I never got around to making a Man City thread this year and then City went on an epic run so I dared not jinx it because obviously my posts on a Red Sox message board affects the outcomes of the team.
Today is a good day because City have clinched the league via United's loss to WBA. It was unexpected to win in this way but the league has seemed wrapped up for a while.
To be honest, it was a welcome boost because the last week at Man City has been a disaster. Knocked out of the CL by Liverpool and losing the Derby to United really took the shine off of a season for the ages. In time, I'm sure I'll look back more fondly on this season but I can't help but feel that I'll always feel that this season was a missed opportunity. Liverpool was, in my opinion, the worst draw City could have had in the CL because Liverpool for whatever reason has absolutely no fear against City. They had the benefit of some decisions but they went toe to toe with City and earned their victory. Solving Liverpool stands out as Pep's biggest challenge going into the next season.
All that remains now is to play out the season. There are points and goals records at stake with the team able to write itself into the PL record books. Personally, I won't be surprised if the standard of play drops and hope that Pep can take the time to get Foden and Diaz more regular match time against some teams fighting the drop. We were incredibly unfortunate to lose Mendy nearly immediately but it would be nice if his health permits him to be able to play a few matches down the stretch just to get used to the system. City have played most of the season with an arm tied behind their back with Delph being the best LB (and he was reliable, especially defensively) but I think there's another level available if Mendy is there to overlap Sane.
From a player perspective, the last week aside, this season was the story of the maturation of Sane and Sterling. Sterling's 1st half was unreal, culminated by a fantastic strike against Southampton in injury time to rescue the points. He's struggled again in the last few weeks. I don't think he'll ever be much of a finisher but over time i've come to appreciate his movement to create the chances he sometimes squanders. Sane started more slowly but seems to have a level of class that few players in the world has. He's a bit petulant and his right foot isn't yet good enough. But the whole world can know he's going to run outside the fullback and he is still silky and tricky enough to beat the man. KDB was tremendous but has clearly tired in the last few weeks. David Silva was also tremendous and dealt with the super premature birth of his son which had him flying back to Spain and missing training most of the winter. An underrated aspect of this team is that it dealt with a large amount of adversity regarding player availability all season.
Today is a good day because City have clinched the league via United's loss to WBA. It was unexpected to win in this way but the league has seemed wrapped up for a while.
To be honest, it was a welcome boost because the last week at Man City has been a disaster. Knocked out of the CL by Liverpool and losing the Derby to United really took the shine off of a season for the ages. In time, I'm sure I'll look back more fondly on this season but I can't help but feel that I'll always feel that this season was a missed opportunity. Liverpool was, in my opinion, the worst draw City could have had in the CL because Liverpool for whatever reason has absolutely no fear against City. They had the benefit of some decisions but they went toe to toe with City and earned their victory. Solving Liverpool stands out as Pep's biggest challenge going into the next season.
All that remains now is to play out the season. There are points and goals records at stake with the team able to write itself into the PL record books. Personally, I won't be surprised if the standard of play drops and hope that Pep can take the time to get Foden and Diaz more regular match time against some teams fighting the drop. We were incredibly unfortunate to lose Mendy nearly immediately but it would be nice if his health permits him to be able to play a few matches down the stretch just to get used to the system. City have played most of the season with an arm tied behind their back with Delph being the best LB (and he was reliable, especially defensively) but I think there's another level available if Mendy is there to overlap Sane.
From a player perspective, the last week aside, this season was the story of the maturation of Sane and Sterling. Sterling's 1st half was unreal, culminated by a fantastic strike against Southampton in injury time to rescue the points. He's struggled again in the last few weeks. I don't think he'll ever be much of a finisher but over time i've come to appreciate his movement to create the chances he sometimes squanders. Sane started more slowly but seems to have a level of class that few players in the world has. He's a bit petulant and his right foot isn't yet good enough. But the whole world can know he's going to run outside the fullback and he is still silky and tricky enough to beat the man. KDB was tremendous but has clearly tired in the last few weeks. David Silva was also tremendous and dealt with the super premature birth of his son which had him flying back to Spain and missing training most of the winter. An underrated aspect of this team is that it dealt with a large amount of adversity regarding player availability all season.
