Man City thrashed Wolves to start off the 2025-26 PL season with a win
Guardiola was full of praise of his side's new signings
Haaland scored two goals in their 4-0 win
Pep Guardiola was impressed by his new signings as Manchester City began their Premier League campaign with a dominant 4-0 win over Wolves.
Summer arrivals Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki both scored on their Premier League debuts, while a brace from Erling Haaland completed a comfortable victory.
Reijnders became just the second player to both score and assist for the club on their Premier League debut, after Sergio Aguero did so against Swansea City in 2011.
Cherki’s late goal then made him the second-youngest player to score for City on their Premier League debut at 21 years and 364 days old. Only Bradley Wright-Phillips (19 years, 269 days) has done so at a younger age, against Middlesbrough in 2004.
Guardiola praised the early impact of his new men but refused to get ahead of himself following their trophyless campaign last season.
Across interviews with Sky Sports and BBC Match of the Day, Guardiola said: "All the new ones [were impressive].
“Tijjani was one of the best players in Serie A, he has an unbelievable rhythm.
“His pace, he can help with the holding midfield. He can make runs inside the pockets and the spaces that sometimes we allow defenders to create. At Milan he was exceptional and also for the national team. We knew he would be a top signing for the coming years for City.
“Cherki’s quality in the final third, in the small spaces, it's unique. His creativity is excellent, the rhythm that we need. There are many years and games where opponents will be tight. We need quality, special quality in the final third and pure talent and Rayan has it.
“Last season, we also started with hunger and energy. I don't have any complaints over how we're behaving in the training sessions.
“But we will see, it is just the first game, so there are many points still to play for.”
Wolves have now lost 58% of their opening day matches in the Premier League (7/12 - three wins, two losses), the highest percentage among sides to play in more than 10 seasons in the competition.
They have also lost 16 of their 23 Premier League matches against City (W5 D2); only against Liverpool (18) have they been defeated more often in the competition.
However, manager Vitor Pereira does not feel the scoreline accurately represented how the match unfolded at Molineux.
“We faced a strong team. Technically strong, individual quality, they have better options," Pereira told BBC Match of the Day.
“We did things well in my opinion, we were brave, we didn't go in just to defend. I don't believe in that kind of game, and we had some chances.
“If you didn't watch the game and just see the result, it's like they created a lot of chances and we created nothing, and it's not true.
“Every time we made a mistake they scored. We created maybe four chances to score and nothing.
“Of course, they have a lot of merit and quality, but in my opinion, the result doesn't express what happened on the field.”
