Josko Gvardiol’s role at Man City was highlighted without him even playing vs Wolves

Manchester City were beaten 2-1 by Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday.

Manchester City suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season when they faced Wolves on Saturday.

The rowdy crowd was fueled by the return of former international Matheus Nunes and this energized their players. Aside from Erling Haaland opening the scoring early, Wolves were the much more dangerous team and took the lead after Pedro Neto’s pass was blocked by Ruben Dias.

City played stronger after the break but still struggled to create chances.They found a way back into the game from a free-kick, with a superb curler from Julian Alvarez.

But Wolves were not discouraged and regained the lead. They caught City again on the right wing and Hwang Hee-chan pushed the ball away after a smart move from Matheus Cunha.

Alarm bells are ringing for Phillips

It’s not surprising that Kalvin Phillips’ name isn’t on the team sheet, but it’s still a damning indictment. It would be fine if Rodri’s back-up couldn’t keep out the key midfielder, but when he can’t play due to suspension and you still can’t get on the field, alarm bells will ring.

That is if they weren’t already when Nunes was signed. Phillips has taken an admirable stance in fighting for his place at City when he could have left in the summer, but it seems an unwise move if he wants to play even just is semi-regular.

If he can’t be trusted to start against Wolves, he won’t play at Arsenal and when Rodri returns, when will he be able to play? There aren’t even any Carabao Cup matches coming up. If Phillips wants to secure his place in Gareth Southgate’s Euros squad, a move away in January could be his only option.

But then, maybe not? Phillips was brought onto the field with just over half an hour left, while Guardiola decided to take Mateo Kovacic off. It was a significant amount of playing time for the former Leeds man in a crucial Premier League match, but the question remains: has he done enough to earn another chance?

Nunes played well but couldn’t stand the atmosphere

No matter how much he apologized, Nunes always received a hostile reception when he returned to Molineux for the first time since his debut controversial. And it turns out that’s it.

There was no chance of booing before kick-off as City’s team was not read, but the home fans made up for it throughout the game. There are X-rated rants where his every move is mocked and his rare mistakes are celebrated.

Despite the hectic atmosphere, Nunes had a good half and was City’s most valuable player, moving across midfield and consistently holding the ball. He created City’s best chance early on by putting the ball into the net for Erling Haalnad and his constant runs in behind were a danger.

However, Guardiola decided to send him off at half-time in a mass appeal, replacing him with Oscar Bobb.There was nothing wrong with the Portuguese’s performance so the motive could have been to remove the catalyst for noise from Wolves fans. Although he remained calm despite the abuse, it could have happened to him anyway.

A big chance for Bobb

Guardiola doesn’t make half-time changes often so it was very surprising when Bobb was ready to come on at the break, even more so that he was chosen as a game-changer ahead of Jack Grealish. The Norwegian impressed in the Carabao Cup defeat at Newcastle and as a result was handed his biggest chance yet in the Premier League.

He did well. Things didn’t start brilliantly as he gave away a foul within 30 seconds but they improved. He smuggled the ball through to Haaland to give him his first chance for 40 minutes and won the free-kick Alvarez equalised from.

However, when Wolves took back the lead and City again began to struggle, resorting to defenders shooting from distance, he struggled to be involved as much. But another promising showing from the youngster.

Gvardiol to come back in

Wolves had the beating of City all afternoon down the left flank, with the pacey pair of Nelson Semedo and Neto destroying Nathan Ake time and time again. Both goals came from that flank, with Ake getting directly beaten in one-on-ones for each.

Josko Gvardiol had been playing at left-back in recent weeks and it’s a wonder the Croatian wasn’t brought on given how much Ake was struggling. But without even playing Gvardiol has made his own case to be the first-choice left-back stronger, with his pace making him a more natural fit in the position.