City give the others a dose of the blues
WELL, THAT ended with more of a whimper than a roar.
As expected, Manchester City got over the line in the Premier League title race without too much fanfare, but few would have expected it to happen on Sunday, with local rivals United gift-wrapping the prize for them by succumbing to rock-bottom West Bromwich Albion.
The championship may have been handed to them on a plate in the end, but Pep Guardiola’s men have been a country mile ahead of the chasing pack all season.
City took such a tight a grip on proceedings so early on that England’s top flight has been pretty much a non-event for months, with the title in safekeeping well before Christmas.
They blitzed the opposition from the word go, toppling records as they cruised through the season, and in truth the chasing pack never really looked like laying a glove on them.
It’s been interesting to see the fickle nature of fans and pundits alike in recent weeks. One minute Guardiola’s a genius, the next he’s over-rated after crashing out of the Champions League, and then a few days later he’s back to being some sort of messiah again.
As is usual in cases like this, the truth probably lies somewhere in between. One thing that can be said with certainty is that he’s brought more positives than negatives to the English game this season and should be applauded for that.
Manchester United may lie in second place, a massive 16 points behind their local rivals at present, and although that gap is hard enough to stomach for fans of the Red Devils, in reality it’s even worse than that and the teams are worlds apart.
City have played plenty of classy football throughout the campaign, while Mourinho’s men have attempted to bore their rivals into submission and their plight could look a whole lot bleaker if it wasn’t for the brilliance of goalkeeper David de Gea.
In my eyes United don’t look capable of making a serious push for the title under the Portuguese manager, no matter how many hundreds of millions are spent on marquee players.
United’s failings were again clear for all to see on Sunday. Failure to make the most of the array of talent available to them, failure to show any sort of imagination on the ball, and saddest of all the failure to entertain.
There’s plenty of flair players in the United set-up, but apart from little cameos here and there the life seems to have been sucked out of them.
Football is now as big a part of the entertainment industry as Hollywood blockbusters, and given the wads of cash that are being thrown about it’s the duty of managers to ensure their teams give real value for money.
Of course, some will argue it’s all about silverware, but the win at all costs mentality should be consigned to the scrapheap and fans deserve to be dazzled.
Liverpool can again be accused of being as patchy as a packet of Nicorettes, but at least they always try to play football in the right way and when they’re in full flow they are a joy to watch.
They illustrated in their brilliant Champions League quarter-final win over City that they’re capable of beating anyone on their day, but as has become the norm on Merseyside, consistency is their Achilles heel.
Spurs have looked good at times this season, but again flattered to deceive, and despite putting up a better showing in the Champions League, they haven’t really progressed a whole lot, and if any club desperately needs a trophy it’s Tottenham.
Their FA Cup semi-final with Manchester United is of huge significance and they really need to start collecting silverware sooner rather than later if they are to have any hope of keeping their big guns at the club.
Having looked so impressive last term, Chelsea have disappointed this season and Antonio Conte’s men have been more in and out than the Hokey Pokey. That said, it’s hard to be too critical of any manager that has to work under Roman Abramovich, and if the Stamford Bridge brigade can get another FA Cup under their belts it won’t be a bad return given the trying circumstances.
The less said about Arsenal the better, and they’re left with the Europa League to try to salvage something from a horrific season.
With the top four places seemingly signed, sealed and delivered, it’s hard to get over-excited over whether Burnley will finish sixth or seventh, although it’s admirable the job that Sean Dyche is doing at a club with the smallest wage bill in the league.
The only hope now of salvaging any sort of excitement in the run-in is the battle for survival, although with West Brom as good as gone, the other two sides in the bottom three, Stoke City and Southampton, really have their work cut out to secure top flight status.
Returning to the more palatable end of the table, Manchester City have won their third title in seven seasons and look capable of dominating for the foreseeable future and actually earning the premature plaudits that have been bestowed upon them.
They still have a bit to go, but they certainly have the players, the money, the ambition and the man at the helm that could see the blue moon rise to the top of the all-time Premier League pecking order.