Manchester City became the first Premier League side in a decade to retain the Premier League title after the clinching the trophy in their emphatic and stylish victory over Brighton at the AMEX Stadium on Sunday.
In what has been one of the most memorable, enthralling and captivating title race since the moment Sergio Aguero secured City their first league title against QPR at the Etihad in 2012. Liverpool challenged and pressured Manchester City to the very end even finishing the season on a remarkable 97 points and losing only once without claiming the title. Extraordinary. Whether that says a lot about Jurgen Klopp’s brilliant Liverpool side or about Pep Guardiola ever-so dominant and wonderfully gifted City team, you can’t argue the fact that both teams are a class above the rest.
The table doesn’t lie.
Both Manchester City and Liverpool have set the standard this season, and it may take a while for the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United to catch up. The latter may be even longer. City have had to spend big to retain their title but that doesn’t take away the brilliance and elegance of Guardiola’s current crop of players. They may even be the best we’ve ever seen in the Premier League. Debatable but last season’s points tally of 100 odd points tells its own story. Pep Guardiola is the difference maker.
There is nothing unusual about retaining your League crown. Paris Saint-Germain have succeeded this season, as has Lionel Messi’s Barcelona. Bayern Munich hope to make it a jaw-dropping seventh Bundesliga in a row this weekend and Juventus with the aid of one Cristiano Ronaldo have captured an unprecedented eighth consecutive Serie A title. However, the Premier League winners have been spread out evenly since Manchester United retained theirs in 2009. Leicester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City have shared the spoils over the last decade and none had been able to retain their gongs. A couple months ago, it seemed as though Liverpool were ready to carry on that trend but for the resilience and pedigree of Pep Guardiola and Manchester City. It just had to be them and rightly so.
In what has been another Premier League season of thrills, spills, twists and turns. This seasons title race has arguably been the most entertaining yet. It took perfection to retain their title – a run of 14 consecutive victories – and somehow City done it. That’s what Pep Guardiola demands; Perfection.
That run speaks volumes. The mentality of this City is simply damning. The will to carry on winning, playing with freedom, confidence and expressing themselves to become the very best is what has set them above the rest. Those characteristics were regularly questioned during the tenures of Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini after failing to mount serious title defences. But Guardiola’s City never let up.
“It’s incredible to do after 100 points. Normally you have a tendency to go down.”
Instead, Guardiola’s City just keep on going. Much of that is down to the Spanish coach. Certainly, they may not have built on last seasons remarkable 100 points tally but really nobody was expecting them too. Especially as Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool ran them so close. However, they still managed to equal the same amount of wins accumulated last season.
Is there any more records that Pep Guardiola’s City side cannot break? Much has been said of Pep Guardiola’s reputation of being called a ‘cheque-book manager’ due to the amount of money spent on the blue shores of Manchester. Certainly, City have spent bucket loads but you could point to the fact that their neighbours – Manchester United – have also spent a lot of money. Liverpool have. Chelsea have. However, none of these teams are Premier League champions. Manchester City are, and that is down to the work happening behind the scenes at the club. Guardiola has spent wisely.
The players Guardiola have purchased have come in and vastly improved what he already had. Ederson, for example – after spending money on finding the ideal keeper – has become the bedrock of City’s success this season with his outstanding displays in between the sticks. The Brazilian goalkeeper has come in and quickly built a reputation as one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League, if not the best. Centre-back Aymeric Laporte has been a revelation this season, even contributing a fair bit in front of goal this season too along with his knack of executing sublime passes from defence into attack, the hallmark of what Guardiola has built in this impressive City squad. Passing their opponents into submission, quick interchanges and transitions allowing them to be dominant for the whole of the 90 minutes. Riyad Mahrez who cost £65m, a club record fee, now has another Premier League winners medal to his collection, bought last summer from Leicester City to become another option on the wings. The Algerian magician may not have played as much this season but he has made a telling contribution to much of City’s success. How much of this City squad is now worth more than that? Raheem Sterling is no far beyond that category, so is Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane. These are players who will certainly improve again next season. Even Gabriel Jesus, despite his lack of game time, has only just turned 22.
Every department of City’s squad is filled with quality and brilliance adding to the spine that has been present from the get go. Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Sergio Aguero three players that Guardiola has wholly embraced and built his squad around.
Manchester City’ squad is so impressively constructed that you can’t put it down to individual brilliance – the reason for City’s success – but its down to the meticulousness of Guardiola. Whereas Liverpool, Chelsea or even Tottenham you could argue much of their play hinges on their reliance on particular players. With City, they are built differently; its triumphs are not attributed not to someone on the field but largely down to the man in the hot-seat. The man who put them there. No matter how much City excel, no matter how much they achieve, it will always be overshadowed by Guardiola. You cannot disagree with it. This team is built in his image.
Every player in that dressing room has improved massively without a shadow of a doubt. What can we attribute that to? The sheer genius and coaching of Guardiola. Take Raheem Sterling for example, here is a player who shirked from the responsibilities of scoring regularly for club and country. Much was made of Sterling’s lack of intelligence in his positioning and ability to put the ball in the back of the net. Guardiola has taken those frailties and transformed them and now we have one of the most complete wingers in world football. Take a look at his stats. 17 goals and 10 assists in the Premier League this season is a remarkable return for a player who has very much matured under Guardiola over the past few years.
