Pellegrini could be grateful as Watford give Manchester City an FA Cup fright

28 January 2014 09:32

Although he ranted that later that he would have substituted all eleven players at half-time if he could have done in the game against Watford on Saturday, Manuel Pellegrini may secretly be grateful that Watford gave his team a bit of a fright in their FA Cup tie.

There's been growing calls over the last few weeks that the Chilean's Manchester City team could break all kinds of records this season by winning the 'quadruple' - securing the league, FA Cup, Capital One Cup and the Champions' League for good measure. City have notched up over a century of goals already and are averaging four per home league game. They have the appearance of a juggernaut threatening to run over all in their path. Talks of quadruples and rewriting record books are very premature however. It's the sort of publicity that can turn players' heads, making them believe that games are won before they even kick-off and breeding complacency. This will have been the fear for the City manager. Getting a kick up the backside to insert a bit of reality therefore may have been a massive bonus for Pellegrini. His statements after the game certainly show that he was keen to drive the message home.

It's not really known what Pellegrini's version of the Fergie 'hairdryer' is, but whatever he said and did certainly appeared to have worked the oracle as his team responded by turning a two goal deficit around by netting four times in the second half without reply. With a critical home game to come against Chelsea in a week's time, Pellegrini will be well aware that his team will need to have their 'A game' ready to deploy in what could be a pivotal encounter in their league campaign.

Personally, I think talk of the quadruple is more than a little extravagant. Even should they sweep up domestically, the Champions' League will be a monumental challenge. Should they win even a treble however, Pellegrini may look back and have cause to thank Watford for the kick up the backside that they gave his team.

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Source: DSG