Was wondering how they do it so well and sure it’s been that way since Sheikh Mansour bought the club. At other big clubs there’s a first XI that’s going to play most weeks with some squad players on the fringes when fit whereas at City I’ve noticed that they could probably field 2 good starting XIs from one week to the next and wouldn’t struggle. Like sometimes you’ll see Stones and Ake in defence then another game it’s Dias and Gvardiol, sometimes Akanji plays there. Been like that for quite a while remembering when it was 4-4-2 under Mancini and Pellegrini having Aguero and Tevez up front with Dzeko and Balotelli before Negredo and Jovetic as back up. Whenever someone gets injured it’s barely even a problem and they seem to know how to manage big players really well, bit jealous as a United fan as whenever one player is dropped, it’s such a big deal.
Noticed that the formation also changes as well quite often, for example
3-2-4-1 vs Chelsea
3-4-2-1 vs Bournemouth
4-2-3-1 vs United
Money
Money and trophies.
One of the few times a professional footballer would ride the bench, knowing theyre on an elite squad with an incredible coaching team that can take them to the next level.
They don’t, why do you think Jesus, zinchenko, Sterling and palmer all left ? They get rid of players who want more game time. Then they replace them with high quality players who then fight it out with the current city players and either get into the team or are then sold when they inevitably want more game time.
I think you’ve misunderstood quite a few things.
Rotation - saw a stat after around 10 games this season they had made less subs and rotated the starting line up less than any other team in the prem. It’s a myth they have a huge squad.
System - they rarely change their system (don’t confuse formation with system). They always shape up in a 325 in possession and 442 out of possession. The only times I’ve ever seen them deviate from this is against some teams later in the champions league. They play the same way every game. Controlled possession, high press, high emphasis on positional awareness.
Injuries - they have lots of players who can play multiple positions. Say foden gets injured, they have 2 or 3 replacements who can play the number 8 in their system. Same for the defenders, akanji, gvardiol and ake can either play centrally or LB. They also don’t have answers for every position, when rodri is injured their system really struggles. They lost 2 out of 3 games without rodri during his ban.
Winning helps
For context/transparency I’m a Liverpool fan.
They don’t have a big squad. None of City, Liverpool or arsenal have big squads.
They all have 13-15 starter level players, backed up by young players.
Most of those 13-15 cover multiple positions which gives the illusion of 2 per position.
Look at any of those clubs benches in league games. Against Chelsea, City didn’t even fill their bench spots.
They are managed by the best manager ever.
The wages.
Winning helps keep everyone happy
Huge wages and even more wages going to a secret offshore account.
It also helps to pay apart from Manchester Shity (United), sorry guys, but the guys doing finances are just Shity. And then… Manchester OilCity.
Who have ±40mil wage bill bigger than any other team in the league (Arsenal, apart from United, who are even with them)… below Arsenal is another 16mil drop to Chelsea. They essentially spend 25% more on wages. If you have the luxury to do that, the bench may be very competitive place to be and those guys might even be happy to be there.
Just to put it into perspective. Their wage bill - 202mil. Arsenal 166 mil., Odegaard, Saka, Jesus, those 3 are 35mil, imagine you can have this caliber on top of the current squad and still fit within their budget. Lets say bench consisting of Vlahovič, Maddison, Rodrygo. And even with those 3 they would still be under the wage bill of City.
Its not that hard to manage as it is hard to fit within your FFP 200+mil wage bill.
The secret ingredient is …. Crime.
Unlimited money, offshore accounts, 115 charges of fraud against ffp and a world class coach. Duh
Money.