Manchester City are champions and creators of history. A year after winning the treble, Pep Guardiola’s men kept the fireplace burning to reclaim the Premier League, an unprecedented fourth time in a row.
It’s his sixth name in seven years. This has prompted considerations about the competitiveness of the more sensible flight in some quarters and court proceedings over the notable fees that oppose the club in the Premier League. But that was simply unthinkable when Guardiola took the fee 8 years ago. The hunger and preference shown through the coach and players cannot be bought.
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Had Guardiola pulled it off, there would have been a brief parade through the streets of Manchester hours after the final whistle of the 3-1 win over West Ham. The City manager fears a defeat in next Saturday’s FA Cup final against Manchester United could simply take the shine off his historic league achievement.
That plan was scrapped just a few days ago due to logistical problems and a full parade will take place next Sunday, but whatever the outcome at Wembley, nothing – well, almost nothing – can take the shine off the team for another season.
The Athletic spoke to several City resources, who have remained anonymous at the request of their relations, to find out how they won some titles.
Two of City’s last three titles came after a dramatic mid-season turnaround: at the end of 2020, City’s players banded together to ask for more after falling to eighth in the table; Last season, they dispatched Joao Cancelo in January and required a tactical adjustment from Guardiola to hunt down Arsenal.
And yet, this season is much quieter. Despite softer research in December after a couple of poor effects that meant they would have to be close to perfect to keep up speed with Arsenal and Liverpool, a harmonious dressing room and the recovery of key players have helped them remain unbeaten in 23 weeks.
Guardiola, after educating his players on counter-pressing on the first day of pre-season in Tokyo, Japan, so that they would not let up after winning the treble, tried to pay attention to each and every detail, until he took a big roller out of sheer superstition, even in the sweltering heat of the last two weekends of the campaign.
“The treble affected us all,” Guardiola admitted in October, “including me. “
This is the story of how City are champions again.
It is striking that even members of Guardiola’s entourage seem to have the same doubts about City as those discussed in the media.
During last season’s World Cup break, those close to the coach feared the team lacked a bit of leadership after squandering Fernandinho last summer, and clever characters in the dressing room such as Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus.
This is the team that won the treble. That, for much of this season, as an unmatched standard.
This time, before Christmas, the squad wondered if the team’s chimney had gone out after that triple win.
If we speak now (many players have said so publicly) it is blatantly admitted that the levels dropped, to varying degrees, before the end of 2023, the year in which City won four trophies.
It was the kind of thing Guardiola fully expected and tried to stop that urgent consultation in Tokyo. The logic was that much of City’s good luck came from smothering groups with urgents and counter-urgents and, if that came down (Guardiola thought that would be the first thing he would suffer), then the overall game plan would fall apart.
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And while Guardiola balked at the idea that City had become complacent, publicly reporting via Sky Sports his run of poor effects before Christmas, he knew the degrees had dropped. I knew it was natural and felt that the difference, in many cases, was sophisticated. But with Arsenal and Liverpool leading the way and Tottenham and Aston Villa doing well, he and his managers worried about where they might take those sophisticated differences.
These differences were difficult to pin down; To a large extent, it is considered natural in the game for anyone who gets into the most sensible position to report some point of decline, however, Guardiola has occasionally made his frustration with Jack Grealish known this season. He warned that the winger’s injuries were due to the fact that he was not fully focused. He also felt the same way about John Stones at times, with both players struggling to gain playing time at the end of the season.
It is in the first months of a season when Guardiola is most involved and, therefore, unstable. Last season, after a conflict with Cancelo, he asked club officials to get rid of the Portuguese in a few days.
About a week after he told the media that City, as an institution, had lost its hunger. As an emotional guy in the most productive moments, when he has doubts about the team or messes with the players, his patience ends up wearing thin. It comes out much faster.
After starting the season with six straight wins, the most productive run since Guardiola’s first year in charge, City struggled to get off the ground, hampered by Rodri’s red card against Nottingham Forest.
City lost 3 of the next 4 games, stabilized with five straight wins, but then won only one of the next five, wasting on Aston Villa after being largely outplayed. At that point, Guardiola had a loud and angry verbal telephone exchange in front of the education staff on the floor, who were left with a familiar question: “What’s going on with him?
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That in itself is nothing new, as those in the club’s inner sanctum (the first-team building, away from the club’s offices) have grown accustomed to its ups and downs over the years.
“They know when I’m tired or I’m not in a good mood,” Guardiola said in March, and the truth is that it would be otherwise. “You see, it’s not a problem.
“I am like all of you, in times and in bad times. “
Bernardo Silva made an assessment of the season as intelligent as the rest of April.
“For a team that won the treble, to come back with a little bit of hanpassver and have that hunger to go through every three days, it’s not easy,” he said, once the team was able to look back on the days as a thing of the past.
There were many more glaring points to blame for City’s slow start.
“The basis of what we did last season was John Stones, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, (Ilkay) Gundogan, Jack Grealish, and they weren’t there,” Guardiola said after City’s first league defeat this season to Wolves in September. .
