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"Sometimes you have a noisy neighbour and have to live with it"- Sir Alex Ferguson. Even the legendary Scot wouldn't have believed what his hated rivals would go on to achieve after their newly found riches.
Afterall, United was not only the best team in Manchester but also dominated the whole of England under Sir Alex's leadership. The visionary Scot must have been certain that their noisy neighbours, for all their new found wealth couldn't match United- a European giant.
Or was he? Wait- of all the great coaches of the past, Sir Alex must have read the script better! “You’d be better off talking to my baby. She’s only six weeks old but you’d get more sense from her than him” said king Kenny only for "Liverpool to be knocked off the perch" some twenty years down the line. So are we watching history repeat itself?
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Arguably the strongest forward line
Kun Aguero and Gabriel Jesus - 20 league goals each and counting! Oh, Wait...add Sane to the mix and you are already at 50+; wait isn't Sterling having another stellar season? Should we make it a 65+?
Add a certain Kevin de Bruyne supplying from midfield and that number rockets even more; You still got to contend with the left foot of Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, the rocketing full-backs, Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy.
Oh! And I forgot one little Spaniard - David Silva. So, the Citizens are all set to beat the record set in...well, of course during the 2017-18 of 106 goals. That makes it approximately 3 goals a match! Now how many teams in the Premier League can look like scoring four goals every match? Klopp, Sarri, Pochetino have their tasks cut out!
Creators galore
The greatest teams of our era have had master creators. Modric, Xavi, Iniesta, Kroos, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Pirlo....the list goes on! Seldom has a team been gifted with more than one such outlet- maybe Xavi-Iniesta and Modric-Kroos come to mind.
So what makes this Man City side so special? Yes, they have a certain Belgian by the name Kevin De Bruyne who can play equally well with both feet. Add David Silva to the mix and there is no defence in England which these two can't unlock.
Seldom do these two not turn up. But when they don't, they have Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Mahrez to throw on. Ah! apparently, some youngster called Phil Foden has given some food for thought with regards competitions for the starting places.
Not that all creativity is at the centre of the park. Benjamin Mendy, Kyle Walker, Danilo, Fabian Delph are great wing backs who are equally comfortable pushing into the midfield as well. Park the bus - can you?
Is there a leak in the wall?
If it is all good going forward, surely there must be some weakness at the back? Injuries to Vincent Kompany or John Stones running into bad form or even Ederson having a horror time with his goal kicks or maybe Laporte just not adjusting to the pace of the English game.
Post all this wishful thinking, the opponent must hope to win the ball and as if winning the ball wasn't enough to catch the defence and wingbacks napping. Sounds simple, isn't it? Against a team which boasted a pass accuracy of 89% the previous season.
Man City had a tackle success ratio of 68%, which means that of the 11% of the passes that the opposition intercepted, they would have a 32% chance of attacking the Man City goal. It simply means that the opposition would have very few chances. Anyways, in most cases, they needed 4 goals to win.
As simple as it gets, should we hand over the trophy to them
Thank you Sarri! Pep Guardiola can be obstinate at times. He famously remarked when he started out at Bayern, it was Thiago Alcantara or nothing! While he got his man then, he lost out on Jorginho this time.
And there lies the chance for Messrs Klopp, Sarri and Pochetino. Fernandinho is already 33 and with no suitable backup, it remains to be seen how long can he fire. It became obvious during the world cup when Casemiro started until the decisive game against Belgium. Fernandinho was overrun by the Belgium midfield. No wonder Guardiola went for Jorginho - until Sarri came into the picture. Decisive, would that be! I am betting on it...
The last word- the Cityzens en route to the 2017/18 title win broke all records. This time though Guardiola and his men would be looking to emulate his neighbours by retaining the title.
Personally, I hope this would be the year for Klopp and the kop (as any fanboy would) but wouldn't be disappointed if Sarri or Pochetino won (Fair play to them). Oh! And the third season curse (Manchester United fans look away) - Of Course. That's on!
