Advertisement

Manchester City Fan View: Forget the last two seasons, Citizens are now the real deal


Manchester City’s fine start to the current season and early status as Premier League title favourites brings to mind similarly impressive starts in the last two campaigns. In both, The Blues looked unstoppable. In both, they fell dreadfully short of the title.

With that mind, there are still pundits and opposition fans predicting City will fall away; Why should this season be different for Pep Guardiola’s men? Fortunately for City, there’s a whole host of differences and reasons to be confident.

The team is better

That’s it. It really is that simple. This City team is a far superior unit to that which has gone before. Last term, they enjoyed a honeymoon period under the new stewardship of Guardiola. In hindsight, cracks were visible from the off; we knew the squad depth wasn’t as good as we needed, we knew how important full-backs would be to Pep and we knew that City’s were no longer up to standard.

READ MORE: Manchester City v Burnley – how the match unfolded

READ MORE: Manchester City playing like Brazil – Jesus

READ MORE: Aguero becomes joint-top scorer in Manchester City history

The year before, City were managed by Manuel Pellegrini. The Chilean was many things, but tactically savvy he was not. The first five games were good but once opponents worked out how to stifle the Blues, Pellegrini had no Plan B. That season started to fall apart as early as October.

Guardiola should face no such problems this season. He’s clearly learned more about the league. He also does have genuine depth in the squad; the only position where he might worry about injury is up front. Sergio Agüero and Gabriel Jesus are the only out-and-out strikers. The loss of one of the them for a long spell could be problematic.

Pep knows his squad

City have finally improved their fullback situation, but Benjamin Mendy’s ACL injury ruled him out for nearly the whole season and suddenly Pep looked short on left-back options again. He could have put Danilo there; the £25m Brazilian looked the most obvious fit. Pep had other ideas. Out of favour midfielder Fabian Delph has been put in that position and looks like a natural.

Last season’s experiment with Jesús Navas was always a stop-gap solution to a problem. Delph’s move to left-back could be much more than that. Guardiola has obviously got to grips with the strengths of his players and the team are reaping the rewards.

Individuals on form

City have a wealth of talent in their squad. Limitless resources will allow that. However, it takes something more to blend them into an effective team and to get them to produce their best over and over again. City are succeeding in this regard.

Right across the attacking positions Agüero, Jesus, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sané et al are displaying consistency. Each of them is making match-defining contributions. They also know that if they drop in form, there’s a man of equal talent just waiting to step in and replace them; Bernardo Silva must be itching to make a real mark on this team.

READ MORE: Guardiola ready to dine out on Aguero record

READ MORE: It was a penalty – Silva hits back at Burnley boss Dyche

READ MORE: Sad day for democracy – Guardiola gives latest take on Catalan crisis

Fernandinho continues to purr away at the heart of midfield and shows no signs of letting up. He is the unsung hero of Pep’s team. In defence, Nicolas Otamendi has improved almost beyond recognition and John Stones is rapidly maturing in the world class defender he has always had the potential to be.

These players continue to inspire the best from each other and as long as that continues, there’s no reason for City’s pace to drop at all. For rival fans hoping the Blues drop off like they did in the last two seasons, it’s likely to be nothing more than wishful thinking. This time, City are the real deal.