‘It could have been over after 15 minutes’ says Pep | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola says City had the chance to be out of sight with only quarter-of-an-hour on the clock against Watford.

In a relentless opening period during which Raheem Sterling headed the opener, the champions created numerous opportunities, with only a fine performance from Watford keeper Daniel Bachmann and some poor finishing keeping the score down to 1-0.

But overall, the manager was very happy with his team's dominant display.

“We created more chances than Wednesday, but the game could be over after 15 minutes,” said Pep. “The most important thing is that we won.

"We played in a consistent way, controlled, we played a good game again.

"Take a look at what happened with Manchester United and Chelsea (at Vicarage Road). We played really well, we didn’t allow them to be who they are.

“I have a lot of respect for Claudio, but it’s not that Watford didn't want to do it – we didn't allow it.

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“We missed a lot of chances and hopefully next time, we can convert.

“Scoring goals is the most difficult thing in football and we’re not specialists but we’re playing well and it’s important to create the chances.”

The City boss believes the next period of the season will be the toughest.

With seven matches between now and New Year’s Day, starting with Tuesday's Champions League game in Germany against RB Leipzig, Guardiola says many things can happen at this crucial stage.

“There’s many games to come and it’s the toughest part of the season. We’ll try to continue at this level and this rhythm,” he said.

“Everyone is back, it doesn’t matter who plays, we are consistent and winning games but in football everything can go down in one second.

“I’m more than pleased with what the guys have done in this tough period and now comes the toughest one for the amount of games, weather, injuries.

“We keep going with this rhythm and try to play well.

“Now we have the momentum from Bernardo, another day it will be Phil, then Raz - the most important thing is the performance.

“The result can be random but consistency is the most important thing to help us be a stable team, that’s why we’ve won seven in a row.

“Today one team dropped points, next week it could be us or Liverpool - many things can happen."