Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have done to the Premier League what some said was impossible. Their rivals will need others to take points off them like Huddersfield Town did on Sunday if they are to close the gap but the signs this season have not been encouraging, writes Adam Bate.
Huddersfield took advantage of the party mood at Manchester City to do what nobody else in the bottom six has done this season and take points off the champions. The goalless draw at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday was an atypical performance from Pep Guardiola’s team but it was not going to stop the title celebrations. City have been dominant this season.
The title was wrapped up with five games to go and the gulf should worry their rivals. The biggest ever gap between first and second at the end of a Premier League season is 18 points. The gap to Manchester United currently stands at 17 points with two to play. The Premier League is not used to this. Guardiola has done what many said was impossible.
He has conquered leagues before, of course. Spain was bent to his whim on three occasions during his days at Barcelona. He bested the Bundesliga three times with Bayern Munich. But this was supposed to be different. The Premier League had strength in depth, they said. It simply could not happen here no matter how much money had been spent.
Pep Guardiola given the bumps by his players as part of City's celebrations
Instead, City’s dominance has been eerily similar to those aforementioned triumphs. The statistics show that Guardiola’s best points per game record in a single season with Barcelona was 2.61. Of the trio of triumphs in Germany, his first was the most ruthless – registering 2.65 points per game. City are averaging 2.61 points per game this season.
It is not just that teams have been beaten, it is the manner in which they have been dismantled. Possession has hit hitherto unprecedented levels. Passes per game records have been broken, both individually and collectively. And it has all been done on Guardiola’s terms, regardless of the narrative about him adapting to the English game. No compromises.
But the really alarming thing for the Premier League is City’s aura of invincibility. The Manchester United of Sir Alex Ferguson had that too. It manifested itself during games. That feeling that they were never beaten. The talk of Fergie time. The mythology around those sides. The belief that defeat could only ever be postponed by opponents, not prevented.
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City have taken that to a new level this season because some opponents seemed beaten before the game has begun. The desire for damage limitation means most are not even competing for their share of the ball. A few barely muster a counter-attack. The 1-0 win away to Newcastle United just after Christmas remains, perhaps, the best example of this.
“There is defending and there is showing no ambition whatsoever,” said Gary Neville on co-commentary for Sky Sports at the time. “If it were a boxing match, the referee would have stopped it.” Nicolas Otamendi made more passes than every Newcastle outfield player combined. The only ambition seemed to be to keep the goal difference down.
City had 78 per cent of the possession that day at St James’ Park but it was no outlier. It has happened in six away games this season and Guardiola’s men have won the lot of them. For context, no other team has won a single match away from home with that much possession in any of the last three seasons. This is new territory. Teams are cowed on their own turf.
While far from an impartial observer on such matters, there are times when Guardiola himself has seemed a little disappointed by it all. “I would like the opponent to play, for football itself and for the spectator, for everybody,” he said in the aftermath of that Newcastle result. “But every manager can decide whatever he wants. I cannot judge them.”
If such a reaction is treated with some cynicism it is because it harks back to his days in Spain when opponents were praised for their ambitious football against his Barcelona side – but usually after succumbing to a heavy defeat. His mentor Juanma Lillo took Almeria to the Camp Nou playing ‘the right way’ in 2010 – he left with an 8-0 defeat and the sack.
Jose Luis Mendilibar kept his job at Osasuna a little longer than that but it was a similar story for him the following year. “I really admire these coaches of mid-table teams who come out with this bravery,” said Guardiola afterwards. “I like those coaches because I feel I can identify with them.” High praise and yet – once again – Mendilibar’s team had been beaten 8-0.
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Mercifully, while Watford were hit for six in one of the most complete performances of the campaign and there was also the 7-2 thrashing of Stoke, Manchester City have spared the Premier League such scorelines so far. But as the points and the possession stats show, the gulf in quality has been reminiscent of those seasons with Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
City’s rivals will need to improve. They will need to produce repeats of the results that Liverpool managed against them at Anfield and United achieved at the Etihad Stadium. But they will also need the rest of the Premier League to come up with plans that work. They need sides to do what Huddersfield did on Sunday when City have something to play for.
Taking on this Guardiola team risks being taken apart, but dropping deep and waiting for the inevitable makes it just that. The result is that too many matches have taken on an air of inevitability because Manchester City have built that aura of invincibility. Unless teams find a way to combat that, expect Guardiola to continue doing what many said could not be done.
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