Guardiola was at pains to tell the club’s fans that his team “needs” them, but that does not quite have the ring of truth. But a guarantee of victory, and of victory obtained through dominance, is not necessarily the sort of thing that attracts fans. It reduces the urgency of attending: Why go and see this win, when another win is around the corner? It is, instead, the thing that Guardiola has done his very best to extract from every facet of City’s existence: jeopardy. Fans like to feel needed, as if they are making some difference to the end result, whether that is true or not.

Source: New York Times September 24, 2021 15:00 UTC