Manchester City 8 Watford 0 : Player Ratings and MOTM
By David Crook
The Substitutes
Angelino
A surprise half time replacement for Mendy meant that Angelino made his Premier League debut. Looked assured and incredibly mobile as he linked exceptionally well on the left wing. Less solid in defence and made a mistake to gift possession which needed assistance from colleagues to rectify.
Player Rating 8
Eric Garcia
Great to see Eric back on the pitch – so much is expected of him in the coming weeks. Seems to have grown a little since last season too which will come in handy. Reads the game well and stepped up several times to thwart the Watford attacks. Guardiola has already announced Eric will play against Preston on Tuesday.
Player Rating 8
Joao Cancelo
By the time Cancelo came on the game was so won already it was difficult to accurately judge his contribution. I was surprised to see him pop up repeatedly in the centre of midfield, pushing into the opposing penalty area. De Bruyne seemed to drop into the right back slot when this happened. You can appreciate how this tactic will be unnerving to many teams and i suspect we will see it in action in many games to come.
Player Rating 8
Man of the Match
There were some excellent displays on the pitch by a number of Manchester City players who powered City to a record Premier League win. The difficulty is to select a single Man of the Match and it comes down to a straight battle between the hat trick hero Bernardo and De Bruyne.
Next. Manchester City 8 watford 0 Match Report. dark
Given his importance to this game I have selected Kevin De Bruyne as our Man of the Match. Without him we would still have won this match, but not by this kind of scoreline. His performance rekindled memories of his role in the 7:2 demolition of Stoke a couple of seasons ago.
Hopefully De Bruyne will now be rested for the Carabao Cup and wrapped in bubble wrap and cotton wool for a week.