Man City Showing Signs Of Growth As Preparations Start For Next Season

Manchester City has looked like Manchester City again in recent matches. This was certainly the case in the first half of Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final victory over Nottingham Forest when Nuno Espirito Santo’s team had just 11% of possession. City controlled the majority of the game and eased through to the final with a 2-0 win.

It was a similar story against Aston Villa when Manchester City boosted its chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League with a 2-1 victory. Against against Everton at Goodison Park before that. And against Crystal Palace before that when City scored no fewer than five times against an in-form opponent.

This season has been a difficult one for Manchester City. It dipped out of the Premier League title race earlier than at any other point besides Pep Guardiola’s first season in charge. It scraped through to the playoff round of the Champions League, but went out to Real Madrid. City has been a long way from the top of English and European soccer.

And yet there have been signs of growth recently as Guardiola retools his team for next season, and for the next generation. The rebuild started in January when Manchester City made four new signings (Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis) and will continue this summer when Kevin de Bruyne departs.

“No,” said Guardiola when asked if winning the FA Cup would make this season a success for City. “The damage would be minimum. It’s not going to confuse [that] the season has been good. The club has to take the decision, the right ones, so next season will be better. We are a thousand million points behind Liverpool. I said many times the season hasn't been good because we define if the season is good or not with the Premier League.”

Rodri’s return from injury will give Manchester City the basis it has lacked all season in central midfield. Marmoush has also made a strong start to life at the club after joining from Eintracht Frankfurt in the January transfer window. City will also surely sign a replacement for the outgoing De Bruyne.

As a unit, though, City is already making progress. Nico O’Reilly and Matheus Nunes have been key to Guardiola giving his team more control in the middle of the pitch with the two full backs frequently pushed into the centre. This has freed up De Bruyne in an advanced role. Guardiola is putting in place a new framework.