Is the Pep Guardiola era at Manchester City coming to its natural conclusion? And how dominant was it really when all is said and done?
The Spaniard took over the club in 2016, following highly successful previous stints over Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
His time in the English top flight has been sprinkled with silverware, there's no doubting that. A Premier League title in just his second season was followed up by another domestic triumph in the 2018/19 campaign.
Three League Cups, two Community Shields and an FA Cup last year have only served to heighten the 49-year-old's stature as a manager cross-channel.
However, City remain without a Champions League crown in their history, and Colm Boohig joined Ger and Eoin on Deal or No Deal on OTB AM to reflect on where the club are at now, after the 5-2 defeat to Leicester City at the weekend.
Is the Pep Guardiola era of dominance over?
Colm Boohig:
"I think Pep Guardiola is done. This is unprecedented territory for [him], into a fifth season as manager of a football club, and bear in mind - Pep has only been a senior manager for 12 years at three fantastic clubs with amazing options.
"He probably has taken this Manchester City side as far as it can go. I was fully sure Pep was going to leave this past summer, and only for the CAS appeal with the Champions League he's stayed.
"With Pep now he's kind of a bit in No man's land, and that Liverpool performance and result last night would not have helped Pep's thinking there.
"I think he's going to see the season out. He might win another domestic cup but it doesn't matter if you're Man City, winning the League Cup, the FA Cup, it's totally irrelevant.
"You have to win the Premier League and mount some sort of realistic Champions League title challenge, which he hasn't been able to do since he arrived at the club in 2016."
Pep's defensive acquisitions:
Ger Gilroy:
"The defenders he has signed, not just [with] City - he didn't sign Mangala or Otamendi, they were signed under the previous regimes.
"Nathan Aké £40 million, Kyle Walker £47 million, John Stones £50 million, Benjamin Mendy £52 million, Aymeric Laporte £58 million, João Cancelo £58 million, Rúben Dias £65 million.
"Is it fair to say that, of those players, only Laporte has got better?"
"Is that what you get for £50 million these days? This guy is vastly overrated" 😒@ColmBoohig joined @gergilroy & @EoinSheahan to discuss Pep Guardiola's handling of defenders, particularly Kyle Walker | #OTBAM
Full #transfernews ➡️ https://t.co/bwufZJWZqS pic.twitter.com/HFtXZTebIX— Off The Ball (@offtheball) September 29, 2020
Are Pep's defenders destined to fail?
Eoin Sheahan:
"I think there's a chance that there is a set of conditions here where Rúben Dias comes in and the odds are stacked against him immediately, that it is set up in a way where your central defenders are destined to fail almost.
"It seems he has made players better - just none of those players have been central defenders. Fernandinho has been better under Pep Guardiola, then you look at other players that have got better and it's probably down to age.
"Sterling, Sané took a step up under Pep, Bernardo Silva, maybe Gabriel Jésus for a while as well. I definitely think there's a disparity here - if you're picking the players that have got better under Pep they seem to be attacking players."
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