Would it have been the quad if not a post World Cup year?

[burning blue soul]

We'll never know. Perhaps going out of the CL was a blessing as it allowed us to focus on the league and FA Cup.

We saw the impact of a fit Kevin de Bruyne yesterday.

Yep, I'll stick with the quad rather than twist to get the chumps lge!

 

[Jacob Smith]

If we’d gone to Spurs and tried to win we would’ve got through to the semis

 

[burning blue soul]

There was only one club seriously trying to win all 4.

You know Nev, there has been nothing made of other top teams not treating the domestic cup competitions with the respect they deserve.
Only City took every cup seriously and we are the team that is being made out to be ruining the cup comps because of our dominance!!!!
I think there is a double standard in there somewhere!

 

[Neville Kneville]

Not city judging by the team picked for for the first leg v spurs, who had no player in the world cup did they?

Don't agree with that at all, in fact if we had only been in two competitions, we likely wouldn't have played that team in the first leg.

As Spurs have completely collapsed in the league & almost got caught by Utd, they really aren't a great example of a team who has coped that well after the World Cup.

They managed to run, for 3 games v us, in the midst of an absolute pile of shite v everyone else & kind of prove how well City have done .

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

In partial seriousness, a bit more penalty practice and/or a more consistent first/second penalty taker and we might have been looking at it.

 

[purplenose]

In partial seriousness, a bit more penalty practice and/or a more consistent first/second penalty taker and we might have been looking at it.

Agree duff penalties have cost us. True in the CL there was the debatable team selection and a rare under par performance, this followed by the 2nd leg controversies. We went out due to the perfect storm happening against Spurs, albeit a storm partly of our own making.

In all honesty to win all four not only means playing out of your skin for 9 months, it also needs you to have some serious luck, our perhaps came in the other competitions but in the CL against Spurs the luck was with them.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

Agree duff penalties have cost us. True in the CL there was the debatable team selection and a rare under par performance, this followed by the 2nd leg controversies. We went out due to the perfect storm happening against Spurs, albeit a storm partly of our own making.

In all honesty to win all four not only means playing out of your skin for 9 months, it also needs you to have some serious luck, our perhaps came in the other competitions but in the CL against Spurs the luck was with them.

Aye. I also think if we'd beat Liverpool at their place, another missed penalty, the 3 point cushion [4 with goal difference] might have meant that we'd put out a stronger side at Spurs and the weaker team in the league. But it's neither here nor there, really - there's not many 'what ifs' from this season, particularly given the fine margins went in our favour elsewhere.

 

[mccity]

It's hard to say really, because you don't know how everyone else would have been affected. Liverpool and Arsenal wouldn't be much different. But Chelsea, United and Tottenham could have been much better off without a World Cup. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus and Bayern could have all been significantly stronger without the tournament too.

In fact I'd argue that with our squad depth we were one of the most capable of handling a post World Cup fallout. Our only real casualty of the tournament was De Bruyne, but for the most part Pep rotated really well early season and we didn't have the fatigue issues we had last season, compared to everyone else not named Liverpool.

World Cup or not, I think not having De Bruyne (and Mendy somewhat) fit for purpose did more to 'harm' our quadruple chances than anything else. Us remaining in the League Cup also gave us a super congested fixture run in the second half that others wouldn't have had.

I do think though not having a World Cup will benefit us, but keeping De Bruyne fit is the biggest thing moving forwards.

Not city judging by the team picked for for the first leg v spurs, who had no player in the world cup did they?

Tottenham had 9 players who made the semi finals, more than anyone else if I recall.

 

[Passittogordon]

I know we could have played differently and won at spuds in the CL but some of those games after we got knocked out I think would have been more of a struggle if we were still in the CL. It seemed to me like it had to be one or the other. With a fit KDB Ferna and Mendy it might have been a different story, re the world cup, how much of a toll did that have on the aforementioned?

 

[lasereyes]

It would have been the quintuple if Kev had been match fit for exactly three more games this season: Spurs away (CL), Spurs home (CL), CL final.

Well he did play at Spurs at home and had a blinder. We lost that tie cos of Laporte's errors, Aguero's missed pen, and of course VAR not being applied properly. But I agree with Pep that if we had gone through, we might well not have won the title - and that's where the injuries would really have hurt us. And btw, I would take the league over the CL every which way to Sunday.