season.
decisions (or lack of) such as
the failure to acquire credible
fullbacks, squad inconsistency,
and an over-reliance on style in
crunch games hindered City
immensely throughout the sea-
son. But it is easy to forget that
Guardiola is dealing with an
aging squad with an average
age of 28.9 years, many of
whom have spent their entire
careers playing a completely
different footballing style to
that of the Spaniard. This un-
compromising change in style
proved to wear out City’s aging
side, causing their a mid-
season slump in form that was
bookmarked by dominance on
At the end of the season Pep
Guardiola had led Manchester
City to a third-place finish, a
last 16 champions league exit,
and two unsuccessful domes-
tic cup runs leaving Manches-
ter City chairman, Khaldoon al-
Mubarak with “nothing to cele-
brate”. Having spent £180m, to
improve an already strong
squad, many have criticised
Pep and deemed his first sea-
son as a failure; the buzzword
‘fraud’ has been tossed about
by fans and pundits alike. How-
ever, in context, the Spaniard’s
first season cannot be deemed
a complete failure. Certainly,
14