Manchester City 23/24 Fantasy Flashback
- Joe Williams
- Jul 14, 2024
- 7 min read
Before we look ahead to this season's prospects, let's first digest Manchester City's takeaways from the previous season in our 23/24 Fantasy Flashback series. In this year's 24/25 Draft Kit, we are featuring both a Fantasy Flashback and a Fantasy Forecast for every single Premier League team. The flashbacks will be available on Draft Kit launch day, while the forecasts will drop closer to draft day. Check the 24/25 Draft Kit main page often, as it's updated constantly!
In addition to reviewing top Draft PL fantasy contributors, Manchester City's Fantasy Flashback will highlight a breakout player and a fantasy flop, analyze the impact of any injuries suffered by City players, and review the team's performance as a whole. Then, be sure to check out the Manchester City 24/25 Fantasy Forecast to find out whether last season was a fluke or if we predict more of the same.
Check out our 24/25 Draft Kit for all the pre-season information you could ever need: Draft Rankings, Team Previews, Mock Drafts, Strategy, Draft 101. We've got it all!
Manchester City 23/24 Fantasy Flashback
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23/24 Manchester City Player Performance
Let's review how Man City players fared in 23/24, with an emphasis on their Draft Premier League fantasy assets. We'll also discuss any pertinent info regarding rotation, managerial tactics, and injuries below. What can we learn from their performance in the last campaign?
Note: The following table is interactive. Desktop users can apply the Filter, Group, and Sort buttons to arrange the data to their preferences. Mobile users can tap on a player card to view all data points. The table can be reset to its default state by refreshing the page.
Here's the rub with Manchester City players: they have FIVE players in the top 10 overall when sorting by PPS (points per start). Only one other team even had two: Palace. However, when you sort by overall fantasy points, only one City player (Foden) appears in the top 10. So, when City players start, you want them in your squad. The problem last season, as it has been for many seasons running, is rotation (lovingly called "Pep Roulette").
Believe it or not, though, Pep is rotating a lot less than he used to. There were eight City players who started 28 games or more last season, a feat we didn't know Guardiola was capable of until we saw it with our own eyes. Will this continue in 24/25? It's hard to say. But it's definitely encouraging to see them thinning their squad a bit in the last few transfer windows and starting to rely on a more consistent core of players. At the time of writing, rumors continue to swirl about a potential move to Saudi for De Bruyne, which (though we would lose an EPL Draft legend) would clear a path to more minutes for Alvarez. Either way, 23/24 showed us that Pep is not always the enemy of Draft assets, and that we may be able to actually depend on some of these City players more than we're used to.
Meanwhile, on the pitch, Man City assets continued to churn out fantasy points for Draft managers. They had seven players post 10+ PPS averages, a number only bested by Liverpool. And those seven boasted an average ceiling (the upper limit of what a player is likely to score) higher than any other Premier League squad. We'll discuss the year overall a bit more below, but considering that City will see last season as having room for improvement, I'd fully expect them to continue to push the pedal to the metal in 24/25 and put teams to the sword.
As a final word, City's defenders (not named Josko Gvardiol) continued to struggle mightily in the EPL Draft game. Every single one averaged less than 8 PPS. They have a penchant for conceding a single goal to their opponents, usually late in games. Well, in 24/25, City DEFs will no longer receive a -2 for the first goal conceded. This won't net them any clean sheet points, but it may mean they're slightly more viable as streamers.
23/24 Breakout Player
Jeremy Doku
Position: Forward (changed to MID for 24/25)
23/24 Points: 265.5 (14th best FWD)
23/24 Points Per Start: 15.9 (18 starts)
Draft managers who spent FAB (free agent budget) or a high waiver priority on Jeremy Doku in 23/24 were almost immediately rewarded with what seemed like could become a league-winning player. He started the second match of the season and was only benched twice until December. In the meantime, he was absolutely racking up fantasy points for his managers. The pinnacle came on November 4th, when Doku scored a goal and contributed four assists against Bournemouth, dropping an astonishing 52 fantasy points. Then, after suffering a muscle injury and missing five Premier League Games, he saw his minutes start to wane.
