Wolves 0-4 Manchester City: Guardiola’s Sky Blues start the season in style
It is not often that Pep Guardiola and Manchester City have had to prove themselves in recent years. But after the depths of last season it was imperative that they start with a bang and send a message to the rest of the league. The Sky Blues did that and then some.
Tijjani Reijnders was immediately at home in City’s midfield, all confidence and silky touch. The £46.5m man from AC Milan, best midfielder in the Serie A last season, showed that he has what it takes to guide City to victory, playing some sort of hybrid De Bruyne-Gundoganesque role.
City’s opener came when Reijnders collected in the middle, deftly evaded a brash tackle and then clipped the ball over the Wolves backline to Rico Lewis, who squared for Erling Haaland to finish.
It was such an important piece of quality to make the difference after the match had started with a lot of intensity and Wolves were causing City problems.
For City’s second Oscar Bobb collected in the middle of the park, ran through the centre of Wolves’ half and then laid it off to Reijnders. The Dutchman’s one-time strike was classy and left Jose Sa grasping at air. At that point, Wolves’ tempestuous start cooled and City began to dictate with more clarity and calmness.
In the second half, just after the hour mark, Reijnders plucked James Trafford’s pass from the air, played a give-and-go down the right wing with Rico Lewis and then cut back to Erling Haaland, who finished past Sa for City’s third.
Haaland’s brace ensured that the Norwegian was off to a roaring start, climbing to the top of the scorers’ chart right from week one. There were other impressive showings elsewhere. Nico Gonzalez put in a disciplined performance in the middle of the pitch, combining well with Reijnders to match and then temper the aggression from Wolves.
Rayan Ait-Nouri, making his debut against his former team, in front of the Molineaux faithful, showed no jitters, moving the ball around with confidence. Ruben Dias and John Stones impressed at the heart of defence, even as Wolves’ Marshall Munetsi and Jorgen Strand Larsen continually poked for holes in the City backline.
Munetsi had the ball in the back of the net in the 26th minute after he headed in a cross from Matt Doherty, but Stones had intelligently stepped up to keep the Zimbabwean offside.
City’s fourth goal came from another debutant Rayan Cherki, who collected in front of the penalty arc in the 81st minute and struck a low shot into the bottom left corner. And as other clubs with aspirations for the title peruse the league table at the opening weekend, there’s no doubt they will have received Guardiola’s message loud and clear.
