center-back and perhaps that was a factor in his selection: going with Rodri and Fernandinho protecting the four behind. The Wolves have created more counterattack opportunities than any other team in the past two seasons, and that was a problem for City last season – they conceded twice as many chances in those situations as in any of their title-winning campaigns.
“We played safe and we didn’t take too many risks,” De Bruyne said. Sky sports after. “Supports for the defenders and the defensive midfielders because they kept control and did very well. The coach wanted to play maybe a little bit safer with the two defensive midfielders.”
The pair did an impressive pick job, particularly in the first half, with Guardiola slapping Fernandinho at one point after another possible Wolves counterattack closed.
2:01 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says it was important to start the season off right with a 3-1 win over Wolves.
But it was the wobble of the second half that served as a reminder of how delicate balance can be. The midfielders took a little longer to close and Benjamin Mendy was a bit more reluctant to make a tackle after his yellow card was all it took for the Wolves to start running on the baseline. The home team had excellent opportunities to backtrack long before Raúl Jiménez did.
But City handled the final quarter hour of the game well, preventing the Wolves from building momentum. The tie never seemed likely and when Jiménez tried to break in the 86th minute, there was Rodri, pulling a shirt and kicking the ball, taking his warning. This was a mature performance, a confident performance, as De Bruyne called it. They will need many more.
3:13 After losing 3-1 to Manchester City, Nuno Espirito Santo would not be attracted to reports suggesting that the Wolves are close to signing Nelson Semedo, but admits his team needs additions.
Positive power for wolves
The sale of Diogo Jota has put the spotlight on compatriot Daniel Podence, the man asked to accompany Jiménez in attack against City, and the diminutive forward produced a moment to remember to give his team hope in the second half. De Bruyne was a man worthy of the match, but he did not escape his trip to Molineux without a difficult experience: Podence made him go crazy for Jiménez’s goal.
After ingenious footwork against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane helped prepare the Mexican for the opener there, this assist brought Podence’s account for the season to two. That’s twice what Jota achieved in 34 Premier League appearances last season and this display will offer further encouragement that his attacking successor to the Wolves could add more power this year.
Egan red spells danger for Sheffield United
Villa Park has not been kind to Sheffield United this year.
While the ‘no goal’ at the June meeting ultimately meant more to Villa’s hopes of survival than derailing the Blades’ splendid first season in the Premier League, John Egan’s expulsion was the pivotal moment in the streak. United’s loser in the league. expanded to five successive matches. A stumble has turned into a depression.
However, not that Chris Wilder’s side performed poorly. Despite being one man short for 80 minutes, United restricted their hosts to just two shots on goal. And the move from box to box that resulted in his missed penalty was sublime. They may be losing games, but they haven’t lost confidence. They still seem to belong to this level.
Sooner or later, Sheffield United will surely be good again. On the other hand, given that their next matches against Leeds, Arsenal and Fulham are followed by commitments to Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool, they had the best hope that it would be earlier. The need to stop depression is fast becoming critical.
9:47 Chris Wilder talks about some controversial decisions during Sheffield Utd’s 1-0 loss to Aston Villa.
What doesn’t help are soft decisions and bad luck stories. Given that referee Graham Scott was more than 30 yards from the incident in which John Egan was deemed to have denied Ollie Watkins an opportunity to score, and both players involved turned their backs on him, there must be a lot of guesswork. involved in your decision.
“There is no question that there is a pull on the shirt, but my problem is how sure is the referee that it is a red card?” an unimpressed Jamie Carragher observed. It’s far away, the linesman didn’t get involved and actually served a serve.
“How can the referee be so safe when he’s so far away? If that had a yellow card, there wouldn’t even be an argument.”
But when Sheffield United is at Villa Park, there is always a topic of conversation.
So who was dirtying whom?
Work done for Villa, but only
2:47 Aston Villa manager Dean Smith says a win and clean sheet in their first game of the season is very important to the team and was impressed with the performances of their new signings.
It was by no means pretty from Aston Villa, but they finally managed to get the job done against Sheffield United’s 10 men.
John Egan’s early firing certainly turned the game in Villa’s favor, but it wasn’t all easy for Dean Smith’s side as they struggled to break through the Blades’ organized defensive system.
Jack Grealish wasn’t his usual creative self, while new signing Ollie Watkins didn’t get many changes from Sheffield United center-backs. They also needed another debutant in Emiliano Martínez to make a superb penalty save to keep the scores level in the first half.
2:15 Emi Martinez proved himself one of Aston Villa’s heroes in their win over Sheffield United by saving a penalty on his debut in a 1-0 Premier League win.
But they persevered and in the end Tyrone Mings and Exri Konza combined to get the job done.
The really positive is the continuation of the recent good condition of Villa at home. They have now won three consecutive Premier League games at Villa Park for the first time since October 2007 with Martin O’Neill.
We’ve already seen plenty of road wins so far this season, so in a season where form at home could prove crucial, Villa will want to continue his recent good form at Villa Park.
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