Express & Star

Wolves Fans' Verdict v Manchester City: A game of two halves

Our fans share their thoughts on Wolves' 3-1 loss to Manchester City at Molineux.

Published

Clive Smith

If ever our team needed a few choruses of 'Come on Wanderers, come on Wanderers' to start the second half it was here. By then the game looked lost. We had not been close to City. Individually and collectively we had been poor.

Coady played his worst half of football in years, Jimenez was a statue, making it impossible to find him with a pass, while the Boly and Traore combination continues to look an accident waiting to happen.

Remarkably we got back into the game. MOTM Podence was suddenly the centre of attention and could have had a hand in three goals inside fifteen minutes before providing a superb assist. It was not to be however and the final score reflected the balance of the game.

City looked good most of the time. Their passing, movement in and out of possession was incredibly impressive. Like last season though they look flawed with two weak centre-halves. It was disappointing we could not exploit this in the first half.

To improve we have to retain possession better going forward. Our front three each need to lead the line by making themselves open and being more diligent with their back to goal. When teams press as well as City did, without an out ball, our defenders get trapped in possession.

No point dwelling on what might have been, but did we miss Doherty, Jota or Jonny?

I think we felt the absence of Jonny in particular and it was a surprise Dendoncker did not start.

It is perhaps good to get this game so early in the season, allowing plenty of time for reflection and the chance to take note of the areas of improvement needed.

Adam Virgo

Tale of two halves in regards to our performance. Absolutely dreadful first half and lucky to only be 2-0 down by half time but a much improved second half where we could have got a point if we took our chances.

City taught us a lesson in the first half but the penalty was our own downfall. Idiotic challenge from Saiss when De Bruyne was going nowhere. Their second goal was good but our defence still got cut open far too easily compared to usual.

The skill from Podence for Jimenez’s goal was brilliant but then I think that’s where we missed the fans massively. At 2-1 we rarely threatened City and I genuinely believe a full crowd could have spurred the players on to push forward more.

Semedo coming in this week is massive as Traore needs to be higher up the pitch. When he was running at City’s defence in the second half, especially Mendy, he was causing a lot of problems.

There’s no shame in losing to City, it was just frustrating with how poor we were first half and then the chances we missed second half. It’s not a game that will define our season but our next five are all games we can and should be looking to win if we do want to get into the top six.

Rob Cartwright

Fair play to Man City, who completely outplayed us in the first half.

However, Wolves were on top in the second half and I feel the score flatters them somewhat.

It’s clear that Traore is not right for the wing-back role. Fair play to him for doing a job there for us. Semedo should be the answer there from now. I was urging Nuno to push Traore further forward, as we know he has the beating of Mendy who was also on a booking.

A penalty from a needless challenge from Saiss put us behind. The two other goals were disappointing from a defensive point of view.

We had plenty of chances to get on level terms, with Podence and Jimenez both missing from good positions. They linked well for our goal and it gave us hope.

Poor defending and a deflection off Coady sealed victory for City, who had started to waste time. The final score did not reflect the game, but there would have been no complaints if it finished 1-2.

The midfield disappointed me, as they provided no service to our three forwards. The creators of most of our goal attempts were Podence and Traore.

Saiss played well again, apart from the penalty challenge.

I would have liked to have seen Dendoncker earlier and maybe Buur could have released Traore further forward in the second half.

Man of the match for me goes to Podence. Play like we did in the second half and we will do well again this season.

Russ Evers

To be honest, at half time I was dreading the second half. A slow, lacklustre and timid showing full of errors whilst City were full of running and power, pressed us high and 'did a job' on us.

Second half however it was a different story and the real Wolves turned up. A number of good chances created and spurned before we dragged ourselves back into it and we will look back on a chance missed to take another point off Pep's mob.

Not to be but at least the second half put the smiles back on a few faces. Complete the squad and we can go far again. MOTM goes to Patricio for keeping us in it first half.