Last summer time’s flagship signing scored and so did this 12 months’s. Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland are side-by-side in Manchester City ahead line and of their squad numbers however the similarities finish there. The Norwegian’s routine, inevitable strike, took his tally to 14 objectives in simply 10 video games for City. Grealish, who joined 12 months earlier, has half as many – seven objectives – in 13 months. The striker is prolific, the winger accused of being unproductive. If Grealish wanted a objective, Haaland didn’t however scored one anyway. He all the time does.
Phil Foden struck as properly, however on a weekend when Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United will not be taking part in, City solely actually wanted to carry out for the primary 16 minutes, during which Grealish and Haaland secured victory. If the striker’s presence on the scoresheet was predictable, the shock got here within the method of his objective – a primary from exterior the field in City colors for the king of the penalty space – amid a task reversal. The predatory, close-range end got here from Grealish, the kind he has scored too hardly ever in a City profession the place his £100m payment has been a millstone and the place he has been neither the maverick Aston Villa cherished nor a participant imbued with added effectivity by Pep Guardiola.
But on a return to his native Midlands, Grealish scored within the first minute to take City into first place. They could make wins routine affairs however their away document is extraordinary. They are unbeaten in 22 league matches on their travels now. While Haaland continues to rack up exceptional numbers, changing into the primary participant to attain in his first 4 Premier League video games on the street and taking his tally for Borussia Dortmund and City to 100 objectives in 99 outings, City’s collective excellence can go unnoticed.
For Wolves, a well-known destiny nonetheless assumed worrying proportions. There was a time once they had been a bogey staff for Guardiola’s City however it feels more and more distant. Bruno Lage’s goal-shy staff have made a sluggish begin to the season and seemed feeble amid a sloppy starting to the sport. Such drive as they displayed got here from Nathan Collins, who was dismissed for a kung-fu kick the place he contrived to plant his studs into Grealish’s abdomen. It was harmful and reckless relatively than malicious however his three-game ban brings into query Lage’s resolution to exile Conor Coady. Ruben Neves spent the rest of the sport at centre-back after Collins’ departure, which scarcely represents the very best use of his abilities.
Admittedly, Wolves conceded fewer objectives with the playmaker on the again. They had been eviscerated when Collins was nonetheless on the pitch. If Grealish was stung by criticisms of his poor show in opposition to Dortmund, his riposte was fast. The minute’s silence lasted longer than the interval of parity, with Wolves behind inside 55 seconds. Foden launched the overlapping Kevin de Bruyne with a backheel, the Belgian crossed and Grealish arrived contained in the six-yard field to provide the poacher’s end.
It was scarcely a typical Grealish objective however the kind Guardiola has lengthy skilled his wingers to attain: this was extra of a Raheem Sterling strike or, given the brand new emphasis on a striker, a Haaland objective. And as a substitute, the goal man, who has scored hat-tricks from a cumulative distance of below 20 yards, confirmed he can broaden his repertoire. After the astonishing acrobatic volley in opposition to Dortmund got here a primary objective from lengthy vary, albeit in relatively much less spectacular fashion. He bobbled in a shot on his less-favoured proper foot after latching on to Bernardo Silva’s go. Seemingly getting a style for it, he had a second shot from an analogous vary parried by Jose Sa.
Collins’ undignified exit exacerbated the sense it was a mismatch. City didn’t show the vengeful streak that may have turned it right into a rout, settling for another objective, arrange by their magnificent supplier. De Bruyne bought 4 objectives on his earlier journey to Molineux. He ended a return with two assists, each from low right-wing crosses. Foden transformed the second fantastically, angling a shot in.
It gave them as many objectives in a day as Wolves have scored this season. There had been glimpses of spirit within the second half and Collins’ early exit was a mitigating issue however theirs was a powder-puff efficiency. Shorn of a striker with Raul Jimenez out for a number of weeks, Sasa Kalajdzic sidelined for six months and with this week’s signing Diego Costa not even deemed match sufficient to look on a bench padded out with youngsters, Lage fielded the irregular scorer Daniel Podence alone in assault. Some 30cm shorter than his City counterpart, Haaland, they’re separated in stature and objective tallies. If nobody else has a Haaland, the issue for Wolves is that nobody has fewer objectives than them.
Source: www.unbiased.co.uk