Tijjani Reijnders helps resurgent Man City to statement win over Wolves

‘City are back, hello, hello,” rang the chant around Molineux. It may be a bit early to make such assertions but Liverpool, and any other club with aspirations of securing the Premier League title this season, will have taken note.

Controlled at times, thrilling at others and imperious by the end, City heralded the return of the Premier League with a declaration of intent. Erling Haaland (who else?) set the tone, scoring twice, but the man of the match, ­Tijjani Reijnders, seized the game and gave City their characteristic blend of silk and steel in midfield.

Reijnders, who arrived at the club for a £46 million fee from AC Milan this summer, already looks at home in sky blue: a goal and an assist were the statistical sum of his efforts, but his graceful movement and clever flicks in midfield had supporters swooning. His fellow summer signing, Rayan Cherki, added City’s fourth with a ­sublime goal.

Pep Guardiola was keen to play down the fans’ enthusiasm. “Last season we were always ‘back’ [according to the fans]. But look what happened afterwards — it’s just the first game,” he said. “If you told me we were back in the second half, I would say no. Step by step.”

The manager cited his disappointment in the second half with how City did not dominate possession, “struggled to build up, and our pressing was a little bit flat,” but crucially — and most concerningly for the rest of the league — the defining feature of City’s issues last season, a vulnerability through the middle, was absent, and replaced with a fierce counterpress. Perhaps Guardiola’s shrewdest business this summer was replacing his long-time confidant, Juanma Lillo, with Jürgen Klopp’s former assistant, Pepijn Lijnders — a coach renowned for his relentless pressing philosophy.

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City’s pressing was not perfect — at moments Wolves found a way through — but their midfield did not look porous, and thus provided the platform for sensational attacking play.

The game was played against an emotional backdrop. Before kick-off Wolves paid a touching tribute to Diogo Jota, their former striker who died in a car accident in July alongside his brother André Silva.

Wolves paid tribute to their former forward Jota and his brother André Silva before the game CHRIS RADBURN/REUTERS

A banner reading: “We will remember you when you walk in fields of gold,” was unveiled in front of a giant tifo of the striker celebrating, as Fields of Gold played through the speakers.

“Diogo and his brother, they are in our hearts and minds,” said Vitor Pereira, who joined in a lengthy applause for Jota alongside City’s players well beyond full-time. “They are still with us and we try to do our best to honour the player and the person. We will keep him in our hearts for the future, and he will be with us for ever.”

Reijnders was instrumental in City’s midfield, which looked weak and underpowered without Rodri last season ALAMY

By the time the pre-match tributes had ended the atmosphere was charged with emotion and energy that distracted from the fact that City, for once, are the league’s great curiosity.

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Questions surround them: how will Guardiola’s side, the best team in the Premier League era, react to their worst season? Will Guardiola, the greatest football manager of our time, bounce back, after looking close to breaking point last season? Are the Catalan’s ideas still cutting edge? Will Rodri be back to his best, and will that fix City’s weaknesses? Is their recruitment still best in class — and then there is the matter of those unresolved 130 charges.

Answers to those questions will come, yet despite the uncertainty and change in personnel, some things remain the same: City still possess the most prolific striker in the league, and know how to unpick the sturdiest of defences, with stunning combination play — such as for the first goal — or searingly hot counterattacking football — such as for the second.

Haaland’s second goal of the game was his tenth against Wolves, the most he has scored against an opponent in the Premier League NICK POTTS/PA

Reijnders was critical to both. He instigated the opener with a masterful dribble past two Wolves midfielders before lofting a delightful chip into Rico Lewis, who squared for Haaland. The second came as Oscar Bobb dispossessed André near the halfway line and burst forward, with Haaland to his left, but Bobb passed to Reijnders on his right and he arrowed his shot beyond the ’keeper, José Sá.

Those goals followed Wolves’ strongest period. The home side had sat deep and bided their time as City started strongly, consolidating ­possession and trying to force ­turnovers by pressing high, matching up man-to-man.

But for a slightly overpitched cross from Bernardo Silva to Haaland, Wolves limited City and kept themselves in the game. Direct passes into the space outside City’s full backs proved their most effective route to goal. Marshall Munetsi, Jorgen Strand Larsen and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde won headers and ran in behind, but City’s smart offside trap — and their goalkeeper James Trafford’s sharpness off his line — proved their nemesis. Bellegarde believed he had scored the opener, only to see the flag raised. Shortly afterwards, City had their goal and were ascendant.

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Cherki’s excellent low drive into the bottom corner made it 4-0 to City NICK POTTS/PA

“Each mistake we made, they punished with a goal,” Pereira said.

Wolves started the second period with endeavour and application, but were undone with one long, clipped pass from Trafford to Reijnders; he controlled, exchanged passes with Bobb on the wing and cut back to Haaland, who finished adroitly.

Strand Larsen tested Trafford shortly after a host of changes for both teams, the most interesting of which was Cherki coming on to replace ­Haaland, resulting in City’s fourth goal. The substitute flicked on with his back to goal, then received the return pass and buried the ball into the ­bottom corner.

Maybe City are back after all.

Wolverhampton Wanderers (3-4-3): J Sá 4 – M Doherty 5, E Agbadou 4, T Gomes 5 – K-J Hoever 5 (R Gomes 72min), J Gomes 6, Andre 5 (F Lopez 72), D Moller Wolfe 5 (H Bueno 72) – J-R Bellegarde 6 (J Arias 72), J Strand Larsen 6 (H-C Hwang 82), M Munetsi 6. Booked Doherty.

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Manchester City (4-3-3): J Trafford 7 – R Lewis 7 (M Nunes 66), J Stones 7 (A Khusanov 82), R Dias 6, R Ait Nouri 7 – B Silva 7 (N O’Reilly 66), N Gonzalez 7, T Reijnders 8 – O Bobb 7, E Haaland 8 (R Cherki 73), J Doku 6 (O Marmoush 66). Booked Reijnders, O’Reilly. Referee J Gillett.

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