A Treble is a hard act to follow. Nigh on impossible, you’d say, and it’s never been repeated.

But there’s just a sense that Manchester City are making it harder still.

We’ll get a better idea when they meet their main rivals Arsenal in the Community Shield on Sunday (11pm Malaysian time).

While the Gunners have been adding four big players, City have so far lost two and bought two, and one of those is a defender that they don’t really need.

Josko Gvardiol, who cost £77 million, may be the best young centreback in Europe, but it doesn’t allay City fans’ fears about letting two attackers leave.

Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez both played key roles in City’s recent dominance and only Gundogan has been replaced – well, sort of.

Mahrez had become more of a squad player last season, but he fitted into City’s well-oiled machine seamlessly when called upon.
Gundogan is the bigger loss but City moved swiftly to bring in Chelsea’s Mateo Kovacic once the skipper’s heart was set on Barcelona. But is the Croatian a like for like?

In breaking up play and turnovers, he is. But there’s one area where the gap with Gundogan is glaring – goals.

The German notched no less than 60 goals in 300 Premier League games compared to the Croatian’s paltry six in 221 at Chelsea.

It’s the difference between an attacking midfielder and a defender yet they play similar roles.

Kovacic is three years younger and may even provide more bite in the tackle, but when it comes to putting the ball in the net, there’s no comparison.

Make no mistake, Gundogan is a massive loss.

So is Mahrez. If Bernardo Silva’s overall ebullience, goals and pressing game won out over the Algerian for the right-wing berth, Mahrez was a handy man to bring on.

All this may be accentuating the negatives when City are delighted to announce a deal with a top defender for less than what Manchester United paid for Harry Maguire.

But for all Gvardiol’s class and promise – he’s only 21 – City seemed to have a surplus of centrebacks already.

Pep famously fielded four or even five in the same team, albeit performing different roles at times last season.

That said, Gvardiol is quite a catch, having earned rave reviews at the World Cup until Lionel Messi turned him inside out.

He was unimposing against the little maestro but looked cool and commanding against everybody else.

And the bonus for City is that he can play left-back as well – a perennial problem position for Pep Guardiola.

Still, he seems more an investment for the future and this season is unlikely to make a huge difference.

City are a side where any four of Ruben Dias, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji make a formidable back line.

Now Laporte is tipped to be surplus to requirements, probably leaving for a fee that will make Gvardiol seem an even better deal.

The rearguard – and the midfield – will be augmented by the return of Joao Cancelo who Pep shipped out to Bayern Munich on loan after a hissy fit about being dropped.

Whether the Portuguese can be reintegrated is a matter of conjecture.

Pep is not the most forgiving of men and it will require a large dollop of humble pie on Cancelo’s part to get back into his good books.

Until the fallout, Cancelo had become a left-back-cum-midfielder who was capable of scoring outrageous goals.

He seemed the perfect Pep player until he moaned about being left out.

It’s not the most heinous crime and there must be hope that he can return to a team that he looked born to play for.

If there are concerns, you feel that Pep will have them under control.

Still, with keeper David Raya coming in from Brentford, Arsenal will have spent more than double what City have.

And it’s hard not to feel that the Gunners have already closed the gap.

They outbid City for Declan Rice who is their star recruit and, they hope, gamechanger.

Some pundits feel that they overpaid for the West Ham man at £105m. City withdrew at £90m.

But the England defensive midfielder could make a huge difference. THE difference.

City fans are hoping Pep has someone besides Gvardiol up his sleeve. But they may have to look closer to home.

“You’ll never win with kids” were the famous words Alan Hansen uttered about Manchester United when Alex Ferguson introduced his fledglings more than a generation ago.

But win they did with half of them becoming United legends in their own right.

It’s beginning to look as if Pep, having emulated Fergie in winning the Treble, now wants to do so by winning the title with at least a few kids.

He’s already called the new generation “exceptional” and he feels the likes of Rico Lewis, Cole Palmer, James McAtee, Oscar Bobb and Maximo Perrone are ready to step up.

Phil Foden is almost a senior now at 23, but will not be forgotten: he may even be used in a more central role to augment Erling Haaland.

City fans should be reassured by the continued presence of the core of the side.

Ederson, Dias, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne and Haaland are still around. You would add Silva to that list but he has expressed a wish to try a new challenge.

Given the loss of Mahrez, you feel City can’t afford to lose the Portuguese wizard.

You never know with City. That was an old saying pre-Pep and pre-takeover.

It referred to the team’s uncanny knack of snatching defeat from, well, almost any situation.

Nowadays, it refers to how many trophies they’ll win. Last season, they surpassed themselves and, at times, looked as if they were from another planet.

But there’s nothing like the EPL to bring you back to earth.

From looking unbridgeable, the gap has closed. It’s not a crisis, but this season won’t be a foregone conclusion either.

City have it all to do. Again.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.