Man City 2-1 Watford: Post-match verdict

ManchesterWorld

Michael Plant gives his reaction to Manchester City's Carabao Cup win over Watford, plus offers the latest on Rodri's injury situation.

Transcript

00:00Manchester City 2 Watford 1 here at the Etihad Stadium in the third round of the

00:04Carabao Cup. A game that City played pretty well in, dominated for long spells

00:08as you would expect against the Championship side. Got the goals pretty

00:11early, thought it was going to be a relatively routine game here but ultimately

00:15actually turned into a couple of jitters at the end. A few nervy City fans in the

00:19final minutes because Watford did produce a superb goal in the 86th minute

00:24with Tom Ince curling one in to the far corner. As I say he set up a little bit

00:28of a nervy end and Watford didn't actually create any chances after that. I think

00:31City will perhaps be disappointed for all their dominance, the amount of passes

00:34they had, the amount of time they spent on the ball. They didn't actually manage to

00:37kill this game off earlier. Jeremy Doku did get the ball rolling after just five

00:41minutes. Defensive mix-up, it's not what you want when you come here to the Etihad

00:44Stadium. But in-handed City the ball in the final third. Grievous lay it in Doku

00:49cut back in his right foot and a lovely shot into the bottom corner. City

00:53had a number of chances in and managed to find the second goal via Mateus Nunes.

00:57His first goal for Manchester City actually hadn't joined from Wolves last

01:00summer after his first goal in 34 appearances. He had a, I think he played

01:05well actually on the night, took a lovely goal in his left foot from the edge of

01:08the box, struck into the bottom corner. From there you really did think City

01:11would push on and get a few more but they didn't manage to do it. Savino had a

01:15fantastic chance where he ran almost three-quarters the length of the pitch

01:18but couldn't just quite put the finishing touches to it with the shot

01:21hitting the post. He played really well when he came on and also saw a shot

01:24headed off the line. Jack Grealish probably should have scored as well.

01:27Good chance he set up. Phil Fulton playing his first, well starting his

01:30first game of the season for City. He had a chance saved as well and it went

01:34into the final stages. City just 2-0 up. In scored that goal and as I say a

01:37little bit of nerves at the end but ultimately City came away relatively

01:41comfortably. Although I think they'll be disappointed as I say that there was any

01:45kind of jeopardy at all in the final few minutes of the game. Doc Grealish

01:48probably the standout player. Rico Lewis played really well as well. Savino,

01:52Goku I thought played well. Nunes as well but yeah City some good performances

01:56but look they were in second gear all game, all night. A lot of changes, nine

02:00changes from the weekend. A number of youth players coming in, a number of fringe

02:03players coming in. So it was not surprising and Caden Braithwaite,

02:07actually a 16-year-old, made his Manchester City debut at left-back. Thought he did

02:10well. A couple of maybe difficult moments including a bit of an awkward moment for

02:13Watford goal that was disallowed. I think he was a bit fortunate in that as he was out

02:16muscled but ultimately you know certainly didn't let himself down in his

02:21first taste of senior football and overall a good night for City. All set

02:24against the backdrop of this injury to Rodri which we still have no

02:28confirmation about what exactly the full extent of that problem is. Of course

02:32reports suggest it's an ACL injury for the midfielder. At this stage Guardiola

02:37as I say hasn't confirmed anything but has confirmed that he's gonna have

02:39surgery. Has confirmed he's gonna be out for a long time so I think we can all but

02:43say that when the confirmation comes it's not gonna be a huge

02:47surprise from a City perspective. But Guardiola, I just saw from his press

02:52conference and he was really bullish about Rodri being out. Described him as

02:56irreplaceable. Said he is the best midfielder in the world but said I will

02:59find the solutions without him. That was a really interesting press conference

03:02actually from Guardiola. He was really, I don't know, almost seemed motivated at the

03:06thought of trying to find a solution without Rodri. Albeit he's obviously a

03:10problem he would rather do without. But interesting from him. I think we're gonna

03:14get confirmation probably tomorrow at this stage on what the exact nature of

03:18the injury is. Guardiola just said they want to make the final kind of

03:21confirmation or test to get the full extent of it. He did say this may be not

03:24quite as bad as first fear but still looks like it's gonna be a very long

03:27term one for City. They're gonna have to find a solution without a player who's

03:31seen as one of the best in the world. Big interesting couple of months coming up

03:34for City. How are they gonna cope without him and it's certainly yeah a lot to

03:38keep on top of over the next couple of months.

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