Bernardo continued on the subject summarizing his opinion on City’s season: “It’s a combination of a lot of injured players at the time, new players coming into the team and wonderful players leaving. So our captain last year, Gundogan or Riyad Mahrez, other people left and the new players had to adapt, and it’s not easy to adapt to a new club.
Summer signings Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic have been at their most productive in the final two months of the season. Matheus Nunes is still waiting for his breakthrough. Fortunately for City, Jeremy Doku exceeded initial expectations and led City’s attack in some of the early games, providing a risk they otherwise wouldn’t have had.
“I don’t forget that it was a time when we had a lot of injured defenders,” Bernardo continued. “In addition, Rodri has been suspended and no one can deny that he is a very important player for us. Kevin De Bruyne was suffering from a long-term injury so everything is in place so that the team is not perfect.
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De Bruyne’s injury at Burnley on the opening day forced Guardiola into a tactical change, which temporarily made the decision that City would continue with 3 attacking players for Erling Haaland, as opposed to the planned set-up, which had also been used last season, of two. Attacking midfielders in the first 3.
Stones, the tactical cornerstone of last season’s treble, had a slight run in the team throughout the season, leading to further turmoil early on as Guardiola was forced to come up with a new plan. Grealish came and went, and Bernardo himself had some disorders as well.
These injuries have had a particular effect on City, forcing them to play in a faster and more direct way than Guardiola likes. In the position of those players, the ones who regulate the speed of the games, City’s attack included Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez. , Doku and Haaland, the ones who played a big role in why they won the title, of course, but whose first intuition is to move forward, forcing City to play a more direct taste. As a result, there was less control than Guardiola needed.
“There was a time in the season when the team wasn’t playing well, we weren’t playing games well, the games were very transitional, which is not the way we like to play, we like the rhythm,” says Bernardo.
“We missed a lot of chances, conceded a lot of late goals, which is not general for our team. But with a little more control to improve, to be more solid.
This concept of players giving a little bit more necessarily a mid-season pact made through the team. They knew their effects in the latter part of the year meant they would continue the kind of streak they had really pursued, without wasting a league. Match on December 6.
But there was a draw, a week before Christmas, which resulted in an intervention. City were on their way to a comfortable win over Crystal Palace when they conceded two late goals, adding a last-minute equaliser. Foden profitably lost ownership in midfield and then, in his haste to make amends, conceded an ill-considered penalty.
Rodri had left the stadium on the verge of tears, on his way to a meal for the team and their families before flying to Saudi Arabia for the Club World Cup that evening. The atmosphere was absolutely flat, the players’ relatives did not dare to lighten the environment.
That in Jeddah, where City were crowned world champions after beating Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds and Brazil’s Fluminense, provided a spark, specifically for Foden.
“I’m satisfied with Phil,” Guardiola said on New Year’s Eve. From Crystal Palace, he’s learned a lesson. “
Suddenly, the narrative changed around Foden; Guardiola felt comfortable starting with him in midfield and stopped talking about the things he can’t do. Suddenly, the focus was on what he was doing.
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“At the moment he’s the most productive in the league,” Guardiola said after Foden scored twice in the Manchester derby in March. “To be world-class, you have to win games; He wins matches.
Foden helped City bounce back, with a draw at Everton after returning from Jeddah, a game they won 3-1, before an era of purple form in February that included hat-tricks against Brentford and Bournemouth winners Aston Villa, both. against United, a howl against Real Madrid, a moment at Fulham last weekend and, of course, whether it’s to prepare for the final win of the day against West Ham.
His breakthrough also came at a time when De Bruyne, perhaps due to some upheavals following his injury, was starting to exert less influence in the biggest games.
City played well in the first few games in which they dropped points: they deserved to beat Liverpool and Tottenham and had enough chances at Stamford Bridge to end the game well before Cole Palmer’s equaliser.
After Christmas, they weren’t convincing, but they won, perhaps summed up, to some extent, in De Bruyne’s return. He scored the equaliser and set up a late goal against Newcastle on his return in January, and then the players chanted the scream of winner Oscar Bobb in the dressing room.
This can be considered as a win, as the players felt they had gotten what they deserved.
However, February was fragile: Haaland proved his worth with two late goals against Everton. In that game, opposing coach Sean Dyche, sitting in the stands through suspension, cast an exasperated look at his sporting administrators such as Kyle Walker, De Bruyne. and Bernardo ready to come off the bench and get back on track.
At the end of the month, Haaland fought back to defeat Brentford on a night at the Etihad, as the crowd clamored for goals and players struggled to stay awake.
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Haaland has not been at his best and yet he once won the Golden Boot again, with 27 goals in 28 starts, despite being out for two months due to injury.
But if he felt he lacked finesse, it’s because his chances were indeed superior in volume and quality than last season, and he transferred them at a slower pace. Still, it proved enough and made the difference on several occasions. especially in the big win against Tottenham on Tuesday.
