If it was supposed to be the day Alexander Isak made his debut, the £60m man, the statement of intent, the manifestation of Newcastle’s buying and pulling power instead stared on from the stands. United’s attention was eventually diverted to the crowd-pleasing talent already in their ranks and, with explosive panache, Allan Saint-Maximin extended their unbeaten start to the season.
As Eddie Howe was without his two premier strikers, with Callum Wilson injured and Isak awaiting a work permit, the Frenchman instead offered a reminder that, even in the darkest and dullest of days under Steve Bruce, he offered the prospect of entertainment. His goals may be too infrequent but a first of the season was memorable and magnificent, a sweetly-struck volley that flew past Jose Sa.
It was almost followed by a winner, with a ferocious shot Sa parried and the young substitute Elliott Anderson hitting the bar still deeper into stoppage time. While depleted, with Bruno Guimaraes also sidelined, Newcastle were not defeated. A comeback felt proof of the spirit imbued by Howe, whose side have only lost two of their last 12 league games, and even then just to Manchester City and Liverpool.
Yet a leveller also came gifted by Wolves. They are such slow starters to top-flight campaigns that they have not won a Premier League match in August in 11 years and that sorry sequence was extended. Hwang-Hee Chan had been sent on to see the game out; instead, he somehow contrived to slice a clearance straight to Saint-Maximin and Mick McCarthy’s class of 2011, more prosaic talents such as Stephen Ward and Karl Henry and “Relegation Roger” Johnson, retain their distinction as the last Wolves team to claim three Premier League points at this stage of a campaign.
And this was a match Bruno Lage’s team really ought to have won. They have had a glamorous makeover since 2011 and been given more aesthetic appeal in the summer, with Conor Coady exiled, a defender sacrificed in a formational change and £65m spent on Goncalo Guedes and Matheus Nunes, yet goals remain elusive.
The other 19 Premier League grounds had witnessed one before Molineux and Wolves had gone 302 minutes of top-flight action before Ruben Neves ended one wait in spectacular style.
As Saint-Maximin later showed, if a focus on signings can obscure the constants, a relative old stager brought the magic. Not for the first time, either, in a career during which Neves has brought continuity and quality. Rewind a few months and he thought he would leave Wolves this summer, and if he can feel an incongruous presence at Molineux when he has the ability to attract wealthier suitors, he has kindred spirits. But, in a midfield with a trio of Portuguese playmakers, with Nunes joining Joao Moutinho, Neves looked the classiest.
His was a goal made in Portugal, with Pedro Neto playing a crossfield ball, Guedes jinking and teeing up Neves and, in the process, securing himself a first assist in Wolves colours. The new captain unleashed an unstoppable shot that was still rising as it entered the net.
Excluding spot kicks, some 84 per cent of his Wolves goals have come from long range and if that is a sign that he rarely enters the penalty area, it is also an illustration a wonderful technician can offer more menace from distance than others can from anywhere. His tally of 16 goals from outside the box is more than Adama Traore has got for Wolves in total.
It was not the only illustration of Neves’s technique. Wolves’ first chance involved the three players involved in the goal but stemmed from a wonderful 50-yard ball from him to release Guedes, whose inviting cross was turned over by Neto.
Nunes had a couple of opportunities to open his account, heading wide from a cross from Raul Jimenez – how Wolves may have wished the roles were reversed and the Mexican was in the box – and shooting at Nick Pope after embellishing a solo run with stepovers.
Nine minutes from time, Jimenez thought he had marked his first league start of the season with a goal, converting a cross from Neto before Peter Bankes reviewed the build-up on the monitor and saw the Arsenal target shove Ryan Fraser in the back.
Instead of doubling their tally for the day, Wolves are stuck on two goals for the season – perhaps explaining their pursuit of Stuttgart striker Sasa Kalajdzic – and that inability to put distance between themselves and Newcastle proved costly.
The visitors had scored three times against City but lacked a similar threat in attack. Joe Willock had spurned their only real opportunity, stabbing a shot wide, until Hwang’s hooked clearance landed on Saint-Maximin’s boot. But if both are early-season draw specialists, Newcastle still won’t lose and Wolves still can’t win.
