FA Cup Final - Post Game thread

Even now, a couple of hours later (and allowing for Pep's brainfart team selection), I still can't fathom out how we could be so abject. That was not a shabby starting XI, and should have had enough about them to beat a mediocre rags side. But not one of that starting XI got anywhere remotely near to their usual form. You can carry two or three passengers, at a stretch. Not eleven, even against a woeful bunch from Trafford.
 
I've been trying to sum up my feelings for a while after that game.

And you know what? You know what I (and I imagine a number of you) feel most?

Annoyed.

That's all.

Go back five, ten years, or more, and imagine losing an FA Cup final to that lot. It would have been gutting. Heart wrenching. Stomach churning. Literal "oh my God I want to die" stuff. And it would have stuck with us for weeks, months, the rest of the year, ruining our mood for fucking ages.

These days, at least to me, it's no more than a fucking annoyance. Because I know they're shit, and I know we're so much better than them, and I know if we replayed that game 100 times we'd win 95 of them, if not more.

So it's annoying. It's annoying that Pep, for whatever reason, had one of his wacky days and put out a clearly miles-off-it Stones (among several other players) and it's annoying they got their little moment in the sun after being utter shite all season long.

But we're still Champs of England. We're still Champs of the World. We're still the only team to do four in a row, and on the back of a treble, no less. An extra cup on top of all that would have been fantastic, but of the two trophies, I know which one I'd rather win, and that's the one our boys will be lifting up on the parade.

So, I won't let this annoyance get me down that long.

These last few years have been the best. Not just for City fans, but for pretty much any football fans in the world. To see your team be this good, this dominant, this feared, it's something that very very very few people will ever get to experience. And we got it. Thanks to these players and this manager. And it won't last forever, but I get the feeling they're not quite done yet.

Clearly, the last few years have taken a toll, and it's annoying (that word again) that a lot of our lads won't even get much of a rest with the Euros and Copa coming up soon. But to do what they've done is mind blowing. And I'm very proud of them all. One bad game, even a game as big as this one, doesn't take anything away from that.
 
OB1 said:
I don’t think a night out to celebrate 4-in-a-row made the difference but I do think the Herculean effort to win the league took a lot out of them.
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Spot on

if you think about it, The main backbone of this squad has gone 4 seasons hard in everything we played in.
For me, it's done and dusted as a main squad that will challenge for the title next season, Far too many of the great players are on empty and can offer no more than just being a squad player and that will be hard to watch

Start the Cull and be ruthless and build something for the future and for a new manager after Pep.
Pe'ps not going to stay for 5 more years and this new build has to be right going forward for Pep to leave us.

City are in safe hands with the owners and I don't think they will let it go to grow the grass after Pep, But Pep will need to build for somebody else in mind.
 
77lost by a point said:
Saw a 4yr old on the news last night from Gaza. He lost his parents in a missile strike & then a couple of weeks later another strike took his legs. This kid was tearing around in his wheelchair with a big smile on his face, if a child can deal with proper adversity I'm sure losing a football match pales in significance.
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Whilst your sentiment is well thought out its a ridiculous comparison
 
jimharri said:
Even now, a couple of hours later (and allowing for Pep's brainfart team selection), I still can't fathom out how we could be so abject. That was not a shabby starting XI, and should have had enough about them to beat a mediocre rags side. But not one of that starting XI got anywhere remotely near to their usual form. You can carry two or three passengers, at a stretch. Not eleven, even against a woeful bunch from Trafford.
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A mixture of still being pissed from Wednesday and fatigue from the final push in the title. Second half we looked a bit like our oldselves but didn't get that bit of good fortune that helps us claw our way back in the game.
 
This one stings a bit. A chance to do the double to round off a really good title defence against a less talented rag side. We completely fucked it up with our slow start to the game. Way too cocky!
 
Beaten in away we knew was the only way we could be beaten.

Ball over the top, City not at our best.

Absolutely scandalous bottle job by Madeley after 40 seconds and VAR even more so! Not even close.

Thereafter, United clogged the midfield and man-marked Rodri out of the first 15-20 mins.

KDB looked like he thought it was a testimonial and has really struggled to find any consistency since his return. This summer will be interesting for him.

Back line looked fragile, with Stones playing Garnacho onside for the first, then Walker not getting back for the second, leaving Stones fucked when the ball came in to Fernandes, whose touch to Mainoo was spectacular.

We restricted their chances, but the ones they had, they buried and poor mistakes by City.

Hopefully, this is the kick up the arse that Txiki needs to rebuild this team. We are starting to look old and slow, which is fine when we have 80% possession and completely in control, but is an absolute liability when a team attacks us with a high press and strong counterattacking.

