WOLVES SCARE FOR CITY
Neves say never... Premier new boys show the reigning champions aren’t that frightening with deserved draw
HALF an hour or so before kick-off the pitch announcer at Molineux read out a list of the mascots who would accompany the Wolverhampton Wanderers players on to the pitch.
‘This is Raj,’ she said, as the boy’s picture appeared on the big screen, ‘and his favourite player is Ruben Neves.’
The next kid’s picture flashed up. ‘This is Gabriel,’ she said, ‘and his favourite player is also Ruben Neves.
‘This is Jack and his favourite player is also Ruben Neves.’
You get the drift. William and Callum did not veer from the script. And after a rogue vote for Willy Boly, another Jack also picked Neves.
But as the team who have come up from the Championship accompanied by such high expectations faced up to Manchester City, it soon became obvious to anyone who didn’t know already that they are an awful lot more than a one-man team.
Neves is a fine player but his supporting cast was good enough to give last season’s runaway champions a scare and hold them to a deserved draw.
Sure, City dominated possession and showed flashes of the genius and the fluency that lit up the Premier League last season. And sure, Wolves rode their luck, scored with a goal that should have been ruled out for handball and defended for their lives.
But that does not tell the whole story. Wolves impressed from start to finish, from the passion of their crowd to the composure of their play to the intelligence of their manager Nuno Espirito Santo, who had the courage to press City high up the pitch.
‘We want the team to have an identity,’ he said later, ‘something for the fans to hold on to no matter who comes to Molineux.’
Wolves caused City plenty of discomfort when they marauded forward, too. In their technique and their ambition, they were far from embarrassed. In Diego Jota and Helder Costa and, towards the end, substitute Adama Traore, they had players who took the game to Pep Guardiola’s side.
It would be stretching it to say that this result and City’s display should give the rest of the league hope that they might not be as dominant as they were last term.
City weren’t at their best. They didn’t look as sharp as usual. And they also missed the injured Kevin de Bruyne. But then anyone would miss De Bruyne. They still hit the woodwork three times and were, ultimately, denied by a goal that shouldn’t have stood.
Nevertheless, others may be encouraged by the way Wolves took the game to City at times and the way they were rewarded.
Remember this: it was January 14 before City lost in the league last season and there were a few moments here when it seemed as if their unbeaten record might go before the end of August.
It is to the champions’ credit that they fought back but they never quite got out of second gear.
‘It is a good point for us because we know the quality of the opponent,’ Guardiola said. ‘Nothing changes after three games. It is a long road.’
Wolves keeper Carl Ikeme, who was diagnosed with acute leukaemia in July 2017 and announced his retirement last month, walked on to the pitch with his two children to take the plaudits of the crowd beforehand. He was given a rousing ovation and the noise level rarely dropped until half-time.
Wolves responded to it. They spent much of the opening period under pressure as City probed for openings but the home side defended superbly and broke with pace and assurance. It will not come as a surprise to anyone who watched them win the Championship that they are technically accomplished.
When City’s chances came, Wolves hung in there. After a quarter of an hour a curling ball from Mendy was nodded into Ilkay Gundogan’s path with a beautifully cushioned header from Aguero but the midfielder could only sidefoot it tamely at Rui Patricio.
A few minutes after that, Wolves thought they had scored. Vincent Kompany, who is getting close to that point in his career where his imperious presence is threatened by the years, overran the ball in midfield and was dispossessed.
Jota ran at the back-pedalling City defence and his shot squirted across goal where Raul Jimenez tapped in from an offside position.
As Wolves protested, City restarted quickly and when Kyle Walker drilled a cross in from the right, Aguero clipped it against the outside of Patricio’s left post. Sterling produced the outstanding moment of the half. When a long ball out of City’s defence was headed clear by Ryan Bennett, Sterling pounced on it, controlled it beautifully and hit a curling, dipping shot towards the top corner. Patricio launched himself to his left and tipped it on to the underside of the crossbar. City stepped up the pressure and Boly denied Aguero with a brilliant saving tackle before Patricio kept the Argentine out again five minutes before the interval. Wolves began the second half more strongly and ten minutes after the restart Costa burst between Kompany and Aymeric Laporte and bore down on Ederson. With a clever feint, Costa appeared to have tricked Ederson into committing himself early but the Brazilian keeper recovered and deflected Costa’s shot away with his body.
A minute later Moutinho swung in a cross and even though it just eluded Bennett, Boly flung himself at it and deflected it past Ederson into the corner of the net.
Replays showed it had come off his forearm but there is no VAR in the Premier League.
Wolves did not sit back. Ten minutes later they should have gone further ahead. They stretched City at the back and when Jota pulled the ball back for Neves on the edge of the box, he had time to pick his spot. Neves is a sublime striker of the ball but he dragged his shot well wide.
Wolves soon regretted that. When Sterling was tripped on the edge of the box, Gundogan curled the free-kick in with pace and Laporte met it ahead of Boly and powered it past Patricio from point-blank range. City rushed to retrieve the ball.
They nearly stole it 13 minutes from time when Mendy curled in a delicious cross and substitute Gabriel Jesus headed it down and goalwards from six yards out.
Patricio barely had time to react but the ball hit his legs and rebounded to safety. Jesus held his head in disbelief.
Traore came on for the home team in the dying minutes and he lifted the siege on Wolves’ goal long enough to set up a halfchance for Jota but he could not keep his shot down.
Aguero clipped the top of the bar with a free-kick deep in injury-stime but defeat would have been rough on Wolves.