Pep Guardiola’s side suffered their first league defeat of the season as they went down 2-1 at Molineux.
Manchester City’s perfect start to the Premier League season was brought to an end as they were beaten 2-1 by a solid Wolves team on Saturday. Pep Guardiola will certainly not forget the name of Hwang Hee-chan again after the forward netted the winning goal just a day after the City boss labelled him “the Korean guy” in his press conference.
Hwang and his Wolves team-mates certainly showed more fight than many of their City counterparts as the home side completely suffocated the visitors’ defence for the 90 minutes. Wolves rendered Erling Haaland and Phil Foden irrelevant, gave Matheus Nunes a horrid time on his return and capitalised on Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias’ sloppiness to net two goals, cancelling out Julian Alvarez’s lovely free-kick.
GOAL rates City’s players from Molineux…
Goalkeeper & Defence
Ederson (5/10):
Only had one shot on target to deal with in the whole game and it got past him.
Kyle Walker (5/10):
Pushed really high up, giving away too much space defensively and not creating enough going forward.
Manuel Akanji (6/10):
Had some good moments on the ball and a vital tackle but his awful attempt at a clearance created Wolves’ second.
Ruben Dias (4/10):
Inadvertently knocked the ball into his own net and then let Hwang nip in behind him for the second after blocking the initial effort.
Nathan Ake (4/10):
Decent in the build-up but was fell to pieces against Neto’s pace, leading to the opening goal. Gave Semedo all the time he needed to whip the ball in for Wolves’ second, too.
Midfield
Matheus Nunes (4/10):
A rough return to the Molineux as he was jeered with every touch and did nothing with the ball.
Mateo Kovacic (6/10):
Got stuck in with tackles to win the ball in midfield but his passing wasn’t great.
Julian Alvarez (7/10):
Fired in a great free-kick to equalise and was good on the ball overall despite the oppressive Wolves defence.
Attack
Phil Foden (5/10):
A quiet performance as Wolves managed to block him whenever he got on the ball.
Erling Haaland (3/10):
Barely involved and only had half of a chance early in the second half.
Jeremy Doku (6/10):
Got on the ball a lot and was a lively threat from the beginning but connecting in the final third was always tough.
Subs & Manager
Oscar Bobb (7/10):
Replaced Nunes and looked a lot better. Quicker on the ball and set up Haaland for his first real chance.
Kalvin Phillips (5/10):
Missed the target with a shot from outside the box after replacing Kovacic.
Jack Grealish (5/10):
On for the last 10 minutes but had little space against the defence,
Pep Guardiola (4/10):
His team dominated possession but they were completely smothered by the Wolves defence and only an Alvarez free-kick brought his team back level with their hosts. Taking Nunes off for Bobb was a smart move, but it was the only effective change for an ineffective City team.
