José knows how to win trophies, it's just in his DNA. If you look at his record, he has been the manager of a side in a Cup Final 14 times and has won all but two of them (and they were decided in extra time). He hasn't lost a final when managing an English side. However, it's never a whitewash. Always keeps it tight, only once has it been more than a two-goal deficit. Regardless of how good Chelsea can be on their day and how good Conte is, it'll be quite a big upset if we don't win the FA Cup this time.
As for the League, I've been satisfied with our form simply because no matter how you look at it, this is so much better than we've been since Fergie left. We're talking a monumental gulf in class in terms of League performance. I hate to keep using the old chestnut of 'if City weren't so good we'd probably win the title', but it is pretty close to that realistically. I think we might actually end up off that kind of pace by a couple of results in the end, but it is what it is. The slump around the Christmas period when we lost to Huddersfield, then had three straight draws against Leicester, Burnley, and Southampton is where we were particularly poor. If we want to challenge for the title next season, that's the kind of run we need to not allow to happen. We were probably decent enough to get an extra 3-4 points from that bad run without being overly generous and shouldn't have had the brainfart against West Brom at home. If you take those extra points then we start to look the business assuming we take near maximum points from the final four games.
Eradicate those few dips and we're a consistent, 90+ point side with more than just a 'realistic chance to challenge'. The issue for most, as I keep seeing, is the Sevilla tie. I hope this changes José's mentality a bit in the future, because if we were playing the big boys such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, PSG... Hell, even Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, Atletico then you can understand it. But no, not Sevilla. Without being too disrespectful, I think it's a close call between them and Arsenal, even in their current state. They're just not good enough to command so much respect and negativity from ourselves. That one really is the sour grape of the bunch this season, but it is at least IMO, more good than bad. A few tweaks and we'll see where this side can go.
As for the League, I've been satisfied with our form simply because no matter how you look at it, this is so much better than we've been since Fergie left. We're talking a monumental gulf in class in terms of League performance. I hate to keep using the old chestnut of 'if City weren't so good we'd probably win the title', but it is pretty close to that realistically. I think we might actually end up off that kind of pace by a couple of results in the end, but it is what it is. The slump around the Christmas period when we lost to Huddersfield, then had three straight draws against Leicester, Burnley, and Southampton is where we were particularly poor. If we want to challenge for the title next season, that's the kind of run we need to not allow to happen. We were probably decent enough to get an extra 3-4 points from that bad run without being overly generous and shouldn't have had the brainfart against West Brom at home. If you take those extra points then we start to look the business assuming we take near maximum points from the final four games.
Eradicate those few dips and we're a consistent, 90+ point side with more than just a 'realistic chance to challenge'. The issue for most, as I keep seeing, is the Sevilla tie. I hope this changes José's mentality a bit in the future, because if we were playing the big boys such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, PSG... Hell, even Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, Atletico then you can understand it. But no, not Sevilla. Without being too disrespectful, I think it's a close call between them and Arsenal, even in their current state. They're just not good enough to command so much respect and negativity from ourselves. That one really is the sour grape of the bunch this season, but it is at least IMO, more good than bad. A few tweaks and we'll see where this side can go.
