Manchester City are in scintillating form.
At The Etihad they are tearing teams to shreds and have racked up an astonishing 99 goals in all competitions in mid-January.
The plaudits continue to pour down on Manuel Pellegrini’s men as they strive to win an unprecedented quadruple this season.
However, it should not be forgotten that City currently sit second in the Premier League, they are not runaway leaders and are by no means guaranteed to finish the season as title winners.
And while many seem to be perpetually praising the men in blue they are in fact underachieving.
The squad at Pellegrini’s disposal is the best in Premier League history.
It is a squad packed with quality throughout – so much so that it is hard to see where the Sky Blues could strengthen with a January signing.
In Alvaro Negredo, Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko they have without doubt the best strikeforce in this seasons Premier League and probably the most potent attack since Manchester United’s front four in 1998/99.
That is before you factor in the permanently injured £22million man Stevan Jovetic, giving this City line-up a frightening array of attacking talent.
In midfield, City have a plethora of talent, ranging from the powerhouse that is Yaya Toure to the mercurial Spaniard David Silva, again offering far more diversity of skills than any Premier League squad has possessed before.
In Vincent Kompany, the Citizens have the finest centre-half in world football, ably supported by the superb Pablo Zabaleta, the young prospect Matija Nastasic and the experienced Gael Clichy.
When a player drops out of the side through injury, there is never a concern at City, given the proven talent they are able to bring in as replacements.
Arsenal went through the 2003-4 season unbeaten in the Premier League but it was their first eleven that was supremely talented and their squad as a whole cannot compete with this current crop of City players.
Similarly, United’s treble winners in 1999 was built upon the success of their first team while the squad overall was no match for City today.
The closest competition in Premier League history comes from United’s 2008 Champions League winning squad which featured Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez among many other stars.
However the strength in depth of that squad is outmuscled by the quality that City possess in reserve today, making this current City pack the best assembled since the Premier League’s inception in 1992.
It is not just this season where City have boasted by far the strongest squad in the league.
Since 2008, when the fortunes arrived from the Middle East in the shape of Sheikh Mansour, City have spent their way to the top, blowing every other club out of the water financially and assembling a squad every club was envious of.
A return therefore of just one FA Cup and one Premier League title since Mansour arrived represents a dramatic underachievement by the blue side of Manchester.
Even the season where they claimed their title, City only beat neighbours United on goal difference on the final day – despite having a vastly superior squad to Ferguson’s men.
City should have run away with that title and won the league at a canter but instead they struggled over the line and only won thanks to being gifted the league by United.
Last season, City again possessed the strongest squad and yet fell way short of expectations – finishing 11 points adrift of Ferguson’s United.
Currently, despite their incredible goal scoring exploits, City are trailing behind Arsenal in the Premier League which again represents failure by the Sky Blues.
Given the squad they have, City should be way out in front by now and are instead still right in the mix in what is developing into an extremely close title race.
Their form away from home is undermining their supremacy at The Etihad and is holding them back from reaching their full potential.
It is not just the Premier League where City should have done far better in recent years. Their FA Cup win in 2011 has not been built upon and their loss in the final to Wigan last season was a severe failure by Roberto Mancini and his players.
In the Champions League, while the draw has been tough on City in the past two seasons, to fail to progress past the group stage before this year was embarrassing given the squad available to Mancini.
So while the current performances are well worthy of praise, they should come as no surprise.
Given the strength of their squad and the players Pellegrini has to choose from, these performances are the least that should be expected.
The real test will come at the end of the season when we will know whether City have added the trophies to their cabinet that they should be expected to, or whether they have once again fallen short of what they should be achieving.
Image courtesy of MCFC Official, with thanks
