In the aftermath of Manchester City’s victory, Vincent Kompany said something that sounded like a Zen riddle: “We have such an incredible desire to overachieve. Because we are such a good side, overachieving is difficult.” But isn’t overachieving the business of underdogs? Surely that’s what Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester had to do to win the Premier League three years ago, not what was required from Pep Guardiola’s side, pieced together at enormous expense and with unparalleled technical resources, in order to reach the same goal.
What the City captain was saying was that in order to do what they did this season, it was necessary for the players to exceed their known abilities and to reach into the areas of unexplored potential. To persuade internationals from Spain, Brazil, Argentina, France and elsewhere to give you that is the mark of an exceptional manager. What Guardiola has given them in return is membership of a team worthy of being judged against the very best.
Attempts at definitive comparisons with the past are inevitably doomed by the recognition of how conditions change over time. But the true greats can at least be grouped together, and, as they retained their title by a single point from Liverpool, claims on behalf of Guardiola’s City deserved the most serious consideration. Drawn from living memory, rather than merely the 27 years of the Premier League era, the list would start with Stan Cullis’s Wolves, not just three times league champions in the 1950s but, as conquerors of Racing Club of Buenos Aires, Dinamo and Spartak of Moscow and Honvéd of Budapest, the last confident flowering of the classical English style. It would continue with Bill Nicholson’s Double-winning Spurs of 1960-61, Matt Busby’s European Cup-winning Manchester United of 1968, Bob Paisley’s seamless Liverpool dynasty of 1975-83, Alex Ferguson’s treble-winning United of 1999, Arsène Wenger’s Invincible Arsenal of 2003-04, and José Mourinho’s finest Chelsea team, the fearsome champions of 2005-06.
For a combination of glorious style and absolute dedication to the business of winning, Guardiola’s team stand comparison with any of those great predecessors. Few rival supporters would withhold applause for the way they went about the job this season, patiently adhering to the evolving principles of possession-based football Guardiola absorbed during his years as a player and coach at Barcelona, trusting in each other as they emerged from the run of mid-season defeats that gave their chief rivals the glimpse of glory that turned out to be a mirage.
In the end, there was no last-minute denouement of the kind that made legends of George Graham’s Arsenal in 1989 or City themselves under Roberto Mancini in 2012; the suspense of the day had been slightly undermined by the knowledge City’s destiny was in their own hands. But as Guardiola’s players, after going behind, put four past Brighton, they were providing the climax to the run of 14 consecutive victories that saw them overhaul their rivals: a sequence of such relentless brilliance it would be hard to find a parallel.
Yet this was not relentlessness without a human heartbeat. Guardiola may be a technologist of football, a manager who specialises in putting theory into practice, but his personality allows space for the emotions that came to the surface as his players approached their moment of destiny. Against Leicester in their penultimate fixture, with the pursuing Liverpool in full cry, the excruciating tension was finally relieved by Kompany’s astonishing strike: one among many candidates for the goal of the season, but surely the one that made time stop as its effect on the world was assessed.
And although championship celebrations like the one that took place on the pitch at Brighton can cover a thousand festering grievances, the warmth between Guardiola and his players seemed to express his approach. This is a man who can leave top players on the sidelines without creating resentment, at least in the short term. Perhaps they trust him to know when, how and why to bring them back.
Externally, for example, there was surprise on Sunday when Riyad Mahrez, last summer’s trophy purchase, was included for his only his fourth league start since the beginning of the year. But it was Mahrez who dummied an opposing defender with elegant composure before striking the sumptuous goal that, by giving City a two-goal cushion, effectively settled the destination of the title. A Leroy Sané or a John Stones might reasonably expect to benefit from the same strategic consideration.
The football City play is not entirely focused on beauty, of course. Under Guardiola, they also specialise in a type of low-key tactical midfield fouling that avoids violence and comes with an instant apology, disrupting the opposition’s flow and deflating their confidence while taking advantage of the reluctance of English referees to issue yellow cards early in a match. It may be that officials from other countries take a different view, which would at least partially explain City’s inability to make it beyond the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
If there is another source of satisfaction to be derived from this enthralling title race, it is in the memory of how the teams from the middle and lower end of the table kept the two final contestants honest in the closing stages. The Premier League may be a highly stratified entity, with a top six and a middle eight and a bottom six, but nowhere in his travels would Guardiola have found such challenges as those mounted by Burnley, Leicester and even Brighton in his last three matches: three teams with nothing much to gain but still willing to show their pride in the fight.