• 13 hours ago
Watch as ManchesterWorld's Michael Plant and BirminghamWorld's Charlie Haffenden discuss Manchester City's last-gasp 2-1 win away at Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League.
Transcript
00:00We're at Molineux a couple of hours after the game here between Wolverhampton Wanderers
00:04and Manchester City. It was the visitors who ultimately came away with a crucial 2-1 victory
00:09here today. Johnstone's 95th minute header being awarded after a VAR check. You have
00:15to say slightly controversial circumstances because Bernardo Silva was standing offside
00:19but ultimately the referee Chris Kavanagh decided that he wasn't interfering with the
00:23goalkeeper Jose Sass who decided to award the goal and I think Charlie that's really
00:27where we've got to start. What did you make of that decision? Well it's a very difficult
00:30call because he is in front of the goalkeeper but I think at the moment the ball from Johnstone
00:36has flicked on. He moves out of the way so he's not in a direct line of vision. But what
00:41Gary O'Neill did in the post-match press conference was he threw it back to a game last season
00:45when Max Killman saw a header disallowed against West Ham. Tawanda Shiraewa was in front of
00:50the goalkeeper but not in that direct line of vision, a bit like this one. But that goal
00:55was disallowed because VAR said that he was too close to the goalkeeper. It was close
00:59proximity. You could argue that Bernardo Silva is also in close proximity. You can't get
01:04much closer to the goalkeeper than he was really. So I think that's why Wolves fans
01:08are feeling particularly aggrieved this one. Lots of expletive chants aimed at the Premier
01:12League upon the full-time whistle but lots to be proud of I think from Wolves' perspective
01:16despite not getting any points out of this game. Yeah I mean you touched on it there.
01:20What did you make of the Wolves' performance because for 95 minutes held Manchester City
01:23the champions and looked like they were going to get a result anyway until that late header.
01:29So I think plenty of positives from a Wolves' perspective. Would you agree? Yeah very resilient
01:33performance. Defended excellently. I mean Man City were always going to dominate this
01:36game. They dominated against most teams let alone against the side that's bottom of the
01:40Premier League table. Didn't have too many opportunities themselves but they did get
01:44that opening goal through Sran Larsen. Gave them the platform to sit deep and perform
01:48that really low block that Pep Guardiola gets so frustrated about. And Man City on the whole
01:52looked quite frustrated. Weren't able to create too many clear-cut opportunities. Of course
01:56they did get that very late goal later on through John Stones. A very good strike as
02:00well from Josco Vardio on his weak foot to level up the scoring in the first half. It's
02:05just one of those days for Wolves. It just seems to happen so often where they get so
02:09late on in the game that they've got hope they're going to get a point or potentially
02:13all three. Then a goal from range or one lapse of concentration costs them. It's the same
02:17old story but these games, those fixtures they've had so far have been so tough and
02:22those moments, well they're just emphasised against the tougher oppositions.
02:26Yeah and I think from a City perspective they were, I mean they'll be delighted with the
02:30three points. I think it felt like a really important moment and Guardiola, I think he
02:34said it's a victory that tastes or is flavoured, brilliant flavouring or something like that.
02:39So he was really, really delighted and it just, despite City not playing brilliantly
02:43so far this season, they've won 6 out of 8. They are still unbeaten. They're now up to
02:481 in the Premier League. That's a club record for them. Not a million miles off that all-time
02:53record of Arsenal's which I think is 49. But they're not, I don't think they've really
02:58hit the stride yet at this stage of the season. They're still lacking a little bit of fluidity.
03:03I think that obviously they started today without Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden.
03:07They're three big players. They're still missing them. I still think they're trying to work
03:10out how to play without Rodri and you have to say that they looked a little bit vulnerable
03:15at times on the break. That has been a common theme this season. They once again conceded
03:19the first goal to City and up until the very latter stages, obviously, weren't winning
03:24the game. I think if they'd have been dropped points today, I think there would have been
03:27a few questions asked. Ultimately, John Stone's goal bails them out and City, I think the
03:32important thing is at this stage they're winning games, they're picking up points but they're
03:34certainly not back up to their best yet. That does very often happen to City at this stage
03:38of the season and they come good in March, April, May. So maybe there isn't a huge amount
03:42to be concerned about and look at recording this video, Liverpool are playing at the moment.
03:45City are currently sitting top of the league table. They could well be there by this evening
03:49and by the time all the matches are wrapped up. So plenty of positives, albeit I think
03:53there's a couple of little alarm of things that they probably need to get on top of in
03:56the next couple of weeks.

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