🤔 Four conclusions as Man City complete the English clean sweep | OneFootball

Manchester City made English football history by becoming the first club ever to complete a domestic treble on Saturday.

Here are four things we took away from their thumping win over Watford …

You can’t afford to miss sitters against City

Watford were always huge underdogs going into this game and their loud and proud supporters are unlikely to be too heartbroken at the result when all is said and done.

But the day could have gone so differently had Roberto Pereyra taken that massive early chance.

The Hornets had arguably been the better team prior to David Silva’s opener and a 1-0 lead would really have put the cat amongst the pigeons.

Then again, it may have just jolted City into coming back and winning the game anyway.

Kevin De Bruyne makes a brilliant team stratospheric

Despite a fairly wobbly start by their standards, City were as dominant as the scoreline suggests in this game.

But it was remarkable how much Pep Guardiola’s side stepped things up a gear when De Bruyne came off the bench in the second half, and it was the Belgian’s super cool goal which made it 3-0 and effectively ended the game as a contest.

De Bruyne played just 974 minutes of Premier League football this season and his team racked up 98 points.

Imagine what they might be capable of if he can stay injury-free next term?

Javi Gracia has done an exceptional job at Watford

It’s a shame that Watford’s first FA Cup final since 1984 and possibly their last one for a while saw them beaten in such comprehensive fashion by a far superior team with far superior resources.

But it shouldn’t detract from what an excellent job their manager has done this season.

Few gave Gracia a hope in hell of lasting beyond October, never mind the whole campaign, but the Hornets were never in danger of relegation and made it to a domestic cup final. You have to say that’s a job very well done.

And credit also to their fantastic supporters, who did their club proud and kept singing even at 6-0 down.

This Manchester City team deserves to be remembered forever

We are fond of ranking things in football and the debate surrounding whether Guardiola’s Manchester City should be considered the greatest team in the history of English football will rage on late into the night.

Comparing teams and players from different eras is always fool’s errand and we will never know whether this City side would have beaten the great Preston North End side of 1889, or even Manchester United’s 1999 treble winners.

But football is evolving all the time and it’s widely accepted that the game in its current form is better, faster and more fine-tuned than it’s ever been.

For that reason, it’s also widely accepted that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have to be considered better players than the likes of Diego Maradona or Pelé.

And though accusations of financial doping and allegations of fiscal dishonesty aren’t going to go away any time soon, in pure sporting terms, this group of City players and their manager have now cemented themselves as one of English football’s all-time greats.

Their domestic treble (or quadruple if you count the Community Shield) may not be as impressive as the one achieved by their near neighbours 20 years ago but if an English clean sweep was easy, somebody else would have done it by now.

The club which is often derided for its lack of history just made a pretty huge piece of it.