Danny Murphy has suggested that the mentality at Manchester City could take a dip following their treble-winning season.
The Citizens not only secured their fifth Premier League title in six years last time out, they also went on to win the FA Cup and their first Champions League trophy.
Despite these recent victories, one pundit thinks the Manchester club could start to suffer from their success moving into next season.
Murphy hints at subconscious City drop-off
Speaking on talkSPORT, Murphy said this on the matter.
He said: “From City’s perspective, when you’ve won a treble, I haven’t done what they’ve done but when you’ve been successful, there is a tendency, there is human nature or subconsciously however you want to try and explain it, there is a drop-off.
“[It’s] very hard to maintain that level of amazingness that they’ve been at for last season.”
In the Premier League, the Citizens won 28 of their 38 league games, scoring 94 goals and conceding 33 along the way, ending the season with 89 points, five above Arsenal in second place.
Following that, City beat their close rivals Manchester United 2-1 in the FA C up final, before securing their first Champions League title in Istanbul by beating Inter Milan 1-0.
After City won the domestic treble back in the 2018/19 season, the club followed that up by only winning the Carabao Cup in the next campaign, which could be why Murphy thinks they may have an issue regaining the titles they won last season next time out.
However, bearing in mind how often the Citizens have won the Premier League title under Pep Guardiola’s reign, it’s safe to say that they know what it takes to win the competition, not just in terms of their quality of football but also from a mindset point of view.
Moving forward, if Guardiola can instil the message in his players during pre-season that their intensity levels must not drop and complacency must not creep in, City will certainly be in with a good chance of being as successful as they were last season.
