So what made the difference

Ederson and Walker.

Sane and Sterling improved massively and became genuine goal scorers.

De Bruyne and Merlin took their games to another level.
 
Top of the pile - Ederson. Every opposition shot was no longer a goal. We could press higher up the pitch as well as he played rush goal keeper and was an excellent sweeper.
2nd - Sané playing regularly and doing very well on the flank. The width Sané and Sterling thus gave us pulled teams apart who tried to attack us.
3rd - Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Fernandinho having exceptional seasons. Merlin's passing has always been excellent but Kevin's improvement to become a worldue has been exceptional. Fernandinho taking a back seat has also been instrumental.
4th - Our new fullbacks. Walker and Mendy are great but the suprise for me is Delph playing exceptionally well as a fill-in defensive left back
5th - The improvement of Otamendi and Stones. Probably as a result of not having to wory about the keeper or slow full backs but they have been good. It's a shame Stones got injured and has had recuring niggles since but he will improve.
 
For me the improvement has been 90% mental. Different level of understanding of the style, tactics and team-mates. But also a steeliness to get the job done professionally and in style.
If you think about some of the real shit we’ve taken also - decisions, sly violence from some quarters, and an almost begrudging reception from the press, critics, etc. - the whole squad (playing and management) has just said “We’re having this!!”
 
Greater unity in the squad.
A top quality offensive goalkeeper.
Sterling, Otamendi, De Bruyne and Aguero improving under Pep’s leadership.
Pace and technical ability in the full-back areas.
 
Psychedelic Casual said:
In Guardiola's first interview when he first came he said that it is easy to go into a club and organise them defensively and get them sitting back playing negative football because all that takes is everyone understanding where to stand in a defensive zone. But it takes time to implement attacking structures.

When he first came in i think he got the whole squad incredibly fitter than what Pellegrini left them in and we had a good start but over the whole season we just didn't quite have the right players to keep the Guardiola philosophy going but it was all being learnt.

And while we have been brilliant at times this season Pep's philosophy still isn't fully being implemented properly by the team, for various reasons. Some of which down to not being helped by poor final passes/crosses, poor finishing and defensive lapses in concentration or mistakes but also because we still have not quite got the right players in some areas (we will strengthen again) plus with the amount of young players in the squad (Ederson Stones Laporte Mendy Bernardo Sterling Sané Jesus) who haven't fully developed their quality, experience or confidence as players yet; we have a huge amount of improving still to do. Which is actually quite frightening for everyone else - all those younger lads a year older and better, plus a few new signings, and this team could be unbelievable next season!

Get the signings right and i can see this season's records being smashed next season.
Click to expand...
Those young lads will start next season not just with more experience but also with tons of confidence, makes a big difference. Onwards and upwards.
 
We had players to play the High intensity pep system as compared to last season. Moreover, i think we weren't heavily reliant on particular player that when they went missing our march stumbled.
 
Psychedelic Casual said:
In Guardiola's first interview when he first came he said that it is easy to go into a club and organise them defensively and get them sitting back playing negative football because all that takes is everyone understanding where to stand in a defensive zone. But it takes time to implement attacking structures.

When he first came in i think he got the whole squad incredibly fitter than what Pellegrini left them in and we had a good start but over the whole season we just didn't quite have the right players to keep the Guardiola philosophy going but it was all being learnt.

And while we have been brilliant at times this season Pep's philosophy still isn't fully being implemented properly by the team, for various reasons. Some of which down to not being helped by poor final passes/crosses, poor finishing and defensive lapses in concentration or mistakes but also because we still have not quite got the right players in some areas (we will strengthen again) plus with the amount of young players in the squad (Ederson Stones Laporte Mendy Bernardo Sterling Sané Jesus) who haven't fully developed their quality, experience or confidence as players yet; we have a huge amount of improving still to do. Which is actually quite frightening for everyone else - all those younger lads a year older and better, plus a few new signings, and this team could be unbelievable next season!

Get the signings right and i can see this season's records being smashed next season.
Click to expand...

When you say we have not quite got the right players, who do you mean, and who do you think would be good replacements? I concur we will strengthen — I tend to think more about age (VK, Kun, Fernandinho, D Silva) and the need to replace each with two players of Pep quality (in most cases we already have one).
 
Ederson
Walker
Having Vinny fit for the important games.
Bernardo and gundogan are top class players to rotate in.
Delph playing out of his skin.
Jesus & Kun dovetailed really well.

What we need to kick on.

Mendy.
Someone to rotate effectively with sane.
Another striker.
A defensive midfielder to rotate with Fernandinho
 
Esteban de la Sexface said:
Ederson
Walker
Having Vinny fit for the important games.
Bernardo and gundogan are top class players to rotate in.
Delph playing out of his skin.
Jesus & Kun dovetailed really well.

What we need to kick on.

Mendy.
Someone to rotate effectively with sane.
Another striker.
A defensive midfielder to rotate with Fernandinho
Click to expand...
The new ones will total 100m. Cue Custis: This City side cost 2 billion while yewnited only cost 46p. No wonder City win all the time, the reds are SO poor, barely can afford boots.
 
vmsuhail said:
We didn't have any key player injured for long and Mendy was covered well by Delph. KDB started all league games except the derby.
Click to expand...
I thought Mendy was pretty key myself. We'd have scored a hell of a lot more goals if he'd been fit.
 
Last edited:
It really only came down to conceding a few key goals....or not. We played Chelsea off the park at the Etihad and lost.
Walker having the pace to get back and a goalkeeper who could make the odd important save helped! Delph for me was a revelation and a big part of the difference.
 
bluemoonmatt said:
last year we looked good till the turning point of the Chelsea defeat, this year we have been superior without question. But what definitively happened.

For me we were great last season we got some stinkers in key games but we have this term so not sure that’s it
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Major upgrades at fullbacks; squad fit enough at each position to counterpress the full 90; perfect goalie for the system.

In short, fixed every major weakness we had last season.
 
Playing KDB in a deeper role has been amazing. That, and Ederson being an extra outfield player.
 
BlueSiam said:
It really only came down to conceding a few key goals....or not. We played Chelsea off the park at the Etihad and lost.
Walker having the pace to get back and a goalkeeper who could make the odd important save helped! Delph for me was a revelation and a big part of the difference.
Click to expand...

The quality and speed of our attack along with conceding fewer goals. A keeper being able to make class saves, sometimes some he has no right to save is worth its weight in gold. Delph has been fantastic although he isn't anything to do with the difference. If anything it might have restricted us slightly from an attacking point of view.
 
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