This weekend witnessed an extraordinary moment in sporting history as Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City etched their name in history by securing a glorious treble. However, amidst the euphoria, a question lingers: Who stands atop the most outstanding performers in the realm of treble-winning achievements?
In order to gauge how Pep’s team measures up, football experts at SeatPick have compared the current season’s match performance data of all previous treble winners to see how the Blues compare.
Overall, Manchester City more than hold their own against the average of all other treble winners.
City played 61 games in total, a fair reflection of how the demands of modern football have evolved considering the treble-winning Manchester United side only played 51 matches, a staggering 10-game difference. This effect on player welfare has unsurprisingly resulted in the need for bigger squads and rotation becoming more important as a tool for longevity and tactical success.
When it comes to discipline, Pep Guardiola’s side are comfortably ahead of the rest of the pack. An average of just 1.25 Yellow Cards per game is incredibly low, and 44 yellow cards over 38 Premier League games leaves them tied lowest with West Ham United, 40 less than relegated Leeds United who received the most in the Premier League season.
City’s discipline extended to red cards as well, averaging just 0.03 red cards per 90 minutes. Astonishingly, Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan had the highest average bookings per game, amounting to 2.53 yellow cards and 0.27 red cards per game. A very uncharacteristic statistic from the Portuguese manager’s time in Italy.
Moving to the attacking side of the game, one would expect this great Manchester City team, who have scored goals at will, to be leading the group, especially with the contributions of Erling Haaland. However, this is not the case with City averaging 2.48 goals per game.
This has left them in fourth position below Bayern Munich in 2019/20 (3.06%), Barcelona led Messi, Suarez and Neymar in 2014/15 (2.92%), Jupp Heynce’s 2012/2013 Bayern Munich (2.74%), and Pep’s very own 2008/09 Barcelona team (2.66%). Lower on the list are Sir Alex Ferguson’s 1998/99 Manchester United (2.18%) and Jose’s pragmatic 2009/10 Inter (1.80%).
In the final category, City fair slightly better. With a win percentage of 72.13% this season, they exceed the group’s average by 0.03%. Barcelona in 2014/15 top the list with an 83.3% win rate, followed by Bayern in 2012/2013 with 83% and Bayern in 2019/20 (82.7%). However, the truly surprising statistic emanates from lower down the list.
The 1998/99 Manchester United treble-winning side had a win percentage of just 54.9 over their 51-game season. This is nearly 20 percent lower than Manchester City having played 10 games less. An interesting point to ponder when the inevitable discussion between both sides of Manchester arise over who has won the ‘better’ treble.
Overall, Manchester City’s historic treble stands up well against those that have shared the achievement in previous years. City are the most disciplined team to have won the treble, achieving a higher win percentage than their competitors, whilst averaging the fourth highest goals per game.
Pep Guardiola’s side will get their plaudits as well as their fair share of criticism with regards to their alleged financial breaches, but regardless they have managed to do what only six others have achieved, becoming the second English team to do so.
SeatPick conducted this research with the aim of comparing performance metrics of Manchester City (thus far) against other treble winners utilising historical match log data. If you have enjoyed this information, go to seatpick.com to view more work done by SeatPick.
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