We’ll start with analysis of last night’s win, which saw us pull five points clear of Liverpool who have a game in hand.
The Guardian’s Amy Lawrence was full of praise for City’s squad depth, comparing Pep Guardiola to a magician!
“Even for a team as relentlessly dominant as Manchester City, a sequence of 13 matches in 44 days does throw up the risk of fatigue,” she writes. “Luckily for Pep Guardiola the luxury of rotation comes easily to a squad replete with talent. Like a member of the Magic Circle performing tricks with a subtle sleight of hand, six of the starting selection that cantered past Bournemouth on Saturday moved out of the picture, replaced by a new set at Watford. Now you see Raheem Sterling, Aymeric Laporte and Ilkay Gündogan. Now you don’t. Now you see Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Riyad Mahrez instead. See what he did there?
“City being City, half a team’s worth of switches led to no great discernible change in the overall pattern of play, collective confidence and end result.
“That was certainly the case for the vast majority of this match. Dominant, controlling, enjoying long stretches of comfortable possession, two smartly worked goals from the purposeful Leroy Sané and Mahrez created a platform for a seemingly inevitable victory. So it was a shock for the story to produce a late twist, to go off at a very unexpected tangent.”
READ: Watford 1-2 City | Match Report
READ: Pep | We made it hard for ourselves
Sam Wallace, the Telegraph’s chief football writer, said City’s dominance for the vast majority of the match was clear against a side known for its ability to shock big teams.
“It would be unfair to overlook the level of City’s dominance for most of this game against a club that for the last two seasons has beaten the reigning champions at Vicarage Road,” he writes.
“This was an occasion when Guardiola chose to rest Raheem Sterling. Nevertheless, Watford’s outstanding player was goalkeeper Ben Foster who kept City out for most of the first half and came up for attacking corners in those last few frantic minutes.”
And, finally, Real Madrid star Isco is reportedly open to discussions with City representatives about a summer move.
According to Spanish publication El Chiringuito, reported here by the Star, Isco is unhappy at the Santiago Bernabeu and is keen on a switch.
“The Real Madrid star has fallen out of favour at the Santiago Bernabeu since the arrival of Santiago Solari earlier this season,” they report.
“The Los Blancos chief replaced Julen Lopetegui last month and is yet to start Isco in a single game of his short tenure so far.
“Isco has been a long-time target for Manchester City ever since the club missed out on him when he was a Malaga player.
“But according to El Chiringuito, Pep Guardiola‘s men may not miss out on the player for a second time if they launch a bid in January.
“The Spanish publication claim Isco has told team-mates he is ready to leave Madrid and would accept a City deal if they were to offer one.”
That’s all for this morning’s Media Watch but stay with us throughout the day as we begin looking ahead to this weekend’s game at Chelsea.
