Pep Guardiola has urged his Manchester City flops to use the pain from their shock FA Cup final defeat as fuel to salvage their dismal season by qualifying for the Champions League.
Guardiola’s side will finish without major silverware for the first time in eight years after crashing to a 1-0 defeat against Crystal Palace at Wembley on Saturday.
Eberechi Eze’s 16th-minute strike and Dean Henderson’s penalty save from Omar Marmoush late in the first half condemned troubled City to the latest setback in their turbulent season.
Henderson made a series of superb stops to deny City, who claimed the goalkeeper should have been sent off after handling outside his area in the first period.
City’s lack of cutting edge was exposed by Palace’s tactically astute game-plan, leaving Guardiola to survey the wreckage of a wretched campaign that has included his team surrendering the Premier League title to Liverpool and crashing out of the Champions League.
The Spaniard believes City can still partially save face by securing a Top-5 finish in the Premier League, which guarantees a place in the Champions League next term.
They are currently sixth in the table, one point outside the Top 5 with a home game against Bournemouth on Tuesday, followed by a trip to Fulham for their last match on May 25.
“We had fixed in the last month the problems we had all season with scoring and conceding. In the last period, we were so stable,” Guardiola said.
“But lately against Palace and Southampton, we didn’t create much. I’m not saying it is easy. We need good crosses and good people in the box.
“The game plan didn’t work because we didn’t win. But I don’t have any bad feeling about that. We are sad because we didn’t win a beautiful competition.
“Now we must continue and recover quick for the last two finals we have to play to qualify for the Champions League.”
‘It’s not easy’
It was City’s second successive FA Cup final defeat after losing last year’s showpiece against archrivals Manchester United.
Significantly, City striker Erling Haaland’s decision to allow Marmoush to take the penalty was indicative of the Norwegian’s lack of confidence at present.
Haaland has failed to score in any of his six Wembley appearances for City, a barren streak including three FA Cup finals and one semifinal.
The former Borussia Dortmund star, who has 30 goals in 42 games in all competitions this term, also failed to score in City’s Champions League final win against Inter Milan and their UEFA Super Cup victory over Sevilla.
Facing a Palace team content to sit deep and frustrate City, Haaland had few clear sights of goal.
But Guardiola must find a way to improve the supply lines to his leading scorer if City are to finish in the top five.
At Wembley, City repeatedly turned to Kevin De Bruyne to prise open the well-drilled Palace defense.
But, playing in his last final for City before leaving in the close-season, the Belgian midfielder’s inconsistent display showed why Guardiola is willing to let him go as injuries and age take their toll.
“I expect, again, in that way, I want Kevin in that position to deliver some balls. Unfortunately, we could not find him in the position that we wanted,” he said.
Guardiola is clinging to the hope that City can mount one last push, saying: “We played much better, for example, than when we beat Palace 5-2 in April.
“We were much better than last season when we lost against United in the final. Today, we did everything.
“We had the possession to create chances, we could create more, yeah, but it’s not easy, I’ve said that, it’s not easy with 11 players there (in defense).”