Teen tip helps Guardiola plan ruthless rout

PEP Guardiola has revealed teenage defender Eric Garcia cracked Watford’s formation during the warm-ups at the Etihad on Saturday.

With the Blues boss and his coaching staff unsure whether the Hornets were going to play four or five at the back, there was some uncertainty as to how City should approach the game.

But as the two sets of teams warmed up before kick-off at the Etihad, it was 18-year-old Garcia who noticed that Quique Sanchez Fliores’ team were preparing with four men in defence.

Former Barcelona defender Garcia then told Guardiola what he had seen, which allowed City to prepare to face a four-man defence.

The Blues were then in blistering form from the off, leading 5-0 after 18 minutes and eventually winning 8-0.

“He pays attention in absolutely everything. In the warm-up we have doubts with the formation of Quique, whether it is four at the back or five at the back, and he saw in the warm-up and said ‘they make some movements for four in the back’,” Guardiola said of his teenage centreback. “Nobody told me, he saw that and told me that. He was looking at the warm-up of the opponent and saw they were four at the back. He knew we had doubts how to play against four at the back or five at the back.”

Garcia came off the bench in the second half against Watford for his first taste of Premier League football, having featured in the Carabao Cup last season. He will start for City tomorrow when they begin their defence of that trophy against Preston North End at Deepdale and with Aymeric Laporte and John Stones both out injured he is likely to find more opportunities coming his way.