Guardiola and Wolves left with same hope: that New Man City really are as good as they looked

There is nothing more foolish than extrapolating entire seasons’ worth of outcomes from frantically jerking the knee on the opening day of the season, and we’re definitely not about to make that mistake. Not until Monday, at least, when we will obviously do an entire feature’s worth of such extrapolations.

But not today. No, today there shall be no such foolishness. We shall be rushing to firm judgement on no team. Apart from West Ham, who are real sh*t and real f*cked.

We will, though, say this. That really could hardly have gone better for Manchester City, and Pep Guardiola’s exciting new-look side are probably slightly likelier to linger atop the table than either the Sunderland or Spurs sides they displaced after the very briefest of Saturday afternoon reigns.

Guardiola surely could have wanted nothing more from his Saturday evening than this.

Goals for Erling Haaland on the opening day are about the most reliable currency in the game. Welcome, sure, but easily just taken as read.

The sight of Haaland pouncing and pouching a couple more goals for his absurd collection isn’t really what got the juices flowing today. Haaland scoring two goals on the opening day of a Premier League season is if anything for me, Clive, almost too familiar.

What was exciting about City today was the thrill of the new. This is a new Man City side with new heroes. And also John Stones.

On the evidence of this performance Tijjani Reijnders is going to have a massive influence on this Premier League season. We can already feel the excitement of headline writers up and down the land about his contributions over the Busy Festive Period.

For now, we must content ourselves with an all-action display in which he featured in almost every good thing City did, scoring in the first half, creating Haaland’s second and generally looking a million dollars.

The assist for Reijnders’ goal came from Oscar Bobb, whose harrowing injury problems mean the sight of him in full flow also has the thrill of novelty.

Rayan Cherki stepped off the bench to bamboozle a long beaten, long broken Wolves defence with the finest goal of the game to just hammer home the point to anyone who hadn’t yet cottoned on that this is a new City team doing old City things. And doing them remarkably well.

There was literally new City-old City in goal, where James Trafford’s distribution was integral to the third goal that put the game to bed and left you wondering anew whether this really is a team that needs or wants Gianluigi Donnarumma. It’s a curious thing, really: here is a keeper who might well improve 19 Premier League teams yet he’s about to sign for the other one.

We’re going to need to see some more challenging stress tests to make any final judgements on this new-look City, of course. Even last season, as the last puffs of life went out of the great 2017-2024 dynasty, they were still capable of thrashing teams ill-prepared or ill-equipped to counter them.

And Wolves currently are exactly that. This is a club that seems to have settled into a Groundhog Season where every new campaign starts under a cloud of transfer inaction and unbalanced, unsettled squads before, just as the threat of relegation looms at its largest (and often accompanied by the unpredictable yet very real benefits of a new-manager bounce) they are suddenly absolutely fine. Good, even.

Just as City will have tougher tests, so Wolves shall have easier ones. But we wouldn’t currently feel confidence about them passing those either. Not until December, anyway, in accordance with the prophecy.

This squad has been so denuded of quality this summer that what’s left is but a shell, and what exactly Vitor Pereira is supposed to do with what he’s got left here is not yet clear.

That springtime jaunt when Wolves won six Premier League games in a row to launch clear of the bottom three seems far more than four months ago now, so different is the whole feel of the place.

Right now, Wolves’ best bet is probably the same as City’s: to hope desperately Guardiola’s new side really are as good as they looked here.

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