Gabriel Jesus ensures Manchester City start with a win despite Wolves rally
On a gripping night at Molineux Manchester
City were, by turns, brilliant and brittle. Undercooked and depleted by injury, City were still good enough to come away with a 3-1 win against powerful opponents in their first game of the season, prompted by another masterclass from Kevin De Bruyne.
It might have been different. How
Nuno Espírito Santo will wish 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 diffident turn as a deep defensive
wing-back and attack City’s obvious tender spot on the left flank
At the end Pep Guardiola was a little sombre, praising the performance of his midfielders – particularly De Bruyne – but cautious too, and no doubt a little worn by a second half defensive rearguard. “Every training session I feel his commitment and right now he’s an important player for us – always will be,” Guardiola said.
“I’m very pleased with the performance and the way we played. All the team were really good, especially in the first half,” the City manager added. “The period that we are in and the situation we’ve had in these last two weeks, I expect in some moments we would suffer, but in general we controlled the game.”
There has been little opportunity for Guardiola to refresh his team over the summer, although the distraction of trying to sign the greatest club footballer of all time clearly hasn’t helped. Here City were missing not just their outstanding cutting edge in Sergio Agüero, but the key figure of Aymeric Laporte at the back. In his absence Guardiola gave a debut to Nathan Aké, newest arrival in a four-man £190m defence that also included Benjamin Mendy, Kyle Walker and John Stones. Well, Pep has always been more of a midfielders man.
Molineux was another eerie, echoey Premier League ghost-ship at kick-off, those empty rows of gold and black extra-poignant given the rousing atmosphere the last time these two teams met here. And in a way Wolves were both the worst possible opponent for City at this stage and also the most tactically interesting, a team geared to test how and to what degree City have fixed the problems that afflicted them last season.
Most notable of these was a weakness against opponents who break quickly; and also those who can keep the ball, take the game deep, and make City fret a little, losing themselves in their own passing rhythms.
It was notable here that City allowed Wolves to do neither in the first half. Fernandinho and Rodri provided a smothering central midfield pivot. Whatever Aké does from here he has already given City back their best central midfielder. Further forward the ball was funnelled with real urgency from flank to flank, with De Bruyne the great throbbing mobile brain at the heart of every passing sequence.
City were aided by the spectacle of Traoré playing so deep in what was most of the time a five-man Wolves defence. Is this the best use of his supreme attacking drive? No doubt the nation’s left-backs would enthusiastically agree. But it was on that right side City made early inroads.
Raheem Sterling wriggled through on goal inside two minutes but took a heavy touch. And for a while City worried away at the Wolves defensive lines, keeping the ball, switching from flank to flank in search of an overload.
The breakthrough came on the other flank with 18 minutes gone. De Bruyne showed pretty much the complete midfield hand in that first half. Here he appeared briefly as a winger, sprinting down the right channel then drawing a foul as Romain Saïss slid in, taking both his feet.
It was a hare-brained moment from the left-sided centre back. De Bruyne stepped up and smashed the penalty into the corner. City kept on going, moving Wolves around the pitch with a calm severity, waiting for the stitches to come apart. The second goal arrived on 32 minutes from a beautiful team move.
This time it came down the left. Gabriel Jesus dropped deep and played a neat lay-off to De Bruyne. He slid the ball into the path of Sterling’s run. Sterling’s pull-back found Phil Foden in front of goal, with time to place his shot into an unguarded net.
By half-time City had taken 68% possession and reduced the home team to an extra in their own game of pass and move. At which point Wolves came back out transformed, playing suddenly without fear. Pushed further up the pitch, Traoré finally got away, brushing Mendy aside like a man sashaying through a set of saloon bar doors, and finding Daniel Podence in the centre. He turned and smacked a shot just past the post. Another sortie down the right saw Rúben Neves’s shot kicked off the line by Kyle Walker.
Podence hared through again on goal but scooped a showy finish on to the roof of the net. With 77 minutes gone Fábio Silva came on for his league debut. And within 60 seconds Raúl Jiménez had made it 2-1, heading past Ederson’s left hand after Podence had nutmegged De Bruyne and floated a cross to the near post, a wonderful piece of assist-work.
Wolves pressed hard. City held on. At the death Jesus made it 3-1 with a deflected finish to seal a fine win, albeit one shot through with its own notes of caution.
