Picture from Mancity.com
Manchester City’s players have just got their hands on the trophy that for the most part of this season felt only like a formality. They have played a style of football above and beyond anything most spectators have witnessed in recent seasons in the Premier league seasons and they have done it with unforeseeable consistency.
This is embodied in the fact they had only lost 2 league games
all season and those were to the two teams directly below in the table:
Manchester United and Liverpool, respectively. Otherwise, it is very difficult
to find any other fault in City and there feel like a half dozen statistics and
broken records to back this up. City still have two more games to reach 31 league
wins this season, which would break the record last season’s winners, Chelsea, had set. Not even to mention, they have already scored 102 goals which is just
1 away from the record total in a season too.
These stats barely scratch the surface of what City have
achieved this season and it begs the question: Can they really do all of this
again? My answer would be: They certainly can. It feels like this City team is
as dominating as one team could be but in reality, City still have the money
and the allure, to bring even more top players to the team this summer.
Yes, it is easy to point out that City have spent insane
amounts of money to get the calibre of players they already have but one thing
I feel no one can fault them for is recruiting the right players. In the last
several years alone, we have seen teams spend lots of money on individual
players who ended up failing to justify their price tag. But last summer, no
player that City signed, regardless of how big the fee, had did themselves a disservice.
Some people scoffed at the £50 million sum City paid for Kyle Walker but he has
proven to be an inspired signing.
In fact he and the other defensive signings that manager Pep
Guardiola had brought in 2017, only show just how good City have been at recognising
positions in their team that needed improvement. Many people were critical of
how quickly Guardiola had come into the club and judged that long-serving
keeper Joe Hart was of no use in his team. Hart has since been on two
disastrous loan spells whilst City have Ederson in goal, who has conceded a
league-low 26 goals so far this season. Amazing what can happen in 2 years, isn’t
it?
This is not even keeping in mind that there are players who
were in the team before Guardiola had arrived such as Aguero, David Silva, De
Bruyne, Sterling, who have gone on to outshine most others in the league. But
the truth is the whole starting 11 that Guardiola has constructed has been
nearly impeccable. It is a little bit of a shame that only 6 of them made the
PFA team of the season, but that in itself only goes on to show just above par
City have been compared to their competition.
Picture from SkySports.com
Seeing the way Chelsea have underwhelmed this season after
being such impressive title winners last season might have planted a seed in
some minds as to the possibility of it happening to City. The short answer to
this concern would be: It’s highly unlikely. I am under the impression Conte at
Chelsea, does not enjoy the sort of manger-board room relationship that
Guardiola has had at City. Chelsea are also a club who perhaps are stuck in
their ways in not giving managers the time they need to build long term projects
at the club too. It does look like Guardiola won’t be having this problem.
Not only has Guardiola won the league but he has done it in a
manner that City’s owners have been dreaming about since they took over the
club in 2008. Guardiola has done it in utterly mesmerising style and is still
on the verge of having a team that can challenge for the ultimate prize of
winning the Champions League whilst also retaining the league title.
Of course nothing is guaranteed but I wouldn’t bet against Manchester
City’s players lifting the Premier league trophy again this time next year.
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