I haven’t checked back to see where this derailed into having a little pop at each other, but I just want to say that Man City won more of their games more comfortably than we did last season. It is borne out in the xG and other stats. Basically, they won more of their games with more to spare. What that tells me is that if the same 38 batch of games was reproduced over and over again, there would be more seasons where Man City beat us by several points, rather than one. I don’t want to get into who enjoyed luck over the whole season, as that’s such an emotive and imprecise thing to argue about.
We are on the rise. Next season we have a fair chance to go one better and win the league. Most fans have got a similar idea about where we need to strengthen, and how we go about doing that remains to be seen. It’s also nice to see us sign a couple of highly rated kids, given the way we are showing we can bring the best ones through to the first team.
As for Man City, hopefully they are punished for FFP abuses. AC Milan just got kicked out of European football for a spell, and they are European ‘royalty’ so hopefully the authorities won’t fear an impudent rapscallion like Man City. Hopefully they get what’s coming to them.
Leaving that side of things out of it, on the pitch they are starting to lose some key players due to age. Kompany has gone. If they sign Ake, decent player that he is, it’s a downgrade. Fernandinho has been excellent for them - in a snide way, but you need a bit of that. Rodri will be phased in and it remains to be seen if he is as good. Aguero is still going, but he’s in his 30s and doesn’t have nearly the peak years ahead of him as our forwards. And this will be David Silva’s last season there too.
With all eyes on them due to FFP, they won’t be able to spend their way out of it in the same way as before. They will have to be more measured, and you really need to get it right at that point. Their days of just going back into the market if they make a Mangala sized error, as though it’s no big deal, are fading.
We have to hold our nerve and keep going. We are knocking on the door and that Premier League title is just around the corner, and when it comes, we might have a little period of dominance to follow.