Manchester City expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany has acknowledged that there were "failures of immense note" during a difficult 2024-25 season for Pep Guardiola's side, but their campaign cannot be described as a "disaster" when taking into consideration how poorly Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur performed.
After winning an unprecedented fourth consecutive Premier League title last season to establish themselves as the dominant force in English football, the Citizens let their incredibly high standards slip and failed to win a single major trophy for the first time in eight years.
The less said about City's European and EFL Cup endeavours the better, and their efforts to win the FA Cup were in vain, losing in the final to Crystal Palace, while a top-five finish and qualification for the Champions League was confirmed on the final day of the season courtesy of a 2-0 victory at Fulham last weekend.
Reacting to City's win at Craven Cottage, McInerney told Sports Mole: "They were good value for the win in the end. I think it was telling that Guardiola once again lent on the older, more experienced players which has been a story in the past few weeks, and it was those guys you'd argue that stepped up.
"I think in the end, City did salvage a season to something relatively respectable."
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Man City avoid financial "catastrophe" with Champions League qualification
"Essential, absolutely (to qualify for the Champions League)," he added. "There is no way City could operate in the way that they wanted to without Champions League football next year.
"I would argue financially the impact would have been pretty catastrophic ahead of the potential rebuild that's been talked about an awful lot".
The fact that Man City were never seriously challenging Liverpool at the top end of the Premier League table, finishing 13 points behind the Reds, and endued a "pathetic" Champions League campaign is what will have frustrated Guardiola the most in the eyes of McInerney.
"After you've won four leagues in a row and the treble, it is of course a massive letdown," said McInerney. "It's not the fact that we finished third, it's the fact that we finished miles behind Liverpool - that's what Guardiola is frustrated about.
"It's not the fact that we didn't win the Champions League, it's the fact that we were pathetic in it. That is the issue really for Manchester City. It's not winning - you want to win of course - but it's the manner of it. It was a bit of a catastrophe through the winter months [and] that's what really derailed the season.
"From January 1 in the Premier League (until the end of the season), City were top of the [form] table. City had been the best side in the league, even played one game less than Liverpool as well - the most points accrued since January 1.
Man City "might have won the league" without "awful" winter spell
"It was just that weird middle spell where City just absolutely collapsed. If that hadn't happened, if City had just been okay, they might have won the league, or at very least pushed Liverpool to the end of the day.
"But that never happened and City were absolutely awful, they were truly awful over the winter months and they let themselves down in big games.
"There's no world in which losing the Spurs 4-0 at home is acceptable. There's no world in these days in not getting a victory against Man United given how poor they've been as well - I know it's a derby anything can happen - but there's been failures of immense note.
"We were played off the park in the Champions League, convincingly, by Real Madrid, the team that we used to do the same to, even if they beat us we were always the better footballing side. Madrid were miles ahead of City.
"We've seen teams that routinely would have been terrified of City come to the Etihad and attack us and have a lot of joy. We lacked conviction, I would argue, in the FA Cup final. I think City were the better side but the mentality wasn't there and the belief. These are all the negatives.
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"I think there's been some really poor decision-making from around the club with who to lean on and when not to lean on people, not to reinvest the money. We saw our captain mid-season decide to just go for a jolly over in Italy because he didn't like the fact he wasn't playing - that's a leader, the man who's among the most experienced in Kyle Walker, that was a shambles.
"Millions of off-the-pitch rumours, loads of injuries, just an absolute s*** show, it's been an absolute dive at times, but somehow City still managed to finish third. They did win the Community Shield, and people can argue all day about whether that's a valid trophy or not, but ultimately City lifted silverware at Wembley which once again most people would dream of.
"They got to another FA Cup final for the third time in a row and the seventh FA Cup semi-final in a row, and they finished [just three points behind] the glorious Arsenal who were apparently challenging all season.
"The point I'm making is that it feels like it should be a three-out-of-ten season. I don't think it was actually, I think it would end up being maybe a five, something like that, just a pretty average one.
"If someone said to us City aren't going to win the league this year, it's going to be a transitional one, we'll have a lot of injuries, it'll derail the season a little bit and some of the key players will probably find that their legs aren't quite as there, I don't think people would have been that upset.
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"It was the shock of it happening in the moment, if that makes sense, and the fact that the [poor] results were in that horrible [run] bunch together. If they were spread out a little bit more, if we'd had a couple of losses in the first 10 games, then a couple more in the last 15, I think it wouldn't have stung quite as bad as that massive spell where we were just losing loads of games, and that really compounded the season."
City's season not a "disaster" like Man United, Spurs
McInerney believes that City's disappointing season does not compare to the disastrous campaigns of Man United and Spurs, who finished 15th and 17th respectively in the Premier League table, with the latter beating the former in the Europa League final to salvage something positive.
"Once again, Guardiola's floor is a lot of people's ceilings," he added. "I know City have got a lot of money, they've spent a lot and they've got the quality there - that's probably why [the season has been disappointing overall] - but it could be worse.
"It felt like a disaster, but when you look at it, technically it hasn't been because look at where Man United are and Spurs are - that is an absolute disaster of a season.
"We saw Chelsea win the league, then [Jose] Mourinho get sacked (in December 2015) when they were [16th] - that's a disaster. City have been nowhere near that at any point, so as much as it feels terrible, and it probably is, it didn't end up terrible."
Ahead of a much-anticipated squad rebuild at Man City in the summer, McInerney has also shared his thoughts on the big changes that he feels need to be made at the club to put things right for next season.
Press play on the video at the top of this article to hear the full discussion.
Oliver Thomas
