Manchester City's players celebrate with the Premier League trophy on the bus during the victory parade.
Credit: Reuters
Bengaluru: They say a blue moon arrives sporadically, sustained excellence in football even more so. But for the noisier side of Manchester, success and silverware have been a relative regular occurrence.
Manchester City have had plenty to celebrate off late. While they suffered a 1-2 defeat to Manchester United in the FA Cup final, they had a stellar run in the Premier League, becoming the first team to win four straight league titles, and did so in a style they have patented. Their reign of dominance extended to six Premier League titles in seven years.
Despite lagging behind the leaders in the early parts of the season, Pep Guardiola's well-oiled unit have always managed to remain in contention through the middle and latter stages, and have found the resolve to clinch the title on the final gameweek on more than one occasion.
This time around, it took a mere 72 seconds for Manchester City to grab the lead in their must-win final league stage match against West Ham.
Phil Foden wiggled into space and rifled the ball into the top left corner past Alphonse Areola to alleviate any lingering nerves and kickstart a party atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium, with chants of Sinatra's ‘Blue moon’ ringing around and the occasional 'Poznan' celebration.
With City beating West Ham 3-1, they emerged winners of the Premier League with 91 points to their kitty, two points ahead of Arsenal and nine points in front of Liverpool.
The champions scored the most goals (96) and had the second-best defence behind Arsenal (34 goals conceded).
Highest average possession (65%), best pass completion percentage (88%), most passes attempted per game (729.6) and highest successful take-on percentage (53.2%) are some of the statistics that give an insight into City's imposing and free-flowing style of play.
But for the reigning treble-winners, things were not smooth sailing. The title race this season began as a three-horse one, and then Liverpool’s challenge withered away. Arsenal remained in the ascendancy, but Manchester City, now seasoned masters of whittling down and eventually overtaking teams for the prized lead, had to do it the hard way once again.
Pep Guardiola stuck to his guns, deployed their trademark expansive style of football bent on dominating possession with a high pass accuracy, and despite set-backs such as Kevin de Bruyne’s early injury and Erling Haaland’s late dip in form, City found their rhythm and hit a purple patch when it mattered most.
While Haaland shrugged off a series of missed chances to nab the Golden Boot (27 goals and 5 assists), he was ably supported by Player of the Season Phil Foden (19 goals and 8 assists). Jack Grealish, Julian Alvarez and new signing Jeremy Doku also contributed healthily.
A robust and versatile back-line comprising of Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, new signing Josko Gvardiol, Kyle Walker and Manuel Akanji more than played their part in guaranteeing success.
Their high defensive line, coupled with intense pressing from the front, suffocates opponents and limits their ability to create meaningful chances.
There were two major out-going midfielders in the summer window with Ilkay Gundogan and breakthrough star Cole Palmer leaving to Barcelona and Chelsea respectively.
But the likes of Rodri and Bernardo Silva, along with the incoming Mateo Kovacic shifted their game to a whole new level, while John Stones excelled in a deep-lying midfield role.
Ederson had another splendid season between the sticks, and was ably deputised by Stefan Ortega.
City’s frightening squad depth enabled Guardiola to rest players at key periods. Academy stars James McAtee, Rico Lewis, Oscar Bobb and Sergio Gomes all filled in admirably, while graduate Palmer burst onto the scene at Chelsea with 33 goal contributions in as many league appearances.
This depth proved invaluable over the course of a gruelling season, ensuring that City remained competitive on all fronts.
Their drive for success and silverware has grown manifold with each passing triumph. Since tasting success for the first time in 2011-2012, Manchester City have won the Premier League eight times.
The arrival of Pep Guardiola in 2016 coincided with The Cityzens winning 17 trophies, including six Premier League titles, four Carabao Cups, two FA Cups, two Community Shields, one Champions League, one UEFA Super Cup and one FIFA Club World Cup.
Manchester City’s reign at the summit is a carefully crafted masterpiece of tactical ingenuity, seamless implementation, ruthless yet systematic demolition of opponents, all combined with their astute transfer dealings to fuel their relentless pursuit of excellence.