villain
Hates Beyoncé
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2014
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Excellent post sir, thank you.The idea that some say, that Pep & Jose entered similar jobs is far from the truth, from everything from starting-point of how the squad had been for a time and how the club had invested in getting back up.
It's also noticeable when going through the stats of the different seasons that City were more under-performing points-wise when you look at goal-difference and league-position than United were.
Starting from 2013/14 and to now:
City
Goals: 102
Goal against: 37
Goal difference: +65
Points: 86
United:
Goals: 64
Goals against: 43
Goal difference: +21
Points: 64
Let's go look at how we did under LvG compared to City (2014/2015):
2nd place City
Goals: 83
Goals against: 38
Goal difference: +45
Points: 79
4th place United:
Goals: 62
Goals against: 37
Goal difference: +25
Points: 70
2nd season (2015/2016)
4th place City:
Goals: 71
Goals against: 41
Goal difference: +30
Points: 66
5th place United:
Goals: 49
Goals against: 35
Goal difference: +14
Points: 66
Then Jose & Pep take over, 2016/17:
3rd place City:
Goals: 80
Goals against: 39
Goal difference: +41
Points: 78
6th place United:
Goals: 54
Goals against: 29
Goal difference: +25
Points: 69
So far this season:
1st place City:
Goals: 85
Goals against: 20
Goal difference: +65
Points: 81
2nd place United:
Goals: 58
Goals against: 23
Goal difference: +35
Points: 65
You can see in the graphs below that City were performing at a higher level in almost every department, all the way since 2013/14 when Sir Alex wasn't around anymore.
Keep in mind that we threw the league under Jose's season to put our eggs in the Europa League basket.
Also do note that there are 8 games left of the season, so this years stats can still improve.
Going by my graphs, we're improving in every area: Table position, points, goals scored, goals against & goal-difference.
Key-ish players in the two teams from 2013 and til now:
In short:Patrice Evra - Left - Not replaced currently
Di Maria - Left - Not replaced currently
Nemanja Vidic - Left - Not replaced currently
Rafael (not for all) - Left - Replaced
Rio Ferdinand - Left - Replaced
Nani (not for all) - Left - Replaced
Wayne Rooney - Left - Replaced
Van Persie - Left - Replaced
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Aged & leaving - Replaced
Carrick - Aged & leaving - Replaced
David De Gea - Here
Anthony Martial - New
Paul Pogba - New
Romelu Lukaku - New
Eric Bailly - New
Matic - New
Alexis Sanchez - New
Supposed to be key-players (presumably):
Bastian Schweinsteiger - Left
Radamel Falcao - Left
Henrikh Mkhitaryan - Left
We've lost an entire defense (if we add Rafael) and only had one proper replacement in Bailly & a in-squad replacement for Rafael in Valencia who is now ageing. Struggled with not having a midfield (which we've somewhat gotten but it isn't fully functional and we lack quality options to the main two) and have replaced our attacking options decently.
In short:Joe Hart - Left - Replaced
Pablo Zabaleta - Left - Replaced
Joleon Lescott - Left - Replaced
Jesus Navas - Left - Replaced
Gael Clichy - Left - Replaced
Gareth Barry - Left - Replaced
James Milner - Left - Replaced
Samir Nasri - Left - Replaced
Aleksander Kolarov - Left - Replaced
Edin Dzeko - Left - Replaced
Vincent Kompany - There
Sergio Aguero - There
David Silva - There
Fernandinho - There
Yaya Toure - There / aged - Replaced
Raheem Sterling - New
Nicolas Otamendi - New
Kevin De Bruyne - New
Leroy Sane - New
Kyle Walker - New
Ederson - New
Top players/transfers just to fill the squad:
Ilkay Gundogan - New
Bernardo Silva - New
Benjamin Mendy - New
Danilo - New
Aymeric Laporte - New
They've changed out their attackers, their midfield, their defense & their keeper while adding depth and overall increased the quality of all sides of their squad. The exceptions in their side are those who were the absolute top players back when they won the league in 2013/14 in Aguero, Kompany, Toure & Silva who either still play at the top level or has been replaced with high quality.
City are performing well, there is no denying that. But we've had a long(er) way to go and Jose has been able to drag us up to 2nd while improving the quality of our squad from the shambles we've been at. I understand and agree with those being frustrated at how we play, and while I too don't think Jose will have us playing super-entertaining football (going by what people seem to think of as entertaining), he sure isn't doing a bad job with improving the club compared to those around us.
Really puts into perspective where we are, we’re making progress but there’s a gap between us and them.