Manchester City 2022/23 season review: Party like it's 1999 | OneFootball

Manchester City are history-makers.

Pep Guardiola’s side completed an historic treble this season and have gone down in history as one of English football’s greatest ever sides.

Competition breakdown

Premier League – Winners

City lifted the Premier League trophy for a third successive year, becoming the first team to do so since Manchester United between 2006 and 2009 and only the third team in the competition’s history.

While many tipped Pep Guardiola’s side for the title before the season began, it was far from a foregone conclusion in reality. Arsenal led the table for most of the campaign, and at times City looked to be enduring a transition season, with some even questioning whether Erling Haaland was the right fit for Guardiola’s football.

But ultimately, an 11-match winning streak (which included a 4-1 victory over Arsenal) between February and May saw Arsenal buckle under pressure as City strode to the summit, and the title was clinched with three matches to spare.

Champions League – Winners

At last, for the first time in their history, Manchester City are champions of Europe.

After comfortably seeing off RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the knockout rounds it came down to the final in Istanbul, where only Inter stood between City and the one major honour that was missing from their collection. And didn’t they clinch it in fine style?

Champions of Europe, champions of England and Treble winners. It doesn’t get much better than that.

FA Cup – Winners

Lifting the FA Cup to complete a league and cup double was special enough, but beating rivals Manchester United in the final at Wembley made for an unforgettable day.

A brace from captain İlkay Gündoğan cemented his name in City folklore, with his stunning volley after just 12 seconds also going down as the quickest ever FA Cup final goal.

A dream start to a dream final.

EFL Cup – Quarter-final

Possibly City’s worst performance of the entire season saw them eliminated from the EFL Cup at the hands of a Southampton side who were ultimately relegated from the Premier League.

Guardiola’s side were 2-0 down at half-time and failed to muster a shot on target all evening as they kissed goodbye to their hopes of an unprecedented quadruple.

Player of the season: Erling Haaland

When you have a season as exceptional as City’s, there are usually a number of contenders for the Player of the Year award, and the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Gündoğan, Rodri, John Stones, Rúben Dias and Nathan Aké were all outstanding in 2022/23.

But for his phenomenal goalscoring feats, the award simply has to go to Erling Haaland.

Many wondered how quickly the Norwegian would adapt to English football and City’s style of play when he joined last summer, but he quickly blew any concerns away with a brace at West Ham on the opening day of the season.

It wasn’t all plain sailing to be fair, and at times he cut an isolated figure up front as his team-mates struggled to get him into the game.

Nevertheless, the 22-year-old went on to score 52 times in all competitions, including 36 in the league to break the Premier League scoring record for a 38-game season. His nine assists in all competitions also suggests his link-up play improved as the season wore on.

What a debut campaign it was. Just imagine what the future might hold, when he really has adapted.

Game of the season: Manchester City 4-1 Arsenal

The Champions League semi-final dismantling of Real Madrid and the FA Cup final are strong contenders for this accolade, but in the Premier League it was City’s 4-1 thrashing of Arsenal which laid the foundations for everything that came after it.

Despite dropping points in the three matches leading up to it, Arsenal were still in control of the title race when they arrived at the Etihad on 26 April.

But with the home crowd roaring them on, City came flying out of the traps and went 1-0 up in the seventh minute, with De Bruyne beating Aaron Ramsdale with an exquisite long-range finish into the bottom corner.

Stones made it 2-0 just before half-time, before De Bruyne scored again to put the result beyond doubt early in the second half, with Haaland also getting on the scoresheet late on.

For a match between two title rivals it was about as one-sided as you’ll see, and it sent out a message that City were still England’s top dogs.

Top goalscorer: Erling Haaland (52)

Haaland broke the Premier League goalscoring record in City’s win over West Ham on 3 May. Perhaps he will be disappointed that he only scored once more after that, but he’ll be out to break his own record next season.

This season he also became the first Premier League player to score a hat-trick in three successive home matches, the fastest player to score three Premier League hat-tricks (in only eight games, smashing Michael Owen’s previous record by 40) and the fastest to four (in 19 appearances; 46 games fewer than former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy). Of his Premier League goals, 23 were scored with his favoured left foot, six were with his right foot and seven were with his head.

And in the Champions League, he became only the third player to score five goals in one match when he gave RB Leipzig a torrid time in City’s 7-0 second leg victory in the round of 16.

Not bad.

Rising star: Rico Lewis

Lewis made his senior debut off the bench in the second game of the season and scored his first senior goal in a Champions League group stage encounter with Sevilla in November.

But it wasn’t until after the World Cup that he truly began to shine, and it’s no exaggeration to say that he revolutionised City’s system and season.

The teenager featured less regularly after City’s defeat away at Tottenham in early February, but his ability to perfectly play the inverted full-back role seemed to convince Guardiola that it was the way forward, and Stones in particular clearly took a lot from Lewis’s game in the final months of the season.

It’s hard to believe this kid is still only 18. He has the talent, bravery and football intelligence of a seasoned 30-year-old, and he should be considered an important member of the squad next season.

What comes next?

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Guardiola’s City tenure has been his ability to keep motivating his players to come back and keep competing for trophies season after season. After what they’ve achieved this year, he might have big a job on his hands to produce similar results in 2023/24.

City will be favourites for the Premier League title again next season and will be looking to make some quality additions to the squad in the transfer market this summer, with a new central midfielder, a right-winger, a left-back and a centre-back all expected to be on the shopping list.

They won’t be the only club in England hoping to challenge for the title next season, and the Champions League will always be incredibly hard to win, but City can expect to be there or thereabouts as long as Guardiola is in charge.

And with the Uefa Super Cup and the Fifa World Club Cup on the horizon, it promises to be a more hectic season than ever.

Bring it on.