Pep Guardiola read the riot act to Ruben and Mateo Kovacic for not following instructions as Manchester City were denied a slice of Premier League history.
Guardiola also accused Matheus Nunes of lacking dynamism, as he subbed him at half-time in the 2-1 defeat to Wolves at Molineux.
The Treble winners missed out on the chance to set a club record seven straight Premier League wins to start a top-flight season.
Dias’s own goal and Hwang Hee-chan’s second-half strike saw Gary O’Neil’s side make it a miserable afternoon for the champions.
Julian Alvarez’s 58th-minute free kick was too little, too late for City, who have lost back-to-back games for the first time since January.
‘We didn’t do our process properly to attack with a little more fluidity and that’s why we struggled a little bit in the transitions,’ said Guardiola.
‘When the opposition defends that well, Kovacic or Ruben has to attack the central defenders of the opponents and we didn’t do it. That’s why it was more difficult.‘But it was always going to be a difficult game and we knew it, and they defended really well in all situations.‘The players know exactly what they have to do,they have done it I don’t know how many times since I’ve been here. This always makes it more difficult,’he added.
Nunes, who was replaced by Oscar Bobb at half-time, wasn’t spared by Guardiola either. ‘I needed more dynamic and I wanted more in the small spaces and Oscar is really good at finding those with the creativity he has.’
Erling Haaland had just one shot and 10 touches after being marked out of the game by Craig Dawson and Max Kilman.
‘It’s not easy when you have three players around you a lot of players around him,’ said Guardiola. —DailyMail