Perhaps Guardiola realized that he'd been playing with his shiny new toy a bit too much, or perhaps Doku simply succumbed to the inevitable Pep Roulette. Either way, once he returned to action, he only started 9 of the remaining 19 games. In his limited minutes, he still ended tied for the second-most assists on City. Compared to other wingers in the Prem, he ranked in the 97th percentile or higher in assists, shot-creating actions, successful take-ons, and touches in the attacking penalty box.
He's a massive threat on the pitch... and a formidable fantasy asset. Whether he can manage to start more now that he has a year with Pep under his belt remains to be seen. But, given his fantasy performances when he did start, extrapolating those numbers would make him a near top ten overall fantasy asset if he started ~30 games.
23/24 Fantasy Flop
Jack Grealish
Position: Midfielder
23/24 Points: 113 (84th best MID)
23/24 Points Per Start: 9.3 (10 starts)
What a year for Super Jack. He had ample time to practice his driving, perfect his darts game, and visit every pub in Manchester. Okay, I'm being snide. In all seriousness, 23/24 was a rough year for Grealish and he has readily admitted to that. There's not a ton of "analysis" that will help to explain away last season, either. Things seemed to spiral out of control starting with an injury, exacerbated by a truly traumatic break-in at his house, and capped by a fall out with the manager.
But even on the pitch, there was no solace to be found for Jack. He registered one assist on August 27th, which ended up being his only one for the entire season. He was 24th percentile in assists, 300th percentile in shots, and 31st percentile in xG when compared to other attacking MIDs and wingers in the Premier League. And, as you saw above, when his replacement in the squad had an absolute breakout year, the writing was on the wall. Jack quickly lost his spot.
Guardiola hasn't written him off and insists that he could work his way back into the squad. Personally, I'd prefer he take a transfer to somewhere else in the Prem where he would once again be the main man. As it stands, Draft managers will get an absolute deal on him this summer if they're willing to take on the risk.
Injury Impact
Injuries are never much of a worry for Manchester City. Though not as egregious as it was a couple of seasons ago, they could still start two XIs that would likely finish in the top half of the Premier League. However, when you're missing a player like Kevin De Bruyne for literally half of the season and Erling Haaland for six games, it's bound to make an impact. Luckily for Pep, Phil Foden was electric last season and covered for his injured comrades seemingly effortlessly.
Other players who missed short stints included Jeremy Doku, Josko Gvardiol, and John Stones. However, City had enough reserves to easily traverse those potential pitfalls. Overall, Pep Guardiola enjoyed a relatively injury-free season for his squad.
Manchester City's Overall Team Performance
While not the treble they would have hoped for, Man City did win another three trophies in 23/24: the Premier League title, the FIFA Club World Cup, and the UEFA Super Cup. Missing out on the Champion's League, the EFL Cup, and the FA Cup will legitimately be haunting Pep Guardiola. Anyone familiar with his fiery competitiveness will know that he'll be throwing everything he has to secure those trophies in 24/25, especially as his time at City seems to be coming to a close.
Interestingly, I think the players can sense that the party's winding down, too. There's a bit of unease about City after this last season. De Bruyne has done nothing to shoot down Saudi rumors, Haaland has mentioned that he won't be at City his whole career, Alvarez has mentioned that he'd be open to a move, and Jack Grealish (as we mentioned above) has some thinking to do about his future. All of these things might be alarming at any other club. But with a handful of the best players in the world and the undisputed best manager in the world, who would bet against them?
Much of the lack of rotation this season was due to De Bruyne's long injury absence and Grealish's long mental absence. With those two back in the thick of things, you have to wonder if Pep Roulette will be back with vengeance. Either way, as I mentioned before, when Manchester City players take the pitch, you want them in your EPL Draft lineup.
More 23/24 Fantasy Flashbacks: Arsenal | Aston Villa | Bournemouth | Brentford | Brighton | Chelsea | Crystal Palace | Everton | Fulham | Ipswich Town | Leicester City | Liverpool | Man City | Man United | Newcastle | Nottingham Forest | Southampton | Tottenham | West Ham | Wolves
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