What about Oleksandr Zinchenko? An attacking midfielder turned left-back in the absence of Benjamin Mendy. The Ukrainian international has now finished the season with his astonishing record of winning in every game he has featured for the club. He has performed in a foreign role with such excellence and you cannot the argue the fact that his understanding and knowledge of the role has been enhanced by the coaching of Pep Guardiola. One of the best ever to grace the game of football. Look at Bernardo Silva too, you would have never thought the Portuguese maestro could become not only a wonderfully gifted attacking midfielder but also a hard-working and dogged right winger. His pressing and running at times is relentless. Add to that is beautifully timed runs and movement in between the lines and his incredible knack of consummately weaving his way around defenders with such ease.
Its just endless examples of the kind of work that is being planned and executed on the training pitch. It is not enough to say that Manchester City is built in Guardiola’s image but this is a club that was always built for the image of Guardiola. When his friends and former colleagues from Barcelona, Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain touched down at the Etihad nearly a decade ago, you could almost guess that Guardiola would follow suit. When he turned down their advances back in 2012, they appointed Manuel Pellegrini instead but chief executive, Soriano and Director of football, Begiristain were always laying down the groundwork for his future arrival, signing the kind of player that would quickly thrive under Guardiola when he would eventually arrive. The signing of Kevin De Bruyne for example was certainly one that was made with Guardiola in mind. There is even talk that Guardiola recommended the signing of Raheem Sterling from Liverpool long before he was even at the helm, the way Guardiola has got him playing right now, you’d be silly to not believe that rumour.
There have been problems to solve. Benjamin Mendy’s prolonged absence required imaginative solutions that altered the dynamic. The injuries to De Bruyne and Fernandinho necessitated some manoeuvring too. These are players that were certain starters, guaranteed a place in the first 11 at the start of the season but their absence didn’t stop City becoming so dominant, didn’t stop the machine functioning effectively. Against Brighton and on numerous occasions this season has Guardiola gone for the midfield triumvirate of Ilkay Gundogan, David Silva and Bernardo Silva. A set-up that is so hell-bent on making City the dominant and fluent force they so regularly are while also keeping the balance defensively.
If anything, though, merely weighing Guardiola’s worth in gold and silverware is mistaken. It is the style that he offers too that makes him so valuable to his contemporaries. It’s what made City not just wait for him, but to build a team capable of performing to his liking and taste. It is the fact that his teams – whether in Spain, England or Germany – always set the bar for other teams to follow. Its astonishing that City have only dropped 30 points over two Premier League seasons. Astonishing. Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp now know they will need a near-perfect season next year if they are to trump Guardiola and claim the Premier League crown from him. Just as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have redefined what it takes to be a truly great player – scoring dozens of goals and breaking so many records than had previously been thought feasible – so Guardiola has had a seismic impact of what it takes to become a truly great manager. Just as Sir Alex Ferguson set the bar. Pep Guardiola is setting the bar in his own unique way.
Even by his exalted standards, perhaps, nothing better illustrates the root of Guardiola’s brilliance better than the conclusion to this seasons title race. You certainly would have thought that City would cruise through to yet another league title but that wasn’t the case. We saw another side to City. One that stumbled over the finish line in certain matches when needed. Take the Tottenham game at the Etihad after the antics in the Champions League. City knew that another impressive showing – despite their loss on aggregate that night – would take them a giant step closer, but it wasn’t easy as first thought as Tottenham tore them to shreds at times during the game but City rode their luck. They were dogged when they needed to be. Patient and resilient in a match where the really wasn’t at their fluent best. Also against Burnley and Leicester City, Guardiola needed his players rise through the adversity and that they did. A moment of sheer quality from Vincent Kompany which proved the difference against Leicester and only the smallest margins got them over the line against Burnley. Literally and figuratively. Since losing to Newcastle in January. City have not dropped a single point. They did not flinch one moment.
A testament to the character, the quality and the will to win when faced with such adversity that you’d have to argue that City were worthy winners. The structure at City has never been at its finest as it is now. There is quality in every department. There is a youth academy that is progressively delivering with Phil Foden a shining example of what City are trying to build at the Etihad. There is so much that is right about the club that makes Guardiola’s working environment the the envy of other high profile clubs and managers around the world.
How his critics revelled in his struggles during that fraught first season at City, when success like this looked anything but inevitable. Back then, Guardiola’s apparent refusal to compromise his principles was seen as a sign of stubbornness. His unwillingness to accept that the peculiar foibles of the Premier League set it apart was evidence of a weakness.
Instead, he rested on his laurels down on his methods and bent the English game to his whim, bringing his own style to bear on the competition. The man who infamously declared that he was “not a coach for the tackles” after an ignominious defeat to Leicester in 2016 – went and won the title again having made the fewest tackles of any team in the competition.
We’re all thinking what is next Manchester City, how can Guardiola build and improve on these two remarkable Premier League where they have continuously set the standard in terms of points totals. Guardiola will surely take heart that he did win League title three times in a row both in Spain with Barcelona and with Bayern Munich. He will be hoping his City side will still hold the will and passion to win and not to rest on their current success but to strive for more. Ever since that first trophy for Barcelona, Guardiola has remained the man to beat. His tactics have evolved massively and sufficiently for him to stay ahead of the current curve and relentless drive, determination and meticulousness to not only better himself but his coaching staff and team ahead of him has not waned either. There are enough new ideas, philosophies and – with a few more additions – enough competition for places at City to maintain the steady improvement at the Etihad.
Guardiola is building a dynasty and the tables have turned in Manchester.
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