Sunday, 22 April 2018

The Best Is Still Yet To Come

Manchester City grabbed all the headlines on their way to securing a league and cup double and for a time Pep Guardiola's men looked primed to do the seemingly improbable, winning the quadruple. 

However, things took a turn when they were surprisingly ousted from the FA Cup by Wigan and were left with the sting of disappointment as they were overwhelmed by Liverpool over two legs in the Champions League.

Those defeats notwithstanding, City at the moment look like the best team in Europe.

And given how much they've achieved with Guardiola this season let's take a look at the factors that will be key for Cityzens to not only conquer England again but also Europe.

INJECTION OF YOUTH
Throughout the 2016/17 it soon became clear that the Pep Guardiola era couldn't begin in earnest until the Spaniard had stamped his signature on the side. Despite bringing in some new talent City looked visibly jaded and quite rightly so as core contingent of squad who were part of their previous title winning seasons were on the wrong side of 30.

This left Guardiola with the mandate of bringing in some fresh faces as Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva, Aymeric Laporte and Benjamin Mendy made their way to the Etihad.

The shake up worked the trick as most of the new recruits played key roles on the way to City securing the double.

IMPROVED SQUAD DEPTH
Football is increasingly becoming more of squad game and with the resources at Man City's disposal it shouldn't come as a surprise to see their depth being the cornerstone to success. In previous seasons City had a plethora of talent call upon from their squad, however players in those squads usually served as nothing more than replacements or stopgap players used to plug the holes to stop the City ship from sinking.

This season the so-called squad players played just as pivotal role as the starters in winning the league title. For example, when City lost David Silva to injury it was Ilkay Gundogan picked up where the Spaniard left off without missing a beat or how Bernardo Silva tormented defences when either Raheem Sterling or Leroy Sane weren't available and the list goes on.

ALLEVIATING DEPENCY ON KOMPANY
Despite their vast financial muscle the one problem that has troubled City is how they managed without Vincent Kompany. Since signing for City in 2008 the Belgian has been the defensive rock for City and has been arguably their one of their most important players on their way to winning their previous league titles.

The last few years have not been kind to Belgian as he has been on a number of seasons plagued by injuries and in his absence City don't look like the same team. Even after spending well over 100 million for central defenders for them to find Kompany's shoes to large to fill and effectively City's season usually lived or died depending on how fit the Belgian remained throughout the season.

However, City have at least found a way to curtail Kompany's absence with John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi being improved at the heart of the defence and it also helps that they are aided by their style of play, which along reduction of mistakes has softened the blow of not having Kompany in the team.

 RAHEEM STERLING FACTOR
Raheem Sterling has had the best return of goals this season scoring 23 goals in 43 matches and has also assisted in a further 9 goals City have scored this season. This represents a huge improvement for a player who by the looks of things might have been another Shaun Wright-Phillips type who showed much potential but couldn't deliver when it comes to the end product.

Just as impressive as his goal scoring has been his work rate and versatility. Sterling gave Man United a number of problems a few weeks ago when he played as a false nine, dropping deep to collect the ball and running in behind the defence. The only fault you could find in Sterling's game has been his finishing which needs some polishing but based on this season its obvious he's taken his game to the next level.










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