11 Jun 2023 14:57:26
So City have the treble, and have beaten everyone put in front of them for the three trophies. For that they have to be congratulated as it is no mean feat. However I don't think it is quite the feat achieved in 99.

It may be my red tinted glasses, but the teams that city have played to win the CL just don't feel of the same quality as the teams we had to get past in 99. A group of death with us, Bayern and Barcelona, each with players of great quality and experience. A quarter final against Inter with the likes of Zanetti, Baggio, Ronaldo, Simeone and Zamarano in the team. A semi final against Juventus with the likes of Conte, Deschamps, Davids, Di Livio, Zidane and Inzaghi in the team. Then Bayern in the final with all of the quality and experience, and with us missing Keane and Scholes.

Compare that to City's easier group stage, RB Leipzig in the last 16, a less than vintage Bayern in the QF, the same with Real in the SF who are nowhere near the team of the past and finished 10 points behind a poor Barcelona team in La Liga, who we knocked out of the EL. Inter put up a good fight last night but quality wise aren't the best and finished 18 points behind Napoli in Serie A.

Also in the league we were up against a real Arsenal side with huge quality, and experience of winning the league the year before. This season it was only an inexperienced Arsenal team that even tried to put up a fight, but which was always going to fizzle out with a bit of pressure.

Same in the FA cup where we had to get past that same Arsenal side in the SF in a replay having had Keane sent off, and Schmeichel saving a late penalty.

Looking at the two teams, I would say that only Diaz, DeBruyne and Haaland would have got into our 99 first 11. Maybe Walker in place of Neville, but I honestly don't see Schmeichel, Stam, Irwin, Beckham, Keane, Scholes and Giggs being replaced by anyone in this current City team when looking at it man for man at the time they were playing. Obviously with the extra fitness etc of todays teams, a game against the two would be very close and City may edge it, but if basing it on the quality of the 99 side at that time against their peers, and this City team now against its peers, I don't see more than 3 or 4 players making a combined 11.

All that said, congratulations to City, they are definitely the best team out there currently, albeit being slightly overshadowed by 115 financial charges. It's just the quality of the rest that isn't great which is a shame as it would have been good to see this City team against some real quality like we faced in 99 to see how they faired. It may still have ended the same, unfortunately we will never know.

I don't think this treble will be remembered the same as ours, as it is the second time it has been done and not the first. It was nowhere near as dramatic and also has the financial issues hanging over it. That won't matter to City fans currently though and hopefully we can try and challenge them again sometime soon.

Let's get some decent additions in, get rid of some of the lesser thought of players and see where we get to next season. Who knows where we can get to with some extra quality.

1.) 11 Jun 2023
11 Jun 2023 15:39:07
Bang on Brendan exactly my thoughts but everybody has their own opinion

No point really trying to say which is better as it’s pointless and can never be proven

Let’s hope the charges can be proven though

Not bitter or jealous really.

2.) 11 Jun 2023
11 Jun 2023 16:02:07
Manchester 115.

3.) 11 Jun 2023
11 Jun 2023 16:26:16
Forget the charges. There won't be anything done on that. don't try to compare either. Both have won it and both are great teams. Someone in the near future will win the quadruple too and that will then be the benchmark.

Records are meant to be broken.

4.) 11 Jun 2023
11 Jun 2023 17:21:52
I think it’s a huge achievement for Pep and his players but not for the club itself. Whether or not the FA is able to get the charges to stick, everyone but their fans will see City’s success as having come as a direct result of them breaking the rules and potentially the law. For as good as this City side is and all the fantastic football they’ve played this season, there will always be a huge asterisk next to this treble, and, imo, rightly so.

5.) 11 Jun 2023
11 Jun 2023 17:34:26
Great OP. Okay we wanted to be unique but as has been said, once we set that benchmark it was going to be chased down. That’s what happens to records.
As for their FFP issues they will be dealt with in due course……or not. The fact is that looking purely and solely at the football playing side of things City are way ahead of us and others. They play a brand of football we and others wish we could play. The answer is clear, just as SAF stated years ago re knocking Liverpool off their perch. Well we have to sort our house out, re-build with proper recruitment and management by owners and go again. There is little point in sulking. To win we have to ……. get our s*1t together and move on.
Closing, and through gritted teeth, I say, well done Citeh. Thoroughly deserved.

6.) 11 Jun 2023
11 Jun 2023 18:57:13
I hope pep leaves them now he's done the treble. Will be hard to better that and he's done what he was brought to city to do. Like ferguson was pep is the manager of his generation and get the job done.

7.) 11 Jun 2023
11 Jun 2023 19:38:03
League - undecided until the last game of the season. FA Cup - semi-final, 10 men, penalty save and that Giggs goal. ECL - the comeback in Turin and those 3 minutes at the Nou Camp. You have to admit the story of the 99 season was better. I mean, c'mon ?‍♂️?.

8.) 12 Jun 2023
12 Jun 2023 07:52:54
99
Fa semi final is my favourite ever game.

9.) 12 Jun 2023
12 Jun 2023 09:23:17
Don’t forget that we were lucky to win the 1999 ECL. The better team lost.

10.) 12 Jun 2023
12 Jun 2023 12:18:01
patrick, true the better team on the night lost but they really should not of been there only due to a howler from Schmeichel in the last group game!

11.) 12 Jun 2023
12 Jun 2023 13:58:20
Sure, luck or lack of it plays a big part. Would Mourinho have had his stellar career if Scholes’ goal had stood? Or Porto’s been given offside? The “Special one” is maybe “the lucky one! ”
Ps. Don’t show this post to Ed 002!

12.) 12 Jun 2023
12 Jun 2023 15:08:51
Good to see you back, jred. Hope you're well, fella.

13.) 12 Jun 2023
12 Jun 2023 15:30:53
we had scholes and keane suspended which probably at the time were the best midfield pairing in the world. the better team won.

14.) 12 Jun 2023
12 Jun 2023 17:08:26
Better team on paper, perhaps. But the game is played on grass. On the night, the better team lost.

15.) 12 Jun 2023
12 Jun 2023 17:23:07
People also say we were lucky in the 99 semi replay but forget we scored a legitimate goal in the first game which was chalked off for offside

Every team has to have a bit of luck

I’ll put it another way also, How many genuine world
class players are there at this moment

I’m really scratching my head and can name only 3 Mbappe Debruyne and Haaland

Salah was so was Modric but time has caught them up

Far more better players around in 99 and far better teams.

16.) 12 Jun 2023
12 Jun 2023 21:32:02
A good window and we will be very close to where they are. They are aging and the midfield engines of Gundogan who might leave, kdb who is 32 I think and has his injuries and gets harder very year. Not as invincible as people make them out to be and cl final was a good example of that. Rodri best player in that team, the glue that holds everything together and his work rate is unbelievable.