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Pep Guardiola has advised his Manchester City players to turn the pain of their FA Cup final defeat into strength. He wants that strength to be enough to finish in the top five of the English Premier League and qualify for next season's European Champions League.
City were incredibly without a title for the first time in eight years after losing to Crystal Palace in Saturday's final at Wembley. City's poor season continued after Dean Henderson saved Omar Marmos' penalty with Eberechi Ezi's decisive goal in the 16th minute. Henderson made a string of saves to frustrate City. City felt Henderson should have been red carded for handball outside their penalty area in the first half. After that, City were unable to break the tight defensive circle laid down by Palace.
'When the opposition's 11 players are defensive, it's really difficult to score goals,' admits Guardiola. As the defending champions, City surrendered the league title to Liverpool and were quickly eliminated from the Champions League. Spanish coach Guardiola believes it will at least be a relief if the Premier League can finish in the top five. City are currently sixth in the Premier League. This is one point away from the top five.
City face Bournemouth on Tuesday. It will then travel to Fulham for the final game of the season. Guardiola says, "Last month we solved many problems in the team. Before that, we used to score and concede goals. Now our performance is the same. But not just Palace, we didn't even create enough chances against Southampton in the league. It's easy if I don't say anything.'
'But we also need a good order, we also need excellent players who are alert in the box,' he adds, 'Our game plan was not successful, because we did not stay victorious against Palace. But I don't have any bad feelings about the game as a whole. Why are we sad that we didn't win a good game? We must not lose heart and continue our game. Now we have to prepare ourselves for the remaining two games in the league. Our aim should be to play in the Champions League next season.
This is the second time in a row that City have been defeated in the FA Cup final. Last season, City were defeated by neighboring rivals Manchester United. Also against Palace, City striker Erling Haaland's penalty kick-back suggests the Norwegian is suffering from low confidence. Haaland has failed to score in his last six games for City. That includes three FA Cup finals and one semi-final.
The former Borussia Dortmund player has scored 30 goals in 42 games this season. He missed a goal in the Champions League final against Inter Milan. Similarly, he did not score in the UEFA Super Cup win against Sevilla. This time Palace also kept Haaland under tight control. Because of this, he could not create clear good opportunities. But if City are to be in the top five, Guardiola will have to find a solution to this problem. Kevin De Bruyne was also weak in that match at Wembley. The Belgian midfielder's performances in his last game before leaving City have been mixed. For this reason, it is clear that it is a good decision for Guardiola not to keep him in the club. Perhaps due to constant injuries and advancing age, Bruena is no longer the player he used to be. Guardiola says, "We expected a lot from Bruena but unfortunately it didn't come true."