Palace• Jonathan Liew: United needs time more than money or Sancho
6) Nketiah’s nose for goal adds depth to Arteta’s arsenal
Eddie Nketiah has played exactly 1,400 minutes for Arsenal’s first team and scored eight times. That is a ratio slightly better than a goal every other full game and it reflects well on a 21year-old striker who possesses a rare gift. Nketiah has that knack for appearing in the right place, specialising in the kind of poacher’s strike that sometimes seems out of vogue. His tapin defeated West Ham and it is not by luck that Nketiah finds himself in such positions; his movement is sharp and deft, and his willingness to learn is among many things to have impressed Mikel Arteta. There is something oldfashioned about Nketiah and how that serves him in the long term remains to be seen, given the demands placed on centre-forwards’ all-round games now. His best use this season may well be from the bench, as on Saturday, but it will be intriguing to see whether Arteta can mould him into a top-level starter for years to come. Nick Ames• Match report: Arsenal 2-1 West Ham
7) Saints offer worrying reminder of haunting loss
The first anniversary of that infamous 9-0 shellacking is fast approaching but, while Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side bounced back from that episode to finish comfortably clear of trouble last season, worryingly there were shades of that defeat as Southampton unravelled against Spurs at St Mary’s. Every time Tottenham poured forward Saints looked susceptible and José Mourinho’s side certain to score. In the end, Spurs found the net with five of their six shots on target, with Harry Kane and Son Heung-min combining to devastating effect to extend Southampton’s desperate start to this campaign; they have lost all three matches so far this season, including a cup defeat to Brentford, and the Saints manager can only hope this latest humiliation provides another watershed moment. “If we need such a result to get the heads clear, I will take it,” Hasenhüttl said. “At the moment, definitely, we cannot power for 90 minutes.” Ben Fisher• Match report: Southampton 2-5 Tottenham
8) Tireless Lamptey Bruce’s men bruised leaves
Newcastle’s left-back, Jamal Lewis, was left with a potentially nasty eye injury after being caught by Yves Bissouma’s dangerously high boot but Tariq Lamptey had already ensured Steve Bruce’s side had sustained wider damage. Graham Potter’s 19-year-old right wing-back excelled as Brighton threatened to win by six or seven. “It was pretty much perfect apart from the red card,” said Potter, with no hint of exaggeration. “We were really on the front foot.” Newcastle – still to beat Brighton in the Premier League since the clubs were promoted together three years ago – are hoping to be allowed to have 10,000 fans inside the 52,000 capacity St James’ Park at their next home game, against Burnley in early October. Had that number been present here, Lamptey’s reign of terror would have ensured Bruce’s players were booed off. Louise Taylor• Match report: Newcastle 0-3 Brighton
9) West Ham improve but they face tough stretch
On the first weekend Newcastle convincingly beat an extremely disappointing West Ham, and on the second Newcastle were a shambles in losing at home to Brighton and West Ham much improved even in defeat at Arsenal. Some teams have given us a fairly decent indication of what is to come, and others’ performances have been so different in character that it’s hard to see that anything has been revealed at all. “We just have to take the positives from this game because as a team I think we played well,” said Arthur Masuaku. “We need to play as a team and be hard to beat. We’ve shown that we can compete against these teams. We have a strong team and if we play like we did on Saturday, we will win games.” The question, though, is when – West Ham’s next five league games are against the sides who finished last season seventh, fifth, sixth, second and first. Simon Burnton
Sean Dyche’s dissatisfaction with his lack of resources at Burnley is barely concealed. Just two players have come in so far this transfer window, and one of them, Will Norris, is a reserve goalkeeper. Ben Mee and James Tarkowski were missing at Leicester, with the latter mooted for departure. It robbed Burnley of proven quality in central defence. Jimmy Dunne, previously loaned to Barrow, Hearts and Fleetwood, made his Premier League debut alongside his Irish compatriot Kevin Long, who, despite 10 years in claret, was playing only his 36th game in the Premier League. Dunne got a goal and looked the most assured Burnley defender but that was saying very little. For instance, Timothy Castagne, Leicester’s flying full-back, created huge problems down their left side. These may be early days but guiding this underpowered group to safety may be the greatest challenge of Dyche’s eight years at Turf Moor. John Brewin• Match report: Leicester 4-2 Burnley