Man City 5 Wolves 1
When you think about it, that was the logical outcome.
Wolves are too weak defensively and way too cavalier in possession to live with a City team hyper focused on their ultimate objective.
Yes, the penalty that got the ball rolling was a touch contentious but Ait-Nouri’s lack of awareness gave the referee a decision to make.
Even before that we’d allowed them to collect the ball in areas of the pitch you simply can’t allow this team that amount of time and space. For that, I think Gary has to examine the setup and consider whether he gave his own players too much credit.
It’s laudable not to be content sitting in a low block and playing defence versus attack, but you’re either good enough to play through an aggressive press or you’re not and on the evidence we’ve seen long before today, this team are loose when the opposition step onto them.
And even I know that one thing City are always looking for is that cross to the far post for Haaland to attack, so leaving Nelson to cover that space is borderline suicidal.
It was a shame because Wolves got things under control after the setback of the early penalty but once the second went in, there was a degree of inevitability about what was to come.
The second penalty was a penalty but for both that incident and Haaland’s fourth goal, why are we allowing so much space in behind against such a devastating attack? It didn’t sit right.
Hwang scored again, so that was a positive and he took it well after Ederson bizarrely chose to come and flap at the cross. 12 Premier League goals and counting is a fine achievement for him.
Other than that, I’m struggling to think of many other big moments in the game for us, which is disappointing when you consider they were clearly sent out with adventurous intentions.
Gary wants to play on the front foot but just doesn’t have the players to do it. Cunha wasn’t quite at it today and without him connecting the dots, it’s tough for us to open up the game in the final third.
City’s fifth summed up the whole affair with Wolves undoing themselves and Alvarez finishing with ruthless efficiency.
They’re probably gonna win the title and we’re cemented in midtable, so like I say, no great surprise.