Was wondering how they do it so well and sure it’s been that way since Sheikh Mansour bought the club. At other big clubs there’s a first XI that’s going to play most weeks with some squad players on the fringes when fit whereas at City I’ve noticed that they could probably field 2 good starting XIs from one week to the next and wouldn’t struggle. Like sometimes you’ll see Stones and Ake in defence then another game it’s Dias and Gvardiol, sometimes Akanji plays there. Been like that for quite a while remembering when it was 4-4-2 under Mancini and Pellegrini having Aguero and Tevez up front with Dzeko and Balotelli before Negredo and Jovetic as back up. Whenever someone gets injured it’s barely even a problem and they seem to know how to manage big players really well, bit jealous as a United fan as whenever one player is dropped, it’s such a big deal.
Noticed that the formation also changes as well quite often, for example
3-2-4-1 vs Chelsea
3-4-2-1 vs Bournemouth
4-2-3-1 vs United
Winning helps keep everyone happy
For context/transparency I’m a Liverpool fan.
They don’t have a big squad. None of City, Liverpool or arsenal have big squads.
They all have 13-15 starter level players, backed up by young players.
Most of those 13-15 cover multiple positions which gives the illusion of 2 per position.
Look at any of those clubs benches in league games. Against Chelsea, City didn’t even fill their bench spots.
They are managed by the best manager ever.
That’s not really the truth. Most of their players can play more than one place. So it’s easier to please their playing time needs.
Also it’s not like all their players are happy with the situation. Look at Cancelo for example. A world class player who needed out. You also have Palmer this summer. Jesus and Zinchenko last summer
Versatility of individual players and because we tend to go long in most tournaments, we usually play 2-3 games per week. So players getting enough games to be satisfied isn’t as big of an issue.
The rotation also helps keep players healthier so less downtime from injuries.
You know they cheat, right? At least 144 times.
The wages.
People are patient to be in rotation when you are winning and challenging on every front.
FFP doesn’t apply to them.
Probably because they have a fantastic manager who has a deep squad at his disposal due to the owners taking a massive, steaming dump on the FFP rules.
Huge wages and even more wages going to a secret offshore account.
It also helps to pay apart from Manchester Shity (United), sorry guys, but the guys doing finances are just Shity. And then… Manchester OilCity.
Who have ±40mil wage bill bigger than any other team in the league (Arsenal, apart from United, who are even with them)… below Arsenal is another 16mil drop to Chelsea. They essentially spend 25% more on wages. If you have the luxury to do that, the bench may be very competitive place to be and those guys might even be happy to be there.
Just to put it into perspective. Their wage bill - 202mil. Arsenal 166 mil., Odegaard, Saka, Jesus, those 3 are 35mil, imagine you can have this caliber on top of the current squad and still fit within their budget. Lets say bench consisting of Vlahovič, Maddison, Rodrygo. And even with those 3 they would still be under the wage bill of City.
Its not that hard to manage as it is hard to fit within your FFP 200+mil wage bill.
The secret ingredient is …. Crime.
Money.
They’ve got the big three drivers of success aligned - ownership, operations/recruitment, and management. The owners spend a lot, but it is spent wisely by the sporting director, which is aligned with the manager’s philosophy.
Other clubs have some of those things right but not all. And that’s why only one club is enjoying sustained success,