There have been many occasions over Pep Guardiola’s nine years in England that time has run away with him down one of the corridors along the Etihad Stadium’s tunnel.
The Manchester City manager has held a fair few lengthy debriefs with the opposition, leant up against the white-bricked walls.
Oliver Glasner’s wasn’t a marathon by any stretch last month, in the aftermath of a 5-2 City win, but the Palace boss did send a message to his illustrious counterpart.
City had played a 4-2-2-2 formation in beating Palace, coming back from two goals down. It was the first time Guardiola had tried it, a system that ignited some life into their run-in.
Glasner, calmly, suggested to Guardiola that if he deployed similar in a hypothetical FA Cup final — the last four hadn’t even been played at this point – then Palace would suss it out.
Those words might well have been ringing in Guardiola’s ears over the last week. Suggestions from inside the club were that the manager had planned something ‘very tactical’ for this occasion and they weren’t wrong.
Pep Guardiola has failed to deliver a major trophy this season after Man City’s FA Cup final loss
Crystal Palace beat City at Wembley Stadium on Saturday to win their first major trophy ever
Palace boss Oliver Glasner pictured lifting the famous FA Cup trophy after his team’s 1-0 win
While there were murmurs of a 2-2-2-4, City often resembled a 3-5-2, an alien formation to this team, in a fluid system that saw Bernardo Silva holding midfield alone in the absence of the injured Mateo Kovacic.
Silva’s best performances over the past 18 months have come in that position but never alone. With a tired Kevin De Bruyne nearby, Silva was left to fight fires with just the one hose. The £50million January signing, Nico Gonzalez, sat as an unused substitute.
By the end, City — who will end the season trophyless — were begging for a last sprinkling of De Bruyne magic from the quarterback area that never came. More trudge than twinkle. Truthfully, the Belgian ought to have been spared earlier in the piece.
An anonymous €5,000 donation by Erling Haaland helped City supporters fund a huge banner celebrating De Bruyne pre-match but really neither contributed much else to the occasion.
Haaland did donate something else, a penalty to Omar Marmoush, after missing three of his seven this season. Guardiola said they sorted it between themselves on the pitch.
The decisions in midfield, going without a recognised No 6, will evoke painful memories of the 2021 Champions League final, and Guardiola’s choice not to pick Fernandinho in defeat by Chelsea. That day City thought they’d have all the ball, so went with an extra passer, and for this one they wanted to pin Palace’s wide men back — which they did.
And despite Eberechi Eze scoring what proved to be the winner, City were more than decent in the first half, missing a host of chances. If those go in, as they should have done, then we’re discussing Guardiola’s ingenuity.
Guardiola made lots of changes to his team and picked Bernardo Silva as a holding midfielder
Legendary City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne played the full 90 minutes but was not at his best
Managers Glasner and Guardiola pictured embracing on the touchline during Saturday’s final
‘With 11 (Palace) players in their box, we created a lot,’ Guardiola said. ‘I’m not saying it’s easy. We learned for many years we need good crosses, good people in the box. That’s why we had proper wingers. The gameplan didn’t work because we didn’t win but I didn’t have anything. At Southampton (last week) I had a bad, bad feeling but not today.’
You could tell it was all new when Haaland was seen trotting over for instructions at a break in play, holding hands with his boss, that carried on long after play had restarted.
First half explainable, second half less so, City becoming more erratic. Claudio Echeverri, the teenage Argentine who joined from River Plate in January, coming on for his debut — having never even been on the bench before — appeared the call of a scrambled mind.
‘He had three chances,’ Guardiola said. ‘I saw in training; he’s moving really well in the small spaces. I thought he could find something in the final minutes.’
And what must Rico Lewis and James McAtee be thinking after neither made the squad? Lewis scored in the semi-final against Nottingham Forest and was superb in central midfield; McAtee scored in beating Palace last month. Both deemed surplus.
City, who had looked home and dry in the race for Champions League qualification, now have a week to bounce back and get it right — four points from Bournemouth on Tuesday and then Fulham the minimum required.
