Man City rivals should face actuality as Guardiola issue masks uncomfortable reality
Manchester City are the unstoppable force – everyone else just has to wait until Pep Guardiola moves on to topple them.
They’re heading for four Premier League titles in a row unless the almighty of all slip ups happens and they drop points at home against a West Ham side with nothing to play for. Of course, we must mention the 115 charges they are accused of. It’s financial doping if proven guilty.
It will always leave a sour taste, until it is resolved. It cannot be ignored But nor can the brilliance of Guardiola. To dominate in England like City have you need a driving force as a leader. Only Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been able to get near him.
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And when you look at the totals – it’s five to Guardiola and one to Klopp. Two of the other tussles were extremely close. Now it is Mikel Arteta and Arsenal who are trying to stop City’s all-conquering machine.
Yet Guardiola looks to have seen off his compatriot again. Of course he spent more than a bit of pocket change last summer to strengthen.
Do you think Manchester City will keep winning Premier League year after year without Pep Guardiola? Let us know in the comments section below.
(Image: Getty Images)
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Yet, at times this season, City looked like they may not be the best in the land. Only to prove us all wrong by the time May rolled round. The last time they lost a game was December 6.
Only Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal have taken points off them in 2024. There’s title-winning form and there’s that. It is down to the strength in depth of their squad (helped by huge spending of course) but also to Guardiola’s seemingly never-ending hunger to dominate.
Arteta and Klopp have tried. The former still has an outside chance. But in reality the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool – and maybe Chelsea and Manchester United if they get their acts together – need to be ready to strike when Guardiola moves on.
Because no matter how much money City have, there will be a drop off once he decides to go. City will head into a transition and the vacuum of power would open the door for the others to finally have a realistic chance of becoming regular title winners.
It’s now about getting your squad in order for when that time comes. Otherwise you end up exhausted chasing Guardiola.
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(Image: Getty Images)
Wolves want VAR scrapped – and so do plenty of fans.
Rightly so, it’s a mess of a system and it is taking joy from the game. Bring in the automated offsides and stick with goalline technology with maybe some added which checks if a ball has gone out of play.
But if football does turn its back on the boys in Stockley Park, then there can be no more moaning about refereeing decisions costing millions. Because as rubbish as VAR has been, it has increased the number of decisions that are right.
Yet there’s no fun in perfection and the fine numbers don’t make up for the loss of joy in celebration or the longer time stood in the cold waiting on a decision with no clue what is going on. But we have to accept there will be human error without the video and more respect must be given to the officials if we are going to trust them to referee in the game solely on the pitch.
ONSIDE
Amad Diallo. Taken his chance and showed Antony how to impact games.
OFFSIDE
Reece James. Barely played all season, sent off twice in 10 games. Stupid.
