Nuno reveals main thing he did not expect in Wolves’ win over Man City

Nuno Espirito Santo admits he was surprised by the amount of possession Wolves had against Manchester City, even with their opponents down to 10 men.

The title race looks to be over following the clash at Molineux, which saw Wolves come from two goals down to clinch a 3-2 win with a last-minute Matt Doherty strike.

Much of the focus will be on City’s ever-fading hopes of retaining their title, but the implications for the winners should not be overlooked, as Wolves are now in fifth place – just eight points away from their third-placed opponents.

“It was a good night, a very good night,” manager Nuno told Amazon Prime. “The game was fantastic. Everything changes with City with one men less but it was very good.

“I told [my players] to keep doing the same things and finding solutions. More important is that we stayed in the game. We didn’t do that, we conceded the second goal and made it hard for ourselves but it was a fantastic reaction.

“It was very good, the goals were nice, just very good!”

VAR was prominent again, with its decisions to send off Ederson for the visitors, but also award them a penalty which led to their opener.

Nuno was eager to avoid the discussion, but admitted that referees need to be given more trust.

“I was thinking maybe I don’t speak about VAR. I cannot speak to them [the referees] directly. Now is the time to get things right. They are decisions that effect everything. I have only seen things on the screen.

“He touches Riyad Mahrez on the foot but is it enough? I will not be a part of the discussions but they will continue.

“We must trust VAR and the referee. They see the image. If decisions are equal then everything will be okay. If you take the referee to the screen and he sees it in slow motion then he can decide better.

“He knows the piece of the game. Slow motion in VAR cannot judge. You know what I am saying? Let’s trust more the referee. You must trust him. He can feel, see and measure everything. Even the reactions of the players. There are so many things that can help the referee.”

Shifting the focus back to the significance of their result and performance, he added to BBC Sport that he was surprised how much possession his side had.

“I would not have been disappointed even if we did not win because we played good. No matter what the result I must be proud of the players.

“We had much more of the ball than expected, so we had to find solutions.

“We played a nice way, in the way we wanted, passing ball side to side and getting one-on-ones in wide areas.”