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FUCKIN PHEW!!!
Johnny Big Bollocks does it again!
Matches are always an unknown quantity after the International break, but City started brightly enough & looked up for the game. After dominating the opening exchanges, we again got caught cold by a sucker punch.
There was a gaping hole between Doku & Gvardiol & it's becoming a feature for teams to try & exploit it with balls into space on our left, hitting us with a pacey breaks. And so it proved with the ball in from our left for the Wolves opener. It was an absolute peach, with any touch by our retreating defenders putting them in danger of deflecting a goal in.
The tap in finish sent the Wolves fans wild, & the game settled down into attack vs defence with Wolves periodically trying to replicate the move that led to the opener. They nearly went 2 up when they hit us on the break again, but Gvardiol did enough to put the attacker off with a smothering save from Ederson.
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We toiled away, but Wolves had every player behind the ball. Games this season are reminiscent of the Pellegrini days where we'd dominate, but looked shaky to rapid counters out wide. Teams must sense this opportunity, & it's something we've got to find a solution to.
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Wolves were beginning to wobble, but their stiff resistance was foiled when Gvardiol got the ball outside the box on the left, switched it to his right, & rifled a beauty into the top right corner for a deserved equaliser! 1-1 at the break.
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The Wolves keeper was keeping them in the game with a string of brilliant saves, & their CB's battled all game with Erling & kept him quiet. It was a decent team performance by City, with no one standing out supreme. Wolves continued to frustrate City, reducing us to long-range efforts to pull ahead.
Wolves were dead on their feet as the match entered the final 20 minutes, but City had no answer to their frustrating low block & their occasional attempted break aways caused a few moments of panic. As a final throw of the dice, Baldy withdrew Kovacic & Brough on Nunes to the expected huge boos from the home crowd.
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The game was petering out into a draw as 5 minutes extra time was announced. City were desperately trying to find a winner. We had three corners in quick succession, with Wolves players flinging their bodies in the way with manic last ditched blocks.
HOWEVER, cometh the final minute, up steps
Johnny Big Bollocks to smash in a header for a controversial last gasp winner! Bernardo was blocking their keeper, but timed his run away to perfection, so by the time Stones met the header, the keeper had a clear sight of the ball which flashed past him.
Wolves were up in arms! I'd have been pissed if it'd happened to us, BUT you can clearly see the keeper had 2-3 seconds unimpeded to set himself, but he couldn't stop the winner.
It's tough away games like this that make Champions. My MoTM is Stones. I thought he had an indifferent start to the match, but once he settled down he was a rock who came up with the vital winning goal!
Roll on Sparta Prague!!
