Manchester City Fan View: Pep Guardiola's men are truly special

Manchester City claimed their first piece of silverware for the season – and notably their first trophy under Pep Guardiola – at the weekend, cruising past Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal 3-0 in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.

Much has been and will be said about the lack of desire and passion from the Arsenal players. Yet that perception is relative; it comes in contrast to the absolute and total commitment of the Manchester City men who have truly set the precedent in England this season.

Arsenal may have been poor, but City were absolutely excellent, just as they have been all season.

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The game came just a few days after the Blues had been knocked out of the FA Cup by Wigan, courtesy of Will Grigg’s fine finish. But the dominating display against the Gunners in the league cup final shows that Guardiola’s men mean business.

Talk of a quadruple from the mainstream media was hopeful at best, if not another stick to beat the Citizens with when they inevitably were eliminated from one of the four competitions that they were competing for.

Nonetheless, City have won one of the three competitions in which they remained after the loss against Wigan. The Premier League trophy is all but laced with the sky blue and white ribbons that will see it come to the Etihad Stadium for the third time. Meanwhile, City are practically through to the quarter finals of the Champions League; having dispatched of Swiss outfit Basel 4-0 in the away leg, the home leg is basically a formality.

English sides winning the treble have come once in a blue moon, yet that time scale is the Citizens’ forte – not to mention that there has also been what could be argued to be a symbolic literal blue moon during the course of the current campaign.

As Guardiola said himself and probably most of the City stars are aware, the Carabao Cup is not a significant title in all respect. It is the least meaningful as a barometer of the development and improvement of the Etihad side under their manager.

It could, however, act as a source of inspiration and energy for their players, who are on the cusp of further domestic glory and perhaps even European conquest. Guardiola wants to win anything and everything, and that includes the league cup.

Despite the fantasy of a quadruple now impossible, at least for this season, the rest of the season could signal something truly special for this truly special team. Manchester City supporters get the sense that something remarkable may very well be on the horizon.