Is Man City's Greatness Making Football Boring?

As City continue to dominate the league this season, is a dynasty a positive or destructive to the league?

City put on another exhibition in the Manchester Derby. To be fair they weren’t even at their best, yet still ran out comfortable and showcased a level of quality which the league has not seen for sometime. Great sides like some of Ferguson’s United teams, Wenger’s Arsenal and Liverpool in the 70’s and 80’s truly dominated the league with great football. And yet there is a serious consideration that this is the best we’ve ever seen. The dominance that City are showing in their games, the ability to score several goals each game and impressively their ability to keep clean sheets or reduce goals to a minimum, shows perhaps the first team to be able to balance attack and defence so expertly that they look almost unbeatable.

The attacking play is sharp, intelligent and ruthless. The players understand their roles, positions and move the ball (and opposition) so effectively they tie their opponents up in knots. The quality of the players on the pitch helps of course and City have built a truly remarkable squad of talented players, many young, who are developing and improving constantly. It’s a world class team getting better. What a scary thought. And it is that thought which we look at now. If this City team is already the best, and if it is getting even better, then what chance do the rest have? And how competitive can we say the league is?

The last time a team retained the Premier League was all the way back in 2009. It was United and that was their third in a row. The last truly great team in England? An attack of Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez. A midfield of Scholes and Carrick and defence of Vidic and Ferdinand. It was something special. Since then there has been a back and forth between City, United and Chelsea - and of course Leicester. But no team has been able to retain. A decade later and it seems we may finally have a team capable of retention. City look even stronger than last season, have weapons across the team where they are not relying on just one player to produce. It is beautifully balanced, deep with quality and focused on achieving success. 

The Brilliance of Guardiola

The work that Guardiola has done with City is fantastic. It's all well and good having a blank cheque to purchase players yet it's another to recruit the right players and then coach them effectively to succeed. Guardiola not only has the ability to motivate and inspire his team to work hard yet importantly finds the way to make them play beautiful football, while being defensively solid. It's incredible really. The tactical fluidity, the ingenuity, the system and style. It's something we haven't seen, the level of football and balance which City show. 

There has been talk about ‘tactical fouls’ and how City play the ‘dark arts’ of football. Many complain, as they don’t like dark arts or cynical acts, but truth is fouling is a part of the game and the ref decides what the foul warrants. City appear to be experts at tactical fouling, of preventing the opposition counter attacking and ultimately denying the opponents chances to score goals. People complain that this is negative as it ruins the fun of football. And they are right you know. 

City are too good at being able to prevent teams attacking them. Either they dominate possession for so long that the opposition can’t attack, pushing the opposition so deep that the chance to attack feels a very long way off or they transition so fast that the opposition can’t exploit the space City leave when attacking. It’s a remarkable defensive approach dressed up as the best attacking team in the game. Best attacking team and best defensive team? The most perfect team? 

Greatness is boring

Some people argue that having a ‘great’ team in a sport isn’t good for the sport. One team constantly winning can become boring, monotonous, even stale. That the same team(s) continually battling it out for the top prize takes away the feeling of excitement and intrigue. We’ve seen it across different sports and there tends to be a dominant one, two or three teams which have the best players and coach, which have the most money or the best strategy. Is it boring to see greatness though? Really?

We marvel at undefeated teams and individuals across sports and remember the greats. A dynasty, that dominant figure which conquers all. The allure of greatness, that sense of being unbeatable and the intrigue of seeing if they can in fact be beaten and lose. We remember the dynasty which was Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls teams, we watch the All Blacks in awe and adore what Usain Bolt has achieved. The dynasty of the New England Patriots under Belichick and Tom Brady is unprecedented and what Barcelona achieved under Pep Guardiola was a close to world football dominance in 2011 which has been seen. At present the Golden State Warriors may be the greatest sports team in all of sport, not only winning, with great players, but playing some of the greatest basketball seen. 

Greatness. That mix of brilliance, dominance and success. Great teams inspire the next generation, where heroes are made and memories are forged. Often they become the most hated (Ferguson’s United) because they are so damn dominant and successful. But ultimately you respect what they’ve done because it takes a lot to be great, seriously great. The hard hours of work, the mental strength to win and to continue to win, again and again. It takes discipline, sacrifice and a cohesive spirit within the group. Boring? Not at all!

However during Guardiola's time at Bayern he was criticised by Bayern legend Franz Beckenbauer for becoming "unwatchable". He said "We're going to end up being unwatchable like Barcelona. The players will start passing the ball back even on the goal line. I have a different vision. If I had the chance to shoot from distance, particularly up against a tight defence, I'd take it. That's the most efficient way [to play], though it's 100% up to the players." Bayern dominated the Bundesliga during Guardiola's time in Germany, so much so that it really took away any sense of competitiveness, intrigue and excitement. The title was wrapped up in March in 2014. Brilliant team performance? Yet fun for the neutrals?

Are Man City ‘boring’ because they are so extremely dominant in their games that the ‘game’ becomes too unbalanced. There is an argument for that. However this is not Man City’s fault, they are executed and performing to their maximum, both with and without the ball. The most dominant side English football has seen? It’s looking that way. And they don’t “look” like they should be, they don’t look big and strong and powerful, but boy are they! And how they play! The beauty of it, the magnificence of their ‘simple’ game. The brilliance of their individuals and harmony and cohesiveness which they work together. Watching City play is a thing of beauty and an art form. 

Guardiola has done brilliantly, building this team, dealing with the difficult moments and coming out of it so strong and powerful. It’s a lesson in greatness for coaching and philosophy; the ability to motivate and inspire a group of players to play ‘his way’ and to play in a way which many doubted and yet which has exceeded all expectations and records. This is a special team and a special coach. Greatness? Yes, without question. Boring? No. 

And yet, I will argue that contrasting the Dortmund vs Bayern game last weekend with Man City vs United was a contrast in entertainment. One game was end to end, with both teams attacking and importantly showing flaws and weaknesses in their game which allowed for drama. Whereas City dominated the game to a level where it lost the sense of competitiveness, and this is the key; United approached the game not in a way to win it but in a way to contain and nullify. They played with fear and lost. They killed the game, not City. 

Great teams are often great due to the opponent showing too much respect and not seeking to impose themselves on the game. Dortmund continued to fight and work to come back in the game and earned their win ultimately due to their mentality. It was a great game to watch and be entertained but contained many faults and errors. City however are performing to near perfection. We should be appreciating and learning from what they are doing. We are witnessing greatness here. Let’s appreciate it. But god please, let the opposition be more creative and brave when they encounter greatness. Rolling over and accepting defeat is what makes greatness boring. City look like they could dominate English football for several more years under Guardiola. Revolutionising English football in the process. True greatness.

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