Manchester City 8 Watford 0 : City Enjoy Stunning Victory

Manchester City swept aside a poor Watford side and then crushed them ruthlessly.

There is a certain delirious joy which can come from watching Manchester City these days. In 2019 alone we have now scored 6 or more goals in each of the major competitions – Premier League, Carabao Cup, FA Cup and Champions League. Does football actually get better than this?

In the glorious sunshine, City started with a blistering pace and opened the scoring within the first minute of the kick off. It was beautiful simple football, so precisely delivered and executed, leaving no room for the faint hearted. De Bruyne whipped in a curling cross from the inside right position and David Silva slid the ball into the net.

Within this first minute it was obvious Watford were not seeking to press our players on the ball, allowing us to make unhurried passes and were employing defenders in only the loosest definition of the role.

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Within minutes of our first goal, Watford ran into our penalty area and Ederson was called into action. Any fears we may have had as watching fans of a Watford come back were extinguished by the 7th minute.

Riyad Mahrez was hacked down in the penalty area and Sergio Aguero netted the ensuing penalty. This one was another record breaker for our superstar – his 100th at the Etihad Stadium, becoming the first player to score in all 6 of the first games of a campaign.

Within another 5 minutes City had their 3rd goal and a rout looked possible. This time Watford brought down David Silva on the edge of the penalty area and Mahrez whipped in the resulting free kick which cruelly cannoned off the defensive wall and past the helpless keeper.

In the next 6 minutes City added another 2 goals. Bernardo Silva, who must have been the shortest player on the pitch, scored a stooping header and Nicolas Otamendi slid in a Kevin De Bruyne cross. Both these goals were gratefully received by City but were characterised by some absent defending.

It was now 18 minutes into the match and City were already 5:0 up. In the press box, the journalists all began looking up record scoring games in Premier League history just in case.

The scoring then dried up, for a period at least where City dialled back some of their intensity and Watford wandered around the pitch like a punch drunk boxer waiting to be saved by the bell.

After the restart, City picked up again and within minutes Bernardo Silva netted his 2nd goal thanks to some neat and incisive work by David Silva. City were relentless, still chasing balls and pressing Watford.

Bernardo had his hat trick in the 60th minute, completing it thanks to some customary excellence by De Bruyne. It seemed as though Bernardo had two attempts, as the first was scuffed setting him up to rifle home from close range.

City completed the scoring thanks to a wonderful, unstoppable rocket by Kevin De Bruyne into the top corner. Standing with his arms wide in the air as his team mates rushed to celebrate. It was reminiscent of Russell Crowe in the film Gladiator when he shouts “Are you not entertained?”.

One of the stranger things about this game is City also missed an absolute hatfull of other chances – we hit the posts, the crossbar and put wide as the goal beckoned. This could very easily have been a complete double figure annihilation.

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We witnessed a supreme display of attacking intent, but it was hard not to feel sorry for the Watford fans who stayed until the very end. Spare a thought for the Watford player Gerard Deulofeu who made just 14 successful passes during the match, 8 of them were from the kick off.