Football Season Guide

Last season was filled with disappointments for City as they defended just 1 of their 3 domestic trophies and also, despite focusing their main energy on a successful Champions League campaign, they again stumbled at the quarterfinal hurdle in this competition. Defensive weaknesses the main reasons for the misfortunes. So far, the most important departures from the squad are captain David Silva and explosive winger Sane. Guardiola smartly addressed the issues in defence, though, and big money was paid to sign Ake, who is expected to see lots of playing time. No other big transfers as of yet but, with the transfer window open until October, City are likely to add at least 1-2 big names to their ranks soon. Right now Lionel Messi is heavily linked with them! It seems that after Ake’s arrival Guardiola is preparing to mix things a lot more at City, with this new signing expected to allow a 3-man backline to be in place in some games. In terms of tactics the aggressive counter-pressing and high back line will undoubtedly remain features of City’s displays. The biggest strength remain the forward actions, especially with Jesus expected to have his first season as first-choice leader of the attack, ahead of club legend Aguero. Jesus will be very eager to impress and City should be scoring goals with ease once more. Hard to see many weaknesses right now, especially if Ake settles in defence quickly and the team’s best centre-back Laporte manages to avoid serious injuries, he missed more than half of last season.