JOHN STONES was Manchester City’s saviour as he powered home a last-gasp winner to spark bedlam at Molineux.
Stones’ wild celebrations were initially cut short as his goal was seemingly chalked off for an offside decision against Bernardo Silva, who was lurking a couple of yards from goal.
But after VAR Stuart Attwell ordered ref Chris Kavanagh to take a look at his pitchside monitor the official decided Silva hadn’t obscured Wolves keeper Jose Sa’s view.
He sent City wild and Wolves even wilder as he awarded the late winner which saw the visitors set a club record of 31 league games without defeat.
But they didn’t half ride their luck as rock-bottom Wolves pushed them all the way and, in truth, thoroughly deserved the point they thought they had earned.
Unfortunately this game will not be remembered for a masterclass in defending but for that contentious moment when Silva appeared to tangle with Sa – only to be cleared of any wrong-doing.
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When a giant Norwegian opened the scoring inside the opening 10 minutes it wouldn’t have come as the greatest surprise to those not actually in attendance at Molineux.
But their jaws would have dropped when news filtered through that it was Wolves’ Jorgen Strand Larsen who had broken the deadlock – NOT his international teammate Erling Haaland!
Perhaps City have grown bored after lifting four successive titles.
But if we didn’t know better we might start to ask if Pep Guardiola’s men were indulging in a spot of “football chicken,” this season.
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Because this was the FIFTH time in their last seven top-flight games that City have given their opponents a goal of a start.
However from a Wolves’ point of view it was a thing of great beauty.
Santiago Bueno swept a long pass wide to Nelson Semedo who was surging down the right flank.
The former Barcelona man broke City’s backline before firing in an exquisite low centre which had “finish me” written all over it.
Ruben Dias, Stones and Rico Lewis all failed to cut out the danger, leaving Strand Larsen to gleefully steer the ball home from eight yards at the far post.
City had been successfully filleted with just seven minutes on the clock.
Worryingly for Guardiola, his defence hasn’t managed to keep a clean sheet in any of their seven league games since they kicked off their season with a 2-0 win at Chelsea.
Typically, the champs refused to panic and set about painstakingly trying to break down a Wolves side which now had a lead to defend.
Wolves’ defensive masterclass
And boy how they defended it!
Wolves Manager Gary O’Neil has had two weeks to plan how to survive the expected City siege and he clearly used his time wisely.
His team produced a masterclass in defending as this game turned into almost a training ground exercise in attackers vs defence.
And behind the two banks of defence was an inspired goalkeeper who wasn’t deemed good enough at the start of the season and was unceremoniously dumped to make way for new signing Sam Johnstone.
Johnstone failed to recover from a slight adductor strain which ruled him out and forgotten Portuguese stopper Sa grabbed his chance with both gloves.
He was simply outstanding as he stepped up to the plate and produced heroics.
Jose Sa stands out
Two minutes after Larsen’s opener he hurled himself to his right to brilliantly push Ilkay Gundogan’s low shot away for a corner.
It was a feat he repeated twice to defy Savinho and Dias, either side of the break as he reminded Wolves fans what he was capable of.
On each occasion the keeper saw the ball late as it flew through a sea of legs and displayed incredible reflexes to thwart City’s disbelieving hitmen.
As City puzzled how to break down a Wolves side camped around Sa’s goal, the hosts almost suckered them again.
Matheus Cunha sent Semedo surging through on goal as he burst beyond Stones and Dias, leaving Josko Gvardiol frantically giving chase.
Fortunately the Croatian did just enough to force the full-back into a heavy final touch and Ederson sprinted from his goal line to bravely block Semedo to deny Wolves a certain second.
Gvardiol’s piece of brilliance
But Gvardiol managed to surpass that piece of defensive work with a piece of brilliance at the other end of the park as he drew City level just beyond the half hour.
The big defender exchanged passes with Jeremy Doku at the edge of the Wolves penalty area.
Then he took a sure touch out from his feet and unleashed an unstoppable right footer which was heading straight for the top bin.
Sa somehow managed to get his fingertips to the ball but couldn’t prevent it ripping into the top corner of his net.
It was the latest away-day special from Gvardiol who has now scored five of his six City goals away from the Etihad
But the expected City recovery never came.
Stones’ late winner
Savinho fired well over from 22 yards, then cursed his luck as Sa defied him one-handed on the stroke of half-time.
Incredibly City completed 218 successful passes in the final third to Wolves’ FIVE.
The pattern after the break stayed the same with City pummelling Wolves without ever looking as if they could beat Sa again.
At one point after Doku blazed wastefully over, Pep slumped in his seat, head in his hands.
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He needed a miracle and it came five minutes into five minutes of stoppage time – in the most controversial way possible.
Wolves battled heroically. But City proved they have enormous Stones!
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
