Can Manchester City produce the consistency of last season after thrashing?
Sunday 22 September 2019 12:54, UK
Manchester City were "irresistible" in their 8-0 thrashing of Watford but consistency remains key for Pep Guardiola's side, according to the Sunday Supplement panel.
City fell one goal short of the Premier League's record victory on Saturday as a Bernardo Silva hat-trick and goals from David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez and Nicolas Otamendi gave the club their biggest Premier League win.
But while the win does wonders for their goal difference, Pep Guardiola's side are two points adrift of Liverpool having played a game more after losing to Norwich and drawing with Tottenham.
Supplement guest Jonathan Liew, chief sports writer at The Independent, believes the demolition tells us "nothing new", and that City must perform week on week to defend their title.
"We knew City were capable of this, we knew they had a thrashing in them, especially if Watford are as poor as they are," he said.
"What it doesn't tell us is if they're going to produce the consistency they did last season. Everybody knows what their ceiling is. Everybody remembers that 9-0 that Manchester United dished out to Ipswich, what fewer people remember is they didn't win the title that year, Blackburn did. So it's whether City can replicate that week on week."
Just five games into the season, City have already dropped more points -five - than in the second half of their 2018/2019 title-winning campaign.
The club have also lost influential centre-back Aymeric Laporte to a long-term injury, with John Stones also sidelined, leaving the club with just one established centre-back in Otamendi,
And Paul Hayward, Chief Sports Writer at the Daily Telegraph, thinks that while the size of the win should be tempered by the quality of their opponents, the result sends a message to Jurgen Klopp's table-topping Liverpool.
"We've seen that type of performance often from Man City; they're irresistible in that type of form, they'll race towards double figures in those types of games, but they did it against a team and a club that are completely demoralised.
"But if you're City fan, you'll feel from that result, that although Liverpool look strong and have taken an early lead in the title race, that City aren't going away."
However, Hayward also pointed towards the unpredictable nature of the Premier League and both City and Liverpool's chances of walking into a two-horse title race despite their dominance.
He said: "Just as you think the title-race is turning into a procession for the top two teams, a newly-promoted team comes and upsets probably the best team in Europe."
