Manchester City’s performances last season were disappointing, admits Omar Berrada
Manchester City finished second in the 2019/20 Premier League season
|Getty
Manchester City’s chief football operations officer Omar Berrada has confessed that by the club’s lofty standards, their performance last season was ‘disappointing. The Cityzens finished second, eighteen points behind Liverpool, and were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals.
While many expected Manchester City to complete their first three peat, Liverpool changed things as they stormed to the Premier League title. The Reds finished eighteen points ahead of the reigning Champions, which saw City’s expectations change to the Champions League trophy. However, despite being handed a comparatively easier draw against Olympique Lyon, City were sent packing by the Ligue 1 side.
That saw many fans and critics alike disappointed by Pep Guardiola’s side last season and reports indicate that Manchester City’s board were moving along the same path. That has been reiterated by Omar Berrada as he admitted that by the club’s lofty expectations, their performances “last season was disappointing”. City’s chief football operations officer further added that they believe the squad has been reinforced and the club is now “ready to go and challenge again”.
“By our level of expectations, last season was disappointing,” he says. “Our objective every single year is to win the Premier League and we believe this season we have the squad to do so. We’ve addressed some of the areas that needed addressing in the squad and I think we’re ready to go and challenge again for the Premier League, and to win it. Clearly, winning the Champions League is one of our goals. We’re convinced we will win it and there will come a time when hopefully we will win it more than once in a short period of time,” Berrada told the Athletic.
"We believe we have the right manager, we have the right squad, we have the right supporting structure and we will win it, we will get there, that’s absolutely for sure. But we need to continue learning, competing with the top clubs and increasing our level of team and individual experience in that competition, so that when we do break the barrier of the semi-final (a stage City have only reached once, in 2015-16 under Guardiola’s predecessor Manuel Pellegrini) and make it to the final over multiple years, then hopefully we will win it. As I said before, not just once but more than once. We have a very strong generation of players right now and we believe this is a generation that deserves to win it.”
