There are many reasons why the English Premier League is so unique and compelling- one of which is the parity at the top. In Great Britain, you don’t have that one team that consistently dominates domestically, like we see in Italy, Germany and France.
There is some variability up at the top, but Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola aims to change that. Coming off a season in which his side broke Premier League records for points, title winning margin, goal differential and goals scored, Pep wants to make this kind of performance an annual thing.
As the League Cup commences this week, Guardiola outlined his vision and his ambitions. Just one week after the club’s owner, Sheikh Mansour, wrote an official letter saying that the team has so much more to win.
“The first priority is the Premier League. That is the nicest one,” said Guardiola.
“When I see for example three teams – Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus – that have won seven leagues in ten years they show me they are the best teams.”
“We want to be consistent and solid in that competition. After, we want to improve in knockout games on the ones we have made in the past. We’re going to try.”
Guardiola has made it clear- he is prioritizing the marathon over the sprint. For those who thought that they would go all in on trying to win UEFA Champions League this year, and place more emphasis on that, instead of the league- well, what he said here is the total opposite.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud and YouTube. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to any and all of his.