Pep Guardiola always stated that this season would be an almighty challenge – but he never expected that the evidence would be so painful.
After four titles in a row with a side of Manchester City who called many people – including myself – – he called the best in the world only a few years earlier, he was not the only one.
Nobody doubted the need for a total rebuilding in Manchester, although you might also have been talking about the boys of Ruben Amorim.
With United on the way to their worst season since they went down in 1974 and with their own boss who slaughtered his side, it is one that has grown every week.
So if something has been summarized how City did not slump so much but absolutely plummeted, it is the idea that Pep, not Amorim, is the manager with the greatest rebuilding.
That, plus the fact that there is actually a grain of truth in the joke that Sky is promoting the current old Trafford game as the Mid-Table Manchester Derby.
Pep knows that nothing takes forever. And with the FA Cup for grabbing, there is every chance that he will not end without a trophy for the first time since his debut year in England.
But the problem is when you have made such a habit to win, that does not ensure a successful season.
Don't make bones about it, this has been a disaster. City started as ODDS to win a fifth title on the leap. With eight games left, they can't even be sure of the top four.
For years it is not about whether City will win a trophy, more about how much. If it is “only”, there are people who even see it as a disappointment.
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If you had said in August that, with two months to go, it would be FA Cup or Bust that I had laughed in your face.
Also don't think that is a gimme. The bookmakers can have city as big favorites, but they don't play like that.
There has not been much of the season when they have done that.
I have to admit that I don't think they will do it again – not without a mass revision.
Losing Kyle Walker was huge, especially if you had to play people out of position to replace him on right back.
Something he also had to do on the other flank all season.
Kevin De Bruyne is still a fantastic player, but not the one he was, Ilkay Gundogan comes to the end and Bernardo Silva could be this summer.
Rodri will of course be fit again. But how long does it take to get back at speed?
So you see what I mean about how the Etihad -Herbouw is quite likely even bigger than that in Old Trafford.
There is still the judgment and potential punishment – of the charges [for allegedly breaching the Prem’s financial rules] hang over them. How will that influence things?
Pep has been brilliant with what he has made. There is every chance that it will fall as the largest side that the premium has ever seen.
But climbing that high means that there will be further when you stumble … and City is now struggling to keep their feet.
It requires brilliant recruitment this summer and I keep asking the same question: where do you find the talent at the level they need?
Arsenal spent a year looking for a center-forward and could not manage it. Pep is confronted with the same problem in about half a dozen positions.
After so many titles and a Champions League, a top-four Finish is no reason to celebrate. Even thrown in with a FA cup.
There is a reason why I am tipping a draw today. Not because it is a fight between two giants that will cancel each other – more that neither is good enough to win!
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