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Domestically, City had a very good season as they won the Capital One Cup against Sunderland and also managed to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, narrowly missing out on a semi-final berth. That being said, their season wasn’t without negatives.
Since the arrival of Sheikh Mansour and his millions, City have managed to secure Champions League football; however, they have struggled to make any sort of impact in the competition. Under Mancini, they didn’t even make it out of the group stages. They did manage to make it out of their group this year (beating the mighty Bayern at the Allianz Arena in the process) but they couldn’t make it to the quarter-finals as they were knocked out by Barcelona.
The fact that they were plagued by injuries did threaten to derail their season. Sergio Aguero was dangerous whenever fully fit, but he spent large periods out injured, as did new signing Stevan Jovetic. The latter was injury-prone even in his Fiorentina days, but Aguero’s struggles with injuries began only when he was at City. Is it down to the fact that he is seemingly rushed back to fitness hence not giving his injuries time to fully heal that he is now injury-prone? One can’t be entirely sure, but it doesn’t seem a wholly unreasonable explanation. City need to take more care of their star man, because he is an absolute monster in front of goal when fit.
They also struggled in defence at times, and this saw them end up on the wrong side of a few freak results. They lost 3-2 to both Cardiff City and Aston Villa away from home, and also slumped to a shock 1-0 defeat to Sunderland. A 3-2 loss against Liverpool in April also came at the wrong time but they managed to win their last 5 games and secure the League.
Because they were slightly weak at the back, it meant they could be beaten by teams who defended well and looked to pressure them into making a mistake. Chelsea used this method effectively to secure a League double over the eventual champions, the only team to do so. Martin Demichelis came in for a lot of stick due to some poor performances but did alright as the season progressed. Vincent Kompany was also fairly error-prone at times and looked a far cry from his usual solid self.
Looking forward
It’s hard to make improvements to a side as dominant as City. However, they will no doubt look to strengthen in the summer. They have already been linked to a few players and it won’t surprise anyone if they spend a bit of cash this summer even with UEFA’s FFP sanctions kicking in. This will of course put them in a very good position for next season.
Pellegrini’s main aim should be making it further in the Champions League. With the kind of squad they have, one would expect them to romp into the semi-finals at the very least. While there was definite improvement over what Mancini managed to achieve, the former City manager didn’t really set the bar very high. They have a very good squad and should in fact be aiming to win the tournament, not just make it to the knock-out stages.
The 2013/14 season was a very successful one for Manchester City. However, they will look to put it behind them and move forward. Success is well and good, but sustainable success is what matters. Pellegrini has demonstrated that he can win trophies whilst playing attractive football and has done very well in his first season in England. Whether he can sustain this success remains to be seen right now, but if he sticks to his philosophy and continues to deliver the right results, he should have no problems whatsoever in doing what the City top-brass expect of him.
