![]() The Manchester United side that did it inspired the club’s most memorable season, but their fans will acknowledge they were not the greatest of the Ferguson era. Flawless finishes need luck as well as skill. There is a reason only one English club have ever won the three biggest major trophies in the same season. Not because they cannot do it – I would not bet against it – but because of how tough it is. He has managed to do so with historic points totals and the domestic treble achieved in 2019, and by executing a football style superior to his predecessors.īut Guardiola will not have delivered what he was lured to England to do until he lifts the European Cup.Īs in previous years, I think winning all three major trophies is a step too far for City. His Abu Dhabi owners expected him to take City to a higher plane. Guardiola was not hired just to replicate that success. ![]() Every top manager in the world would have been a league champion if appointed City coach in the last 10 years. With respect, Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini were Premier League winners with City. ‘Guardiola will not have delivered what he was lured to England to do until he lifts the European Cup’ He seems to consider this an unfair and excessive demand. Guardiola recently acknowledged his City reign would be assessed on whether he brings the Champions League trophy to the Etihad. Both clubs are also aware of how close City are getting to correcting the glaring absence from their honours board. No matter what Guardiola has won already at the Etihad, United can still use the 1999 season as a symbol of historic superiority, as do Liverpool with their reminder of winning six European Cups. It was a game-changer for how Ferguson and his Old Trafford reign were judged. That all changed when they won the Champions League as part of the Treble and the ‘Sir’ was added to Alex Ferguson’s name. They were desperate to add the trophy that had eluded their club since 1968. In the late 1990s, Manchester United players created a similar situation, dominating the domestic campaign to the point where being champions was the minimum expectation. Treble win a ‘game-changer’ for Ferguson and United If City finish this season with only the FA Cup it will feel like a huge underachievement, especially in the campaign in which they added Erling Haaland. For most teams and coaches any major trophy in a season is a success. ![]() When you have won successive Premier League titles, have multiple domestic cup wins on your CV and two Champions League wins (including a treble) at Barcelona, the pathways for creating more history and inviting superlatives become narrower. The football world becomes blasé about the success of consistently excellent teams. Guardiola’s brilliance is to blame for this. That means we are heading into a potentially defining weekend of a title race in which most of the focus is on Arsenal ending a 19-year wait to be champions, and City’s possible treble has barely been mentioned yet. He has raised expectations at the climax of every campaign to such an extent he is under pressure to match or eclipse some of the most extraordinary achievements in this country’s sporting history. That is testimony to the standards Pep Guardiola has set at the top of English football. Manchester City are now so dominant they have normalised the idea of a Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup treble.
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