Wednesday 25 July 2018

Majestic Manchester City


It is fair to suggest that football fans, pundits and journalists ran out of superlatives to describe how brilliant Manchester City were last season. Idolised by fans across the country, City stormed their way to title glory smashing every Premier League record that laid in front of them. Becoming the first ever team to reach 100 points in the Premier League, City dazzled their way to endless victories showing along the way why they were the best team in the country. However, Pep Guardiola will believe they can do even better and he will want to continue smashing records for fun. Furthermore, City’s real ambition is to conquer Europe however, they have struggled to surpass the latter stages of the competition. The pressure will be on Guardiola to bring City champions league glory. The city fans will be desperate to dominant Europe with this the only trophy missing from Mansour era at the club.

City sparkled last season with their slick, exuberant style of play with talent spread across the entire squad not just their starting team. Guardiola brought wisely in the previous transfer window to bulk up a team that disappointed during his first season at the club. The poor form of Claudio Bravo and Joe Hart highlighted a big issue for Guardiola, so he splashed the cash to sign unknown Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson and they haven’t looked back. He was instrumental in City’s goal keeping clean sheets and starting many attacks due to his ball skills. However, as well as improving his goalkeeping situation, Guardiola managed to get the best out of regular city midfield gems Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva. When these are on form, so are Guardiola’s team with both playing a vital role and David Silva in particular as he reaches the latter stages of his career as found a new gear and has gone from strength to strength. Similarly, Kevin De Bruyne has been unlocked by Guardiola and has turned into the complete central midfield. Scoring goals and creating endless chances, De Bruyne glistened for City and even showed his solid defensive attributes therefore, emphasising his brilliance and he can only get better for City. However, once again Guardiola has got a strong tune out of Sergio Aguero. Another sensational season for him becoming City’s all-time record and won his third Premier League title and he will want to continue smashing in goals because it’s what he has done all his career. In addition, Guardiola has a strong array of English players in his ranks and the likes of Kyle Walker, Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph making key contributions in City’s latest title success. However, this Premier League season and title victory saw the rise and emergence of Leroy Sane, the young German international had a magnificent season and played a crucial role in City’s title triumph. Hugging the left-hand side for City, Sane scored a lorry load of goals and created a vast amount of chances for his team. However, his impressive ball control and skills also impressed many a fan and pundit across the season and like much of this young City squad he can only get better.

Guardiola is always looking to improve however they finish their seasons and he will investigate the transfer window to see where he can potentially do business. City of course have already broken their transfer record once again under Guardiola by signing Riyad Mahrez from Leicester. Mahrez will add even more danger to an already dangerous, menacing attacking force. He will add further creativity and allow Guardiola to make tactical switches if needed. Looking at Manchester City’s squad, it is difficult to identity areas that need new players but I’m sure Guardiola will have ideas as to what positions he wants competition for. Guardiola will certainly be looking for a long-term replacement for the big shoes of Fernandinho who has been a magnificent servant to the club but unfortunately, he isn’t getting any younger and Guardiola will certainly have a few targets in mind to the heir to Fernandinho’s throne. In addition, Guardiola may look at the left back role at the club with Benjamin Mendy spending virtually all last season injured, and Guardiola had to constantly chop and change and play players like Fabian Delph and Oleksandr Zinchenko out of their usual positions. Despite their excellent performances, Guardiola will want a natural left back to compete with Benjamin Mendy for that role in the team. Despite this, it very difficult to pinpoint anything Manchester City truly need because although they are not perfect, they are not far away from perfection in the eyes of Guardiola.

Manchester City will be confident they can reign supreme over England once again after a majestic third title win in the Premier League era. Competition will be much tougher this time around with Liverpool and Manchester United hoping to hunt them down because they are the team to beat and the City fans will be confident of a 4th Premier League title and a chance to win back to back titles for the first time in the Premier League. However, the aim certainly this season is to conquer Europe and win the Champions League. City’s fans, owner and Guardiola himself are desperate to bring the European title back to the blue half of Manchester so there will be increased pressure to improve on the European stage but if everything ticks perfectly for Manchester City, this could be the year where they dominant every single competition available to them and Guardiola will believe another exciting season is just around the corner.

No comments:

Post a Comment