Guardiola lauds ‘incredible’ Man City win, but tips hat to ‘masters’ Wolves
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola labelled his side’s 1-0 victory over Wolves as “incredible” as they eventually broke down a stern defence.
Wolves had impressed for 93 minutes against Liverpool last weekend until Divock Origi’s last-minute winner. As such, they came to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday full of confidence.
Their defence was just as sturdy from open play against the champions. As such, it took a penalty from Raheem Sterling to break the deadlock.
Before the goal, though, the visitors went down to 10 men. Indeed, Raul Jimenez received two yellow cards in a bizarre minute which capped off an incident-packed first half.
Late on in the second half, Max Kilman had a header and a chance to snatch a draw stopped by City goalkeeper Ederson.
Guardiola told BT Sport after the match: “Well, we were better with 11 players [each] and better when [Wolves had] 10 players and of course with 1-0, everything can happen.
“The same from Edi can happen, but in 90 minutes we were better. It’s difficult because they are the masters of defending really well, really deep with the 5-3-2 shape and waiting to attack with [Adama] Traore.
“The two strikers drop so close with the three in the middle, they are allowed to go outside and defend players in the box.
“It’s important that we didn’t concede, we didn’t. The last three games, they have lost two, today is the third. The result is always 0-0, 1-0, 0-1 and that is because they defend really well.
“It’s an incredible victory for us.”
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Guardiola insisted that he “didn’t see” the penalty decision which Jon Moss gave. Bernardo Silva’s cross appeared to strike Joao Moutinho’s armpit and Moss’ call survived a VAR check.
Sterling‘s subsequent opener marked his 100th Premier League goal and Guardiola said: “”Congratulations, that’s a lot of goals.”
Guardiola lauds Ederson for Man City
“Edi, I remember against Aston Villa he saved a ball that he should save,” the manager added on his goalkeeper’s performance.
“The great keepers in the big moments, they don’t have many saves to do but when they have to do it, they do it.”
City return to action against Leeds on Tuesday as their busy Christmas schedule really gets going.
Indeed, they face Newcastle next Sunday before Leicester on Boxing Day.
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