Pep Guardiola cannot win impossible battle for Man City recognition

It remains unclear what trophies, if any, this Manchester City team are going to win under Pep Guardiola but the bar is set too high by some

For a long time after Manchester City's takeover, criticising the team or the manager came at a cost. It felt like there was always at least one member of a section of the fanbase ready to bring up Gillingham or York or Wrexham.

It is always important to remember where you have been, and it is to the credit of so many Blues that they have not let success go to their head. Seeing things that some fanbases will never see involves plummeting down two divisions before a dizzying rise to the top of European football.

But some took City's fall as a get-out-of-jail free card for anything that didn't meet expectations as City chased trophies under Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini. Basically, you're not allowed to feel that the team should be doing better in the Premier League or Champions League because even falling short of a new target is so much better than where the team was 15 years ago.

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Times change, though, especially when such eye-watering levels of money are involved as were with the takeover. Just as Pep Guardiola has to adapt his expectations for the squad he has, so the fans have to be guided by what is in front of them rather than what came behind.

That feels relevant again at the moment. A few weeks ago City were challenging in four competitions for just the third time in Guardiola's 10 years at the club at this late stage of the season, and they were widely accepted to be back after struggling last season.

Now, if they lose the Carabao Cup on Sunday they will have gone out in two competitions and lost critical ground in a third. The knee-jerk reaction after Champions League and Premier League pain is that they are not back and never will be.

It is entirely personal as to how fans feel about their team, and nobody is or should be telling anyone how to feel. The reality of the players and squad has not changed this month - they are a good yet imperfect side that could win trophies this season but have shown why they are not favourites to do so against stronger teams - and it is down to individuals whether they think the group can get better or not.

What isn't helpful though, is the relegation flip that anything this team does or does not do is held to the standard of the Treble winners. There's an argument that the class of 2023 weren't even the best Guardiola sides at City, but the fact that they won everything does not mean City should win everything every year.

Once again, times change. Otherwise, the players from Istanbul would be bossing European football again and showing City how silly they were to move on rather than playing for teams including Fenerbahce, Burnley, and Everton; only two from the squad of 23 could get further in the Champions League this season than City have.

City's Treble, and the fourth consecutive league title that followed, are historic high points that are held up as some of the greatest achievements in the game. Guardiola and his new side are obviously trying to reach those levels, but it takes time and luck as well as money.

It was unfair to give post-takeover City teams a free ride simply because the club was in a much better position than it had been, and the same applies to this team compared to the Treble winners. Guardiola and his players may be able to beat Arsenal to trophies as soon as a matter of days, but if they are always going to be held up against the greatest winners that Blues have ever seen it is going to be impossible for their progress and successes to be recognised.