Pep Guardiola was thrilled to see Manchester City keep the ‘incredible’ Pedro Neto and Adama Traore quiet during Tuesday’s 4-1 thrashing of Wolverhampton Wanderers, speaking to the club’s website.
The Premier League leaders know, more than anyone, just how dangerous Wolves can be if you give them space and time to wreak havoc on one of those trademark counter-attacks.
A Traore double fired Nuno Espirito Santo’s side to a famous 2-0 win at the Etihad in October 2019, 11 months after Matt Doherty’s 89th minute strike secured a topsy-turvy 3-2 victory on their own Molineux soil.
But there was to be no repeat of that on Tuesday as two strikes from Gabriel Jesus, one from the effervescent Riyad Mahrez and a Leander Dendocker own goal secured City’s 21st successive victory in all competitions.
Wolves barely threatened in Manchester, scoring with their only shot on target while the speed-freak trio of Traore, Neto and Nelson Semedo struggled to make their mark against a City side who dominated 73 per cent of the possession.
“When you let them run, they kill you. They are so good with pace, with Nelson Semedo from behind but especially with Adama Traore and Neto. But its not much, in 90 minutes to concede so few (chances),” Guardiola said.
“One shot on target, one goal.
“The best way to defend is to defend with the ball. We can’t concede when we have the ball. Don’t let them run.
“This team is ingenious, they run, they have players who can drive 40, 50 metres with the ball. Neto is an incredible player, Adama as well. They look for you to lose patience and they punish you.”
While Wolves deserve credit for riding a serious storm, only going 2-1 down with ten minutes remaining, City really should have wrapped up the victory far sooner.
Rui Patricio enjoyed his best display of the season in goal, Raheem Sterling hit the post and Aymeric Laporte saw a goal ruled out by VAR before Jesus and Mahrez came to the fore late on.
“We created chances against one of the best, most well-organised teams we face in the Premier League. They made just more than 200 passes, so not much,” Guardiola added.
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