The other key moment in this match, perhaps in the entire race for the name, came when Stefan Ortega denied Son Heung-Min a one-on-one. It was an amazing moment for each and every one at City: Guardiola found himself. on his back as the movement unfolded, but the prevention came as no surprise – he does it every day at school and is coached as the club’s most productive one-on-one goalkeeper.
City’s imperious run is the result of some of the most fragile performances at the start of the year: the Stones’ absences were mitigated when Guardiola moved Walker and Gvardiol to the wings, helping to concentrate all the midfielders and forwards in midfield, offering the same ‘extra man’ effect that Stones has been so useful for.
In recent weeks there has been more emphasis on Gvardiol pushing up the field, with variations on the role of Walker or his replacement. The Croatian played a leading role, with four league goals confirming City’s early predictions, dating back nine months, that they had a star on their hands.
He scored twice at Fulham last weekend to help City to another win, after which one of the home midfielders said he had bumped into Rodri and it was like “hitting a wall”. City once again put in a formidable performance.
Apart from Guardiola’s considerations at the start of the season about his players starving and some frank conversations between the players about the desire for their game, City’s dressing room has been a non-violent environment this season.
Insiders say this is a big difference from last season in particular, when many key players returned from the World Cup with attitude or fitness issues. Cancelo was sent off due to his friction with Guardiola and his absence was cited as an example of how things went. less problematic this time.
Guardiola attaches great importance to his players accepting his decisions and not letting their feelings condition their performance. “No, I’m not going to explain,” he said in August 2022. “Some players perceive me and others will never perceive me. I do. ” I don’t care. I’m a manager and I decide.
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It doesn’t allow injured players to enter the locker room before matches, in case negative vibes, even if unintentionally displayed, divert attention from the starters (Vincent Kompany is the only exception).
This season, there have been fewer players who are likely to make their emotions known if they are drafted: Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte have rarely hidden their emotions. They still made primary contributions, but there have been fewer “bad faces,” as Guardiola calls them. this season.
The dynamics of the captaincy worked well thanks to a secure labor department. A new leader was needed after Gundogan’s departure and the players voted for De Bruyne, who in the past had confided that he had no interest in wearing the armband because he didn’t need it. the extra day jobs that came with it.
Fortunately for everyone involved, this is precisely the kind of duty Walker appreciates and the kind of thing Guardiola promised him last summer when the club moved heaven and earth to convince him to turn down Bayern Munich. More discussions may be needed this summer, given the interest shown through Saudi Arabia.
They split the responsibilities exactly as they would have liked, with De Bruyne taking the armband and Walker serving as a liaison with players and staff on the issues of the educational plant (and wearing the armband). De Bruyne’s four-month absence, a source of private information pride).
A new formula implemented this season considers the parking of players: those who have stayed in the longest park of the club closest to the entrance. De Bruyne, being the oldest, parks separately from the others, leaving Bernardo and Ederson the closest to the entrance. those in the normal queue.
Those two, along with Rodri and Ruben Dias, sat the team down at the end of 2023 and told them not to worry about their rivals’ results, but made it clear that the hangover couldn’t last any longer. that if things weren’t done right away, they couldn’t show up in April and May.
“The goal for us is to put ourselves in a position where we can fight until the end, and that’s all we’ve been doing and get to that moment,” Rodri said in March. “Now is the time when we have to make the last effort. “
It’s almost as if City’s players want to feel that tension in order to be at their best, as if the stakes are high enough when they feel there’s a margin for error.
“I have the feeling that they like to play with pressure,” Guardiola said. “They’re used to it. “
City would likely be preparing for another Champions League final within a fortnight, but leaving Europe may have been a blessing in disguise when it comes to their Premier League aspirations.
“We’ve played a lot of games,” Guardiola said in April. Real Madrid were very intense in many things, we were out of the Champions League after doing very well and after two or three days we were tired here. He poked his head out. Not in the legs, I complained more about being tired here,” he said again.
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Guardiola denounced the schedule after City beat Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals, battling fatigue and “sadness” at losing to Madrid, as the coach put it. With a low level of power, it should have been a huge merit not to have to prepare and play a European semi-final against Bayern Munich.
Without that, City could simply focus their energies on back-to-back games against Brighton and Nottingham Forest, where Guardiola admits they haven’t played well. They had a week off to prepare against Wolves at home and a few more before Fulham. Two more games against Bayern would have had repercussions in every single league game since that elimination against Madrid.
They got those headaches under control last season and may have done it again. With Arsenal bringing them even closer this time around, the ability to remember the name may have been a primary advantage.
“Human beings have no limits, science says that many things take time, not only physically, but also mentally,” Guardiola said. “And for many years we don’t give them that, but despite that, we’re still here.
“That’s why I say I’m actually inspired, but all the time I’m thinking, ‘They’re going to fall. ‘This time (I thought) it wouldn’t be imaginable and yet they make it imaginable. That’s why, when I reflect on my time here, I’ll always look at those types of players for many years to find a way to always be in (the right condition).
Guardiola will celebrate tonight and make plans for the FA Cup final until Monday, but predicts more good luck next season, also the last of his current contract.
Love them or hate them, City are a team.