Pat Nevin believes newly crowned Premier League champions Manchester City are the best team to ever grace the competition.
City secured their third Premier League title – and a fifth league crown – after rivals Manchester United suffered a shock defeat to West Brom on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola’s current side have yet to win back-to-back league titles despite their enormous riches but have been compared to vintage league-winning sides of the Premier League era.
Speaking to David McIntyre and Kevin Kilbane, the former Chelsea midfielder gave his definition as to what he considers to be the hallmarks of a great team.
“What you mean as best, and what I mean for best, and what other people mean for best is different,” Nevin told OTB.
“It comes down to the amount of championships, the number of points you win it by; did you win European football games?
“I’ve always been more towards the aesthetic side [when regarding the team as the best].
“Are they a more beautiful team to watch? Are they built in such an extraordinary way that nobody else does it like that?
“And in those two areas – yes – they’re the best. In the other areas of winning trophies, Pep Guardiola isn’t as good as Jose Mourinho. What is best?
“You can do it by stats or you can do it in a more artistic-aesthetic way. My way just happens to be the aesthetic way because I love watching beautiful football and I want to be entertained.
“I don’t want to just win, I want to win and win beautifully. The first team that I watched and loved was the Brazil 1970 team –and that was winning and winning beautifully.
“And then I watched Celtic winning nine trophies in a row when I was a kid and they did it [by] winning absolutely beautifully.
“It wasn’t good enough to win well – you had to win well and stylishly. And you can’t argue that Manchester City are probably the most artistic and stylish team you’ve probably seen in the league.”
Written by James Hopper
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