The final match of the second game week of the new Premier League campaign saw Wolverhampton Wanderers taking on Manchester City at the Molineux stadium. The hosts were up and running for the season after an important league win over Sheffield United last week and an EFL cup defeat during the midweek. On the other hand, the visitors were playing their first match of the league due to their stretched 2019/20 season.
Over the past two seasons, Wolves have become a very tricky side for the top teams, especially for Manchester City as Nuno Espírito Santo’s side had scored two goals in the final 10 minutes in each of those games to become the only team, besides Manchester United, to do a league double over the Citizens during the last season.
After a strong first half that saw the visitors take a comfortable 2-0 lead, Wolves goal in the second half made things interesting as the fans waited for a déjà vu moment. However, a stoppage-time finisher ensured a comfortable 3-1 win for the visitors.
In this tactical analysis, we will analyze Pep’s positional play tactics that lead to domination in the first half. We will also do an analysis of how Wolves managed to get back in the second half.
Lineups
Nuno made one change from Wolves’ previous league win over Sheffield United. Rúben Neves’ match fit status meant that he replaced Leander Dendoncker in the midfield and resumed his pairing alongside João Moutinho. It indicated a shift in the formation from their last game’s 3-5-2 to a 3-4-3. The back-six behind and the front-three ahead of the two Portuguese midfielders retained their places in the side.
As for City, it was not a surprise to see Ederson starting between the sticks. Nathan Aké’s arrival from Bournemouth during the summer allowed Pep Guardiola to form a left-foot and right-foot center-back pairing of Aké and John Stones. Consequently, Fernandinho was relieved from the center-back duty as he was reinstated to his favored defensive-midfield position alongside Rodrigo to form the double pivot. Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy were selected as the full-backs. Kevin De Bruyne was deployed as the number 10 in the three-man attacking midfield alongside Raheem Sterling on the left and Phil Foden on the right. Finally, Sergio Agueros injury meant Gabriel Jesus was an automatic selection as the lone striker in what looked to be a 4-2-3-1 setup from the Spanish manager.
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