Peter Crouch: Man City’s treble winners can be greater than United’s

Peter Crouch says Man City are on the brink of immortality - and could surpass their fiercest rivals great treble side in years to come

By / Football News, Premier League / 10 months ago

You’d be out of your mind to call Pep Guardiola a failure at Man City if they never win the Champions League, but it would always be part of the conversation that they couldn’t get it done.

I fully expect City to win on Saturday night though.

Obviously the owners have been pushing to win the Champions League for years and, when Pep Guardiola is your manager, you’d have expected him to have delivered it by now.

They might look like they’re not feeling it, but there will obviously be that pressure ahead of the final – it’s still the one they haven’t got. And they’ll go into the summer hugely disappointed if they somehow don’t win it.

But even after the Cup Final win you could pick it up on the microphones at Wembley, what they players were saying “one more, one more.”

They’ll be immortalised if they win it to complete the treble – they’ll be best City team of all time and one of the best teams we’ve ever seen.

I just can’t find a weakness in their team.

Man City can be better than United’s treble side

This Man City team has been more dominant through the season than the Man United 1999 treble winners were.

It’s felt like a lot of it was a formality for Man City, whereas that Man United team might’ve been going into that Champions League final as underdogs.

But they had something special about them. Look at the midfield – Scholes, Keane, Beckham, Giggs. And Yorke and Cole up-front was a great combination.

It was an absolute joke how good they were.

21 Apr 1999: Dwight Yorke of Manchester United beats Paolo Montero and Ciro Ferrara of Juventus in the UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg match at the Stadio delle Alpi in Turin, Italy. Yorke scored as United won 3-2 on the night to go through4-3 on aggregate. Mandatory Credit: Mike Hewitt /Allsport

It’s hard to compare because you don’t want to be trapped by the moment and say City are clearly better.

And I think there would be a good mix of players from both sides if you had to pick a team – I’m not sure I want to choose between Scholes, Keane or Kevin De Bruyne.

It’ll be a conversation for years if City do win it all – I think the sides are quite even.

But I’d expect this City team to go on and dominate Europe for years, so they’re on the road to being a better side.

If they do that it’ll elevate them above the Man United treble team.

Spurs need more than a new manager

Ange Postecoglou is a decent appointment for Spurs. A lot of Tottenham fans have been a bit underwhelmed by it but I watched Celtic last year and they will get exciting football at least with the new manager.

They are miles short of where they want to be though.

It wouldn’t matter what manager you bring in – that squad needs improving and has done for a while, so I’m not sure the expectations this season should be very high, unfortunately.

What they will get is a bit more attacking football football with Postecoglou in charge.

Tottenham should always be aiming be aiming for Europe, but if they lose Harry Kane and don’t replace him correctly then they are going to have another tough season.

And I can’t see him staying.

I mean, he scored 30 goals last year in a really struggling side. If Real Madrid or Man United come along it’ll be difficult to say no.

Think about Luka Modric when he went to Madrid. He was turning 27 that September and he’s won 22 trophies since.

Harry Kane’s just a bit older but still has plenty of time to win things there.

The Premier League goalscoring record might be in his mind too, so Man United might appeal to him more, but there’s a big rebuilding project at Spurs needed, so he might think this is his time to go.

Mac Allister’s great, but Liverpool fans will expect more

Alexis Mac Allister is a really good signing for Liverpool. He’s a great player but the fans will definitely want more signings before next season.

Defensive reinforcements and another midfielder would be welcome.

I know he’s being linked elsewhere but I’d absolutely love to see Declan Rice come in as well.

He’s a class act and I think he could go to any club and be a great signing for them.

It probably won’t be Liverpool as he’s going to be very expensive but it would be a great addition

I was delighted to see him pick up the Europa Conference League trophy with West Ham. People sniff at the competition but I thought it was brilliant and you’ve seen the scenes – the players, the fans, the manager, they absolutely loved it.

I was so pleased for them.

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