Pep Guardiola has blasted the trio of Ruben Dias, Mateo Kovacic, and Matheus Nunes for not sticking to instructions as Man City lost 2-1 to Wolves.
Pep Guardiola singled out Matheus Nunes and accused him of lacking dynamism, as he subbed him off at half-time in the 2-1 defeat at Molineux.
Guardiola’s men missed out on an opportunity to set a club record for seven straight Premier League wins to start a top-flight season.
Luis Dias scored an own goal to give the host the lead in the match before Hwang Hee-chan wrapped it up for Gary O’Neil’s side.
City gave Pep Guardiola some hope in the match as Julian Alvarez scored a beautiful freekick in the 58th minute but it was not enough.
Speaking on the loss, Pep said: “We didn’t do our process properly to attack with a little more fluidity and that’s why we struggled a little bit in the transitions.”
“When the opposition defends that well, Kovacic or Ruben has to attack the central defenders of the opponents — and we didn’t do it. That’s why it was more difficult.”
“But it was always going to be a difficult game and we knew it, and they defended really well in all situations,” Pep Guardiola added.
Pep Guardiola also went on to add: “The players know exactly what they have to do — they have done it I don’t know how many times since I’ve been here. This always makes it more difficult.”
Nunes was substituted at half-time with Oscar Bobb coming on but Guardiola did not miss the opportunity to blast the midfielder.
He said: “‘I needed more dynamic and I wanted more in the small spaces and Oscar is really good at finding those with the creativity he has.”
Record-breaking striker, Erling Haaland, only managed 10 touches in the match and one shot after Craig Dawson and Max Kilman marked him out.
In Haaland’s defense, Pep Guardiola said: “It’s not easy when you have three players around you — a lot of players around him.”
Pep Guardiola watched the match from the stand as he is serving suspension because of three yellow cards under a new Premier League rule.
The former Barcelona and Bayern manager admitted commended the Premier League for allowing banned managers on the stands but still added he would have wanted to be closer to his players while in action.
“The view is perfect. The problem with a ban is you have to be in the hotel, but they allow you to be here, so thank you so much to the Premier League because in the Champions League, it cannot happen,” he said.
“So I spoke to the players in the hotel, before the game, at half-time and after the game. The chicken in the lounge is nice but I prefer to be nearer to the players and to smell the grass.”
Pep Guardiola believes that the loss won’t have any bearing on the title race with City’s league rivals Arsenal narrowing the gap with a 4-0 thrashing of Bournemouth.
“Today I’m pretty sure we didn’t lose the Premier League,” Pep Guardiola added.
The Spaniard also went on to hail the hosts – Wolves and admitted that they played way better than his men.
“We could have done something this club has never done before, seven in a row. But the opponent played really good and defended really well.”
“Whoever made contact — Hwang Hee-chan, Matheus Cunha or Pedro Neto — they had the ability to keep the ball, drive it, dribble with the ball, and drop you, they are fantastic. I told them they’re a top team.”
