Regardless of the unconvincing nature of Manchester City’s 2-1 victory against Wolves, Pep Guardiola would have been overjoyed by the fact that his team found a way to win once again.
Last Thursday, it was reported that Pep Guardiola is not preoccupied by Manchester City’s 115 charges and instead, one of his main focuses remain “the hunger of his players.”
Manchester City’s players would have left Guardiola convinced in this very regard as they fought tooth and nail to score an equaliser on Sunday.
Josko Gvardiol reacted to Manchester City’s triumph against Wolves by captioning his post: “We will always fight till the end!” — exemplifying the winning mentality within the dressing room.
Jack Grealish commented on John Stones’ Instagram post after City’s win at the Molineux Stadium, as he captioned his post: “No better feeling than scoring a last minute winner!”
However, Pep Guardiola made three decisions that could have meant Manchester City were left punished by Wolves on another day.
Not starting Phil Foden vs Wolves was bizarre
Considering Phil Foden came off the bench against the hosts while also starting for England against Greece and being brought on as a late substitute against Finland, there seemed to be no signs of him lacking match sharpness.
Yet, Guardiola decided to bench Foden against Wolves.
Against Fulham, where the Englishman did start, the Manchester City boss opted for a safety-first wide duo in Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish.
However, Pep Guardiola threw caution to the wind and started a wing pairing of Savinho and Jeremy Doku while dropping Foden, while starting a midfield that lacked a specialist in the final third featuring Mateo Kovacic, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan.
It seems like the Catalan tactician is willing to start the 24-year-old only when his opts for more conservative wingers.
In the process, Manchester City struggled to create chances, with Erling Haaland taking no shots against Wolves and taking the least number of touches (13) he ever has in a Premier League game where he has played 90 minutes.
Once Foden came on, he set up Stones’ winner — albeit through a corner — which begs the question of why the PFA Players’ Player of The Year is not a regular starter eight league games into the season.
Swapping Savinho and Jeremy Doku’s flanks in the second half was a strange decision from Pep Guardiola
In the second half, Pep Guardiola decided to swap Savinho and Jeremy Doku on the flanks — a call that led to a decline in both players’ performances.
Both Savinho and Doku were Manchester City’s biggest threats on the right and the left-wing respectively in the first half.
But in the second, both their approaches became far more predictable.
On the left flank, Savinho’s only mode of creating danger was to try and beat Nelson Semedo and put a cross in using his natural left foot.
However, quite often, Semedo read the Brazilian’s intentions like a book and stopped the 20-year-old from running to the byline.
As for Doku, he also similarly seemed not to be taking the ball on the outside as that would mean he would have to utilise his weaker left foot.
Both wide forwards found joy in certain moments but their threat was neutralised by Wolves due to Pep Guardiola’s surprising decision.
Guardiola’s decision to stick with the 3-1-6 setup was an unnecessary risk
This season, Wolves have scored the joint second-most goals from counter attacks (two) alongside Arsenal — as per the Premier League’s official website.
During the 2023/2024 campaign, Gary O’Neil’s side scored three — which was the joint fifth-highest number of goals from fast breaks.
As a result, Pep Guardiola’s insistence with his 3-1-6 setup in possession — which featured Rico Lewis, Gundogan, Bernardo, Savinho, Doku and Haaland left Manchester City exposed on the break.
With Bernardo and Gundogan deployed as attacking midfielders against one of the best counter-attacking teams in England, Kovacic was left far too isolated in the number six position.
Time and again, Gary O’Neill’s side carved City open in transition and had they been more efficient in the final third, an upset would have been on the cards.
Considering Pep Guardiola played an extremely conservative midfield of Kovacic, Bernardo and Gundogan that did not create many problems going forward, his decision to opt for such a risky setup was bewildering.
Unsurprisingly, Wolves opened the scoring, thanks to Jorgen Strand Larsen in the seventh minute and if not for Gvardiol and Stones coming up clutch, Manchester City could well have dropped points.
Pep Guardiola will have to return to the drawing board to tweak his system ahead of the Sky Blues’ forthcoming games.
