Manchester City’s recent clinching of the English Premier League title saw them finish the season as champions for the fourth consecutive time, becoming the first team to do so and cementing their place as arguably the best English side of all time.
This has been debated continuously over the past years and yet another title victory is sure to reignite the conversation. With that in mind, we’re going to take a look at 5 reasons why this Man City team are the best in English history:
1 – Domestic Dominance
Since joining Manchester City ahead of the 2016/17 season Pep Guardiola has guided his side to an outstanding 12 domestic trophies, with the potential of adding a 13th when they face Manchester United in the FA Cup final.
Six titles in eight years is a feat matched only by Sir Alex Ferguson in the Premier League era, but even the most successful manager in English football could not manage four consecutive title victories, something Guardiola achieved this year.
This level of dominance has never before been seen in English football, not only winning a whole host of trophies but often comfortably coming out as the victors.
2 – Pep Guardiola’s Genius
Guardiola was already widely seen as the best manager in the world, potentially of all time, prior to joining Man City, and the Spaniard has certainly backed up these claims since his arrival.
While the trophies speak for themselves, these successes have meant plenty of teams have attempted to copy his side’s style of play. Guardiola has consistently been one step ahead of everyone else in the league though, going from playing with an inverted full-back to now playing a back four made entirely of centre-backs with one of these stepping into the midfield.
3 – Record-Breaking Achievements
As already mentioned this year’s title victory is the first time a team has ever won four consecutive Premier League titles, and this is just one of many records that this fantastic Man City team has broken in recent years.
Striker Erling Haaland broke the Premier League goal record for a single season in his debut campaign at the club, netting a massive 36 times across 38 games.
Manchester City have also achieved the longest winning run in Premier League games, joint with Liverpool on 18 each.
Arguably the most remarkable achievement of the lot came in the 2017-18 season when Manchester City broke the points record in a single Premier League season, recording 100 points and earning the nickname ‘The Centurions’.
4 – European Success
A large sticking point against Man City for not being the best of all time was the fact that they had never succeeded in European competition, but they finally achieved glory on the continent in the 2022/23 season.
An outrageous campaign saw them batter RB Leipzig 8-1 in the round of 16, Bayern Munich 4-1 in the quarter-finals, Real Madrid 5-1 in the semi-finals and eventually beat Inter Milan in a much more narrow 1-0 win.
Not only did they squash the argument against them for never winning in Europe, but their UEFA Champions League victory also topped off a treble that only Manchester United had achieved previously.
5 – Unmatched Squad Depth
A more direct argument against some of the better English teams in history is by simply comparing the players in the respective teams and Manchester City’s unrivalled squad depth and talent usually wins in that battle.
World-class players litter the pitch from the best striker in the world in Haaland, to arguably the greatest midfielder in English football history in Kevin de Bruyne. Rodri has become one of the best holding midfielders we have seen in recent history, with players such as Kyle Walker, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias and Ederson all able to walk into most teams in Europe.
Are Man City the best English side ever? Comment below if you agree or not!
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1 Comment
by Ayeni Iniesta
They’re the best of all time