Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Back to back defeats for Manchester City now seems 7 points off the top of the table in 4th place. They won’t be shouting it from the rooftops but they will be no doubt be pleased that their cross town rivals Manchester United did them a favour on Sunday by beating Tottenham.
Had the North London side won that encounter they would have leapfrogged City into fourth turning a bad weekend into an even worse one but as it stands Pep Guardiola’s men have a 3 point cushion over Spurs as they go into tonight’s encounter with Watford at The Etihad Stadium.
They were caught incredibly cold by Leicester at The King Power Stadium on Saturday evening as they conceded twice in the first 5 minutes. A game that was played in driving rain saw City blitzed by a Leicester side who seemed to return to their title winning best of last season.
That is now 7 goals conceded by City in their past two defeats and once again the defence has to take it’s fair share of criticism after their performance against Leicester. And again it seems as John Stones and Claudio Bravo are the ones getting the biggest amount of flak.
Once again Stones turned in a performance which was lacking in confidence and certainly not one befitting of a £50m price tag. While Claudio Bravo’s refusal to attempt to make a save continues to create bemusement for football fans across the country.
It was City’s first game without Sergio Aguero as he undertakes a 4 match ban for that wild lunge on David Luiz and it’s fair to say that he was missed on Saturday. But even with him in the side the defending was so poor I don’t think it would have had a bearing on the final result.
They will look to return to winning ways when the face a Watford side who disposed Everton on Saturday lunchtime. The United Nations of Hertfordshire ran out 3-2 winners in a result that sees Walter Mazzari’s side move back up to 7th place.
Hero of the hour was Stefano Okaka’s whose brace of goals helped Watford on their way to victory. Okaka, signed from Anderlecht in the summer, flicked in a superb backheeled effort in the first half, before heading home following a corner after the break.
It says a lot when Troy Deeney once again failed to find the net but The Hornets still went to win the game. The Watford Captain who is still stuck on 99 goals hasn’t scored a league goal since the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth back on October 1st. That is a goal drought of eight matches.
But at the same time there isn’t the over reliance on Troy Deeney like there was last season, so while the goal drought may be of some concern it at least isn’t having too much detriment to the teams performances. The key now for Watford is that there form doesn’t fall away after Christmas like it did last season.
Unfortunately for them though I think they are going to come away from their trip to The Etihad. I think defeat to Leicester may have opened up Pep Guardiola’s eyes a bit and I think he will actually have to deploy some sort of defensive plan this week. Surely he can’t be that stubborn after back to back defeats and not change things around?
