Wolves 0 Manchester City 4 – How good are Bobb and Reijnders? Is Trafford No 1? What must Pep still solve?

New York Times

a day ago

Tijjani Reijnders delivered a superb Premier League debut and Oscar Bobb a reminder of his great ability as Erling Haaland scored twice to help Manchester City sweep aside Wolves in their opening game.
Wolves paid tribute to the late Diogo Jota before kick-off with a stand-size display of him celebrating one of his many goals in his two years for the club before he joined Liverpool in 2020, as both teams observed a minute's applause for the forward and his brother Andre Silva, who died in July.
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When the game began it was Wolves who thought they had taken an early lead but Marshall Munetsi's header was ruled out for offside before City scored twice before half-time through Haaland and the impressive Reijnders.
Haaland, who has scored on the opening day of the Premier League in each of his four seasons, added a third for City on 61 minutes with a powerful finish at the end of another fine move. Rayan Cherki also scored on his league debut for City, firing in a fourth after a clever exchange of passes.
Here The Athletic's Jordan Campbell breaks down the key talking points.
Anyone still talking about Savinho? Much of the discussion in the build up to City's opening game centred on the future of the Brazilian winger amid transfer interest from Spurs, but Oscar Bobb produced a display that suggested he may make the right wing position his own regardless of Savinho's future.
The 22-year-old Norwegian looked destined to break into the team this time last year when he starred in pre-season and won man of the match in the Community Shield.
A leg break days later put paid to that notion and when he returned to the team at the tail end of last season, there was a rustiness that suggested the window of opportunity may have closed on him.
Not if the level he produced at Molineux is anything to go by.
He brought everything Pep Guardiola demands from his wingers. Time after time he received the ball on the touchline and gradually took City up the pitch, showing a maturity to understand when to retain the ball and when to drive at the full-back.
There is a delicacy and flow to the way he dribbles that makes him so hard to read. In the 33rd minute he dazzled three or four Wolves defenders inside the penalty, snaking in so many different directions that they were left chasing shadows.
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But it wasn't just the flashy he did well. He was decisive. For the second goal he led City's counter attack in which he had Reijnders to his left and Haaland to his right. It would have been easy to panic and rush but he took his time before picking the perfect weight of pass to Reijnders to finish first time.
Just as it felt like City may be wilting under the intensity of Wolves's pressure, Tijjani Reijnders decided it was time to take things down a notch or two.
By that, he meant luring in two players, producing Andreas Iniesta's famous La Croqueta skill to glide through two defenders – all while moving at barely more than walking pace.
Rico Lewis reacted by running in behind from right back but there was no clear route through to him so Reijnders chose to deliver the ball via the aerial route.
Scooping the pass while on the run, he took out three Wolves defenders and allowed Lewis to cross the ball on the half-volley for Haaland to tap home.
It was a continuation of the classy touches he showed in the Club World Cup after joining from AC Milan, but this was the day the Dutchman introduced himself to the Premier League.
The pre-assist so may not count toward the headline statistics but he scored a beautifully taken goal to make it 2-0 and then cut the ball back for Haaland to notch his third. Not a bad first day at the new office.
This was a day ten years in the making for James Trafford, who joined the academy as a 12-year old.
Having only made his return from Burnley two weeks ago, Guardiola confirmed on Friday that Ederson would continue as his No1 if fit.
The Brazilian was not in the squad, though, so Trafford made his long-awaited senior debut.
While his first act in City's friendly against Palermo last week saw him caught on the ball, it took until the 75th minute for the first hint of any hesitancy at Molineux.
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Nerves would have been natural but he was assured throughout, bar one slack pass that was almost intercepted in the first-half.
There was not much in the way of big saves for him to make but there were several time he aggressively came off his line to intercept a cross or ball over the top.
The only times he was called into action were in the first half when the ball broke to Marshall Munetsi at the back post, which saw Trafford block the ball with his foot after sprinting out to close the angle with both arms and legs splayed wide.
He tipped a deflected shot over the bar in the second half and parried another Strand Larsen shot wide but both were comfortable.
He took a little too long on the ball when an awkward back pass came to him on his own goal line and he only got his pass away just as the attacker made contact.
There was a 15-minute spell midway through the first half when it looked like City could crumble.
Munetsi scored a goal that was disallowed but Wolves were buoyed by how often they were able to counter attack from slack City passes.
Kolo Toure was out on the touchline urging the players to calm down but they were unable to get control of the game in the way they used to do so easily.
Two quickfire goals helped dampen the spirit of the home crowd but the lack of security on the ball in the first half could easily have seen them trailing.
John Stones shone in what was his first Premier League start since February and the understanding between him and Ruen Dias helped provide City with an assuredness they lacked for much of last season in his absence.
Finding a way to incorporate so much attacking talent into the starting XI is never going to be easy but Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki both starting on the bench, with Phil Foden not fit to make the squad, highlighted the challenge Guardiola is going to have this season.
It is a pleasant position to be in but Guardiola did not want to be in the situation where he was forced to leave so many players out.
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
Saturday, August 23: Tottenham (Home), Premier League, 12.30pm UK, 7.30am ET
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