Manchester City Season 20/21: Fallen At The Final Hurdle

 Manchester City Season 20/21: Fallen At The Final Hurdle


credit: Sky Sports

    ̴Mihir Mehta̴
Edited By: Mitansh Kagalwala


Just like any season, Manchester City's 20/21 season had several bad's, and a host of good's. They won the Premier League title in (mostly) convincing fashion, Phil Foden was near-perfect, they trashed former finalists PSG 4-1, won the Carabao Cup AGAIN. But then they lost in the Champions League final, and all their previous success in the season was forgotten. They fell at the final hurdle, and Sheikh Mansour and his billions must wait another season for ultimate European Glory. 

THE GOOD

During the 20-21 season, Manchester City showed yet again why they are considered to be one of the best teams in Europe. In a season ravaged by coronavirus and injuries, the Sky Blues not only picked up their 3rd Premier League title in 4 years, but did so in style, registering 86 points out of a possible 114. Their nearest competitors, Manchester United finished 12 points behind.  

Over the past decade Manchester City have cemented their place at the top of the Premier League and have started to establish a dynasty that could one day rival that of Alex Ferguson’s United or Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal. Ever since the takeover of the club by Sheikh Mansour and the billions of pounds coming into the blue side of Manchester, City have dominated in the Premier League, and continued to do so in the 20-21 season, looking near invincible at times.  

The start of the season was rocky, however, with City picking up only 12 points from their first eight games, their worst start to the season since Hughes was sacked and replaced by Mancini.

The entire 20-21 season was tough and injury-ridden, however the depth of the City squad and Pep Guardiola’s tactical nous guided City to another Premier League title. The squad had to delve deep and hard to climb back from 8th to the summit, but the Sky Blues managed to do it. The highlights of the season included Ruben Dias, City’s signing of the season, who helped City keep 13 clean sheets and register 27-wins; Phil Foden, one of England’s and football’s biggest talents, who has finally lived up to his potential and stepped up crucially in the absence of the injured Kevin De Bruyne; Pep Guardiola’s fluid attacking system of playing without a true striker and a solid defence; and club legend Sergio Aguero scoring a brace in his last game for the club.

Best Player in the season: Ruben Dias or Phil Foden. Ruben Dias, Man City's record signing at £64.3 million, has undoubtedly had an immense effect on Man City's ailing defense. He has formed an excellent partnership with John Stones, and helped City to 15 clean sheets in the Premier League, scoring one goal along the way. Ruben Dias filled the gaping hole left by Vincent Kompany's departure and was worth every single penny. 

Phil Foden, a homegrown talent, is one of the most exciting players of his generation, and he showed exactly why in the 20/21 season. He filled in for the (usually) irreplaceable Kevin De Bruyne when the latter was injured, playing a key role in City's attacking midfield, and scored 16 goals and gave 10 assists in all competitions. Not bad for a 21-year old from England.  

The Bad

Manchester City looked like possibly the best team in Europe after comprehensively beating PSG in the UCL semi-finals and reaching their first UCL finals ever. Unfortunately, they faltered at the final hurdle in Porto against Thomas Tuchel’s resurgent Chelsea, leaving owner Sheikh Mansour and the City finals thirsty for that Champions League Trophy.

Apart from the terrible start to the season, the last game was probably the only negative for the Cityzens. That final ended a fairy tale second half of the season. Tuchel’s Chelsea were to Manchester City as kryptonite is to Superman; City faced Chelsea thrice in the business end of the season, and lost all three times. Tuchel’s Chelsea was the one puzzle Pep Guardiola couldn’t crack in the 20-21 season. Each time, he tried something different to outsmart the German. In the first game he went with two defensive midfielders, a single defensive midfielder in the second game, and in the final he preferred to drop defensive midfielder’s altogether, in favour of an out of form Raheem Sterling. That decision, commonly compared to Pep’s previous bizarre and terrible tactical brain-freezes in important UCL matches, had severe repercussions. At the end of the day, Chelsea won 1-0, courtesy of a Kai Havertz goal, and City’s famed attack couldn’t break down the Blue’s defence in Porto.

Further to compound the City faithful’s miseries has been their transfer activity so far in the window: there have been no major signings, while club legend Sergio Aguero, and huge defensive prospect Eric Garcia, have already departed, both to Barcelona, and both for free. First team regulars Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and Aymeric Laporte are also rumoured to be leaving the club, with Barcelona a favourite destination for all of them (in what would almost certainly be a swap deal).

Manchester City fans can, however, take faith in rumours linking Harry Kane and Jack Grealish to the club. Sky Blue fans must be looking forward, in particular, to the arrival of Kane, with Aguero leaving and Jesus in bad form, but, till now, it looks to be Jack Grealish’s arrival that seems imminent. Either way, it is extremely hard to improve this City squad, and they remain favourites for both next season’s Premier League and Champions League.


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