City Studios were embedded with the first team for the entirety of the 2021/22 season as Pep Guardiola‘s men made it four top flight titles in five seasons.
The result is this seven-part documentary which takes us right through from the major summer signing of Jack Grealish to the title parade through the streets of Manchester in May.
Last week we saw the team stabilise following a rocky start to the campaign, and begin to push towards the top of the table.
The second episode will be available on CITY+ and Recast at 6pm today with the remaining five to follow in the coming weeks.
Here we detail what you can expect from part two...
REHAB RONNIE
Phil Foden‘s young son isn’t just cute, he seems to have a talent for physiotherapy.
Ronnie is a regular at the CFA, popping along with his dad when he gets the opportunity.
With Phil receiving treatment, Ronnie gets up to say hello to Jack Grealish. Grealish asks Ronnie to help him out with a bandage around his knee, which he gets straight to work with.
Ronnie also puts a wrap on the foot of Ferran Torres, who was still a City player at the time of filming.
Rodrigo and Dias take the lead
One of the best features of this entire series is the access into the dressing room on a match day.
Here we see lots of details that previously were only witnessed by a very small number of people.
Something that stands out is the leadership of Rodrigo and Ruben Dias in particular.
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When Pep has finished his pre-match team talk, those two players are often the ones to stand up and offer final words of wisdom or encouragement.
In this episode we see City recover from a rare dip in form to win a Manchester Derby at Old Trafford, something that requires strong leadership from more than just the manager.
COACHES’ ADMIRation for PEP
The respect Pep’s coaching staff have for the manager is evident more than ever in this show.
“He is very demanding on himself, and when you are very demanding on yourself you transfer this and it shows,” said Rodolfo Borrell, Assistant Manager.
“When the coach has very good players, it is easier. When the coach is called Pep Guardiola and has very good players who fights with the demands we have, fight for titles. That’s what it’s about. It’s about winning,” said Lorenzo Buenaventura, Fitness Coach.
“I believe I have verifiable data on how a player evolves from the beginning, since he starts with Pep until he done one or two seasons with Pep. The work Pep does is very important. Analysing, correcting and teaching the player to play in a certain way,” said Carles Planchart, Performance Analysis Coach.
That says it all.
Laporte’s apology
Aymeric Laporte is a key part of City’s past, present and future and one of the best central defenders in the world.
However, even the very best can have an off day. Laporte had one of those in the 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace that features in this episode.
The Spain international conceded possession that led to Palace’s first goal and then he was sent off shortly afterwards.
After the game, he stood up in front of all of his teammates and apologised for his performance.
Speaking to City Studios, he said: “I was very, very angry and very sad. It’s never easy to say but I decided to apologise to my team-mates, they deserve it. They tried their best until the end.”
Joao’s ‘Trivela’
As revealed by Joao Cancelo and Ruben Dias in this episode, Trivela is the Portuguese word for using the outside of your boot to play the ball.
We see Joao and Ruben having a go at it in training before it’s Cancelo who pulls it off expertly in the victory over Everton to tee up Raheem Sterling.
It was an assist that captured everyone’s imagination at the time, so to see the process that has given our full-back the confidence to try it in a Premier League fixture is incredible.
Joao doesn’t believe he can perform this skill better than any other Portuguese player though. He instead gives that title to the winger Ricardo Quaresma.