We have clearly been the best team in England for a fair few years, and the best team in the world last year, but the writing is on the wall…loud and clear.

Many of us have openly questioned if Pep has any interest in Plan B, but to be fair we have changed things up inside numerous games this season. However, Plans A thru Z are worthless if you don’t have the personnel to execute when Plan A isn’t working.

It is almost unbelievable to be so disappointed given the heights City have achieved over the last 12-13 years, but it feels like this was a tipping point.

I’m not going to go through the squad man by man, but the experienced foundation of our climb to the top of the mountain feels like it is on the downslope, and a significant refresh is required to keep City in the hunt for the top, top honours.

We live in interesting times and I wonder what the City 25/26 squad will look like given today’s player profile, with next season feeling like a BIG transition season.
 
jrb said:
Unfortunately Pep got the team selection completely wrong today.
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He got it wrong….but to be fair when the announcer read out the team….I still thought we would have far too much for that lot……He kept the same 11 for the big games at the end of last season.

I think the celebrations of last week played as bigger part as the team selection in our defeat.

The squad is definitely in need of a refresh…..but still a fabulous feat….4 in a row .
 
ChicagoBlue said:
Beaten in away we knew was the only way we could be beaten.

Ball over the top, City not at our best.

Absolutely scandalous bottle job by Madeley after 40 seconds and VAR even more so! Not even close.

Thereafter, United clogged the midfield and man-marked Rodri out of the first 15-20 mins.

KDB looked like he thought it was a testimonial and has really struggled to find any consistency since his return. This summer will be interesting for him.

Back line looked fragile, with Stones playing Garnacho onside for the first, then Walker not getting back for the second, leaving Stones fucked when the ball came in to Fernandes, whose touch to Mainoo was spectacular.

We restricted their chances, but the ones they had, they buried and poor mistakes by City.

Hopefully, this is the kick up the arse that Txiki needs to rebuild this team. We are starting to look old and slow, which is fine when we have 80% possession and completely in control, but is an absolute liability when a team attacks us with a high press and strong counterattacking.

We have clearly been the best team in England for a fair few years, and the best team in the world last year, but the writing is on the wall…loud and clear.

Many of us have openly questioned if Pep has any interest in Plan B, but to be fair we have changed things up inside numerous games this season. However, Plans A thru Z are worthless if you don’t have the personnel to execute when Plan A isn’t working.

It is almost unbelievable to be so disappointed given the heights City have achieved over the last 12-13 years, but it feels like this was a tipping point.

I’m not going to go through the squad man by man, but the experienced foundation of our climb to the top of the mountain feels like it is on the downslope, and a significant refresh is required to keep City in the hunt for the top, top honours.

We live in interesting times and I wonder what the City 25/26 squad will look like given today’s player profile, with next season feeling like a BIG transition season.
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Your first two sentences, why can we all see it but Pep stubbornly refuses to adapt to it?
 
DenisLawBackHeel74 said:
Difficult balancing act for pep…let them loose to chill or stay 100% focussed for this….we live and learn and even geniuses fuck up
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It's not difficult, they had a domestic final in the biggest domestic cup competition 6 days later.

It's not a balancing act at all - 'guys, the job isn't done until next Saturday then you can get smashed all you want'.

Do you think they did that last season with a treble on the line? No.

Complacency from all concerned.

The very fact that they thought it was OK to go out before a major final and get pissed tells you absolutely everything about the mindset of these players.

It wasn't as important to them as it was to us having lived through 40 years of shit, and now some cup finals are taken for granted - that's the mentality and it's wrong.

I really wanted to take my dad today. Never been to Wembley due to the finances but I was offered two tickets. With the train costs included it was a major financial burden on my family which I was willing to take to get my dad to Wembley.

As it happens, there was an issue and couldn't go but me putting a chunk of money on the line, which I don't really have, and them getting pissed a week before because it wasn't as important to them....just fkin wrong.

And then we are expected to rock up at a trophy parade and applaud them... No thanks.

I'm not upset because we lost, I'm not upset because it was utd, I'm upset because we wasn't entirely professional. We didn't give ourselves the very best chance.
 
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It's a bit of a meh record in this competition since we were founded 16 years ago. 3 wins and two losing finalists. Along with what seems like a load of losing semi finals. I'll have to get my Autoglass Chelsea shirt in the wash, I'm thinking.
 
Poor City performance, still hungover from Sunday I felt. Anyone at Harrow before the game, disappointing scenes between City and Utd
 
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