Manchester City tore Watford apart at Vicarage Road yesterday, with not a single bad performance to be seen from the Blues. Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick to bring him closer to all time leading Manchester City scorer, Eric Brook. Ilkay Gundogan got a run out for a little under 30 minutes. A welcome return for a guy who has been out with a long-term injury picked up against the same opposition last season.
Manchester City started the game brightly and at pace, showing no signs of the mid-week European adventure. The Citizens have always attacked at speed and tend to overwhelm sides. Today though, after four minutes of play, I saw Kevin DeBryune back defending. At various points throughout the game, you would see both him and David Silva tracking back to win the ball.
It hasn’t gone unnoticed that the City players enjoy a good banter-filled relationship off the field, as displayed by Benjamin Mendy via the medium of Twitter. On the field though, it seems all the players are willing to help teammates, even if it means being out of position.
Walker and Mendy, we are familiar seeing bombing forward to help start an attack. Today, and in the recent games this season, I have seen some of our creative attacking players dropping back and helping nullify the opposition attack when needed.
First Half:
It was never a question of will City get the first goal, but when. It took almost half an hour to get that break-through, and it came from a set piece. A KDB free-kick met the head of a debatably offside Sergio Aguero. Comments will be made that the goal should not have stood, and there is an argument for that. However, it was a very close decision, and whichever way it went you couldn’t really have blame for the linesman. Obviously, I am more comfortable saying that because it did go the way of the Blues. Of course, the real question should be how a 5ft 8 Argentinian beat out your defenders and win the header.
The second goal, also from Aguero, was less controversial. Fantastic play from Jesus on the wing kept the ball in play. From there he drove toward the box, passing to Silva who drilled the ball across the goal. Heurelho Gomes could, and should, have done better leaving Aguero with a tap-in. He ain’t gonna miss them.
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Quickly following that was City’s third. Again there was a hint of offside in this goal, possibly more of a shout than the first. Either way, it was a nice finish for the young Brazilian, and for yet another game the front two got on the score sheet.
Second Half:
After the half, it was Watford to have their first really good chance but Andre Carrillo shot wide. In fact, Watford would only manage a single shot on target throughout the whole game, so it was always going to be difficult.
The job of getting back into the game became even harder after 63 minutes with the General, Nicolas Otamendi, heading in from a corner. No hint of offside with this effort. With the game wrapped up off came Gabriel Jesus for Bernardo Silva.
Two minutes later DeBruyne went off and was replaced by Ilkay Gundogan. The final change came with less than fifteen minutes remaining. This time Leroy Sane came on for David Silva and the game management for Pep has been easy in recent times.
As the game ran down there was still enough time for two more goals for City. Sergio Aguero netted his hat-trick and fired himself to within two goals of becoming City’s all-time top scorer. It was a beautiful effort and, even after watching numerous replays, I have no clue how he squeezed it in.
Finally, Raheem Sterling was brought down in the area. The young Englishman stepped up and wanted to take the resulting penalty. Discussions between him, Aguero and Pep resulted in Raheem blasting it into the roof of the net for City’s sixth.
Thoughts:
*Again Manchester City enjoyed 67% possession with 28 total shots, 10 on goal. We dominate games, home or away.
*Not really tested at the back, but look capable when we are, for the most part. Fantastic up front, we really look frightening with DeBruyne and Silva pulling the strings.
*As mentioned previously, the squad looks happy and enjoying their game.
*Even at 6-0 up, with only a few minutes left, we were still attacking. That’s a good habit to get into and I’m sure it will benefit us when things are tighter.