3 back to back PLs, just won the treble and they’re still playing as if they had been missing on the league for half a decade, even without some key players. It’s ridiculous.
I remember Inter’s 2010-2011 side, who were still fresh from winning the treble and 5 scudetti in a row, and they were pretty spineless tbh. Did a decent season anyway, winning Copa Italia and making it to QF in the UCL, but didn’t seem much interested in defending any of their competitions including Serie A, which Milan won comfortably.
I know Mourinho left and also, there have been a couple of treble-winning sides since then who did just fine. But honestly, how common is it in sports to retain the same drive, even after achieving massive success? Not so common I’d say. It’s pretty unbelievable, regardless of what you may think of City.
They find the right players with the adequate hunger to improve and as sooooooon as they say they would rather go somewhere else they do NOT keep them.
“Our ships must all sail in the same direction”
And Pep keeps evolving his approach constantly, keeping things fresh, and rotating the squad every season up until about February/March when he finds out who he can trust that season.
Pretty amazing consistency.
It’s pretty easy to do all these things when things are going well too. Players want to join, everyone is happy.