City could have had 10 – Foster
Paris St Germain coach Thomas Tuchel has said Neymar is “100%” committed to the French champions after the Brazil international scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Olympique Lyonnais in the Ligue 1 on Sunday.
Despite being surrounded by four defenders in the 87th minute, Neymar received a pass from Angel di Maria inside the box and created enough space to shoot past Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopez into the far corner of the net.
It comes a week after Neymar’s decisive goal for PSG against Strasbourg, and Tuchel praised the forward’s recent goalscoring form despite his relative lack of match fitness.
“He is 100% with us. He is 100% in the squad – he laughs and jokes and is reliable,” Tuchel told a news conference.
“He is totally there with his team-mates. That is normal, as well as necessary. He is a very sensitive guy.
“This is only his third match in four months. He will gain in physical capacity with the matches and this will help him. Ney is always decisive, he is always creative and he looks ahead.”
Neymar was booed by a section of home fans during PSG’s previous league match against Strasbourg, having been heavily linked with a return to Barcelona during the close season transfer window.
But he has received the full support of his team-mates, with captain Thiago Silva praising the 27-year-old’s moment of magic that put league leaders PSG on 15 points from six games, seven clear of ninth-placed Lyon.
“Ultimately, it was Neymar’s action (which made the difference)...” Silva told Canal Plus. “On the pitch, I could not understand what he had done.
“Sometimes, we say it is easy and that the defender has let him turn, but that was not easy. In training, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe do incredible things and we profited from this phenomenon’s quality here.” –
– Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster says it is only a matter of time before Manchester City smash 10 goals in a match after his side were on the end of an 8-0 hammering.
The Hornets felt the full force of the champions’ attacking power on Saturday as they were dismantled at the Etihad Stadium, just four months after they were overpowered 6-0 in the FA Cup final.
Pep Guardiola’s men have also registered a 9-0 and two 7-0s in knockout action in 2019.
“They will do it to somebody,” Foster said. “There will be a nine or 10 out there soon.
“As a keeper, coming here in the first place it’s almost an achievement to keep it at one or two goals. At times, if they’re on it, they are incredible.
“They were scary at times. It was just relentless. You could see them opening us up and the chances developing in front of your eyes. It was absolutely no fun. In all honesty, it could have been double digits.”
Watford, who remain at the foot of the table with just two points, have become City’s favourite whipping-boys. The Hornets have now lost their past 12 games against City, conceding 46 goals in the process.
David Silva opened the scoring inside the first minute and City were 5-0 up inside 18 minutes.
Bernardo Silva finished with a hat-trick while Sergio Aguero, Riyad Mahrez, Nicolas Otamendi and Kevin de Bruyne also struck in the rout.
Manchester United’s 9-0 win against Ipswich in 1995 remains the record for the biggest winning margin in the Premier League.
Fernandinho, who played in a defensive role for City, said the side were capable of scoring 10 goals but that winning games was the main aim after their shock defeat against Norwich the previous week.
The 34-year-old said: “We know in football everything can happen. Sometimes we have a very good performance but don’t score any goals, now we’ve scored a lot of goals.” – AFP