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On an exciting night in Molineux, Manchester City was, by turns, brilliant and fragile. Malcooked and exhausted from injuries, City were still good enough to come out with a 3-1 win against powerful opponents in their first game of the season, fueled by another masterclass from Kevin De Bruyne.
It could have been different. How Nuno Espírito Santo wishes his Wolves team had started with the level of aggression they showed in the second half. Or indeed, that Adama Traoré had been instructed to abandon a timid turn as a deep defensive back and attack City’s obvious sore spot on the left flank.
In the end Pep Guardiola was a bit gloomy, praising the performance of his midfielders, particularly De Bruyne, but also cautious, and undoubtedly a bit worn by a defensive rear from the second half. “In each training session I feel his commitment and right now he is an important player for us, he always will be,” Guardiola said.
“I am very satisfied with the performance and the way we play. The whole team was very good, especially in the first half ”, added the City manager. “The period we are in and the situation we have had in these last two weeks, I hope that at times we suffer, but in general we control the game.”
Guardiola has had few opportunities to refresh his team over the summer, although the distraction of trying to sign the best club player of all time clearly hasn’t helped. Here City lacked not only its outstanding vanguard in Sergio Agüero, but the key figure of Aymeric Laporte in the rear. In his absence, Guardiola gave a debut to Nathan Aké, newcomer in a £ 190 million four-man defense that also included Benjamin Mendy, Kyle Walker and John Stones. Well, Pep has always been more of a midfielder.
Molineux was another haunting and echoing ghost ship of the Premier League at the start, those empty rows of gold and black extra poignant given the enthusiastic atmosphere the last time these two teams met here. And in a way, the Wolves were the worst possible opponent for City at this stage and also the most tactically interesting, a team designed to test how and to what extent City have solved the problems that plagued them last season.
The most notable of these was a weakness against opponents who break quickly; and also the ones who can keep the ball, deepen the game and make City worry a bit, losing themselves in their own passing rhythms.
It was notable here that City didn’t allow the Wolves to do either in the first half. Fernandinho and Rodri provided a suffocating kingpin. Whatever Aké does from here, he has already given City back its best central midfielder. Later, the ball was channeled with real urgency from flank to flank, with De Bruyne the great pulsing mobile brain at the heart of each passing sequence.
City were helped by the spectacle of Traoré playing so deep in what was most of the time a five-man Lobos defense. Is this the best use of his supreme attack drive? Surely the nation’s left wingers would enthusiastically agree. But it was on that right side that City made the first advances.
Raheem Sterling snuck into the goal within two minutes, but was hit hard. And for a time, City worried about the Wolves’ defensive lines, holding the ball, shifting from flank to flank in search of overload.
The advance came from the other flank with 18 minutes to go. De Bruyne showed practically the entire hand in midfield in that first half. Here he appeared briefly as a winger, running down the right channel and then fouling as Romain Saïss slipped, grabbing both his feet.
It was a crazy moment from the center left back. De Bruyne stepped forward and smashed the penalty into the corner. City pressed on, moving the Lobos across the field with quiet sternness, waiting for the points to unravel. The second goal came after 32 minutes of a beautiful team play.
This time he went down to the left. Gabriel Jesus fell deep and played an orderly dismissal of De Bruyne. He slipped the ball into Sterling’s career path. Sterling’s kick found Phil Foden in front of goal, with time to place his shot into an unprotected net.
By halftime, City had taken 68% possession and reduced the home team to an extra in their own passing and moving game. At that moment, the Wolves came out transformed again, suddenly playing without fear. Pushed further up the field, Traoré finally escaped, pushing Mendy aside like a man walking through a pair of bar doors, and finding Daniel Podence in the center. He turned and took a shot just past the post. Another exit from the right saw Rúben Neves’ shot off the line by Kyle Walker.
Podence went back through the arch, but finished off beautifully on the roof of the net. At 77 minutes, Fábio Silva entered to debut in the league. And in 60 seconds, Raúl Jiménez had made it 2-1, stepping over Ederson’s left hand after Podence had beaten De Bruyne and a floating cross to the near post, a wonderful assist-job.
The wolves pressed hard. The city endured. On death, Jesús made it 3-1 with a deflected shot to seal a good victory, albeit a shot with his own notes of caution.
