THAT’s ENTERTAINMENT: Premier League history serves to remind us that late summer is never an easy time to take on a newly promoted side, especially in their own back yard. And so it proved to be the case at a rowdy Molineux where Pep Guardiola’s Centurions were left to rue a combination of profligacy, an inspired Rui Patricio, shabby defending and worldwide renowned poor English refereeing.
The latter is these days increasingly accepted as part of the game in the top flight, so putting obvious handballs and penalties aside, City have only themselves to blame for not securing the three points here. We were way too open at the back for the opening goal having invited Nunio Espirito Santo’s well organised and well drilled team on to our back line once too often. Guardiola had suggested that City, the club who had the most players at the World Cup, are not yet fully fit. This would go some way to explaining away the odd drop in tempo from the champions, but it doesn’t account for coughing up possession or the lack of defensive situational awareness that allowed Wolves the opportunity to take the lead.
That said, the width of the crossbar or post denied The Blues on three occasions in what was a pulsating encounter with a point secured that could yet prove to be crucial as our title defence unfolds.
Molineux Stadium
FA Premier League
26/08/2018 12:30 pm
Attendance: 31322
Referee: Martin Atkinson of West Yorkshire
Wolverhampton Wanderers | Manchester City | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Boly (57') | Laporte (69') | ||||||
11 Rui Patrício | 31 Ederson | ||||||
5 Ryan Bennett | 2 Kyle Walker | ||||||
16 Conor Coady | 4 Vincent Kompany | ||||||
15 Willy Boly | 14 Aymeric Laporte | ||||||
2 Matt Doherty | 22 Benjamin Mendy | ||||||
8 Ruben Neves | 25 Fernandinho | ||||||
28 João Moutinho | 8 Ilkay Gündogan | Leroy Sané 77' | |||||
19 Castro Otto | Ruben Vinagre 85' | 20 Bernardo Silva | Gabriel Jesus 62' | ||||
10 Hélder Costa | Adama Traoré 72' | 21 David Silva | |||||
18 Diogo Jota | 7 Raheem Sterling | Riyad Mahrez 85' | |||||
9 Raul Jiménez | 10 Sergio Agüero | ||||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
17 Morgan Gibbs-White | 5 John Stones | ||||||
21 John Ruddy | 18 Fabian Delph | ||||||
27 Roman Saïss | 19 Leroy Sané | ||||||
29 Ruben Vinagre | 26 Riyad Mahrez | ||||||
30 Kortney Hause | 30 Nico Otamendi | ||||||
33 Leo Bonatini | 33 Gabriel Jesus | ||||||
37 Adama Traoré | 49 Aro Muric |
Game Statistics |
||
11 | Goal attempts | 19 |
2 | On Target | 6 |
5 | Corners | 9 |
13 | Fouls | 6 |
1 | Yellow Cards | 2 |
0 | Red Cards | 0 |
29 | % | 71 |