FA Cup Final - Post Game thread

Everything about the week was complacent. Night out, days off, Ten hag news leaking making everyone feel United won’t turn up/team selection and then actual performance. Hopefully they’ll see it as lesson learned.
Add Rashford not being in Waistcoats squad - he had a point to prove. So that and all the aforementioned factors contributed to a perfect storm that impacted us negatively and gave the impetus to Yernittid.

I am also baffled why Pep didn't foresee Tent Peg playing the false 9. He deployed it at Brighton, so surely Pep with his precision planning must have given that some consideration....
 
Everything about the week was complacent. Night out, days off, Ten hag news leaking making everyone feel United won’t turn up/team selection and then actual performance. Hopefully they’ll see it as lesson learned.
That's why i couldn't believe the confidence of some blues - the over confidence would have riled 'yanited'- and that helped them come with more determination then we would have wanted. NEVER be over confident blues - seeps between players, club, supporters, management...never ends well. You want determined hungry and focused. Then you can go on the p^ss. Ten Haag's team talk was done, over celebrating fans thinking we'd smash 'em. It's a cup final..and derby as well. Way too complacent it seemed by us from top m'ngt to fans
 
That's why i couldn't believe the confidence of some blues - the over confidence would have riled 'yanited'- and that helped them come with more determination then we would have wanted. NEVER be over confident blues - seeps between players, club, supporters, management...never ends well. You want determined hungry and focused. Then you can go on the p^ss. Ten Haag's team talk was done, over celebrating fans thinking we'd smash 'em. It's a cup final..and derby as well. Way too complacent it seemed by us from top m'ngt to fans
Said to a young Blue I met in the opticians today that the celebrations should have been saved to last night. She was a disgusted as me at that first half performance. It was definitely a beer/ top shelf hangover.

I have a feeling next years FA Cup final is on penultimate weekend of PL. If we are there ( * semi final following Chimps League QF KO round permitting) I wonder how it will impact on PL performance if we are still fighting on that front? Might be better.

Also saying here and now I want that 5th PL (it's a special number for me personally) and I would like the Chimps League again.

BTW am not an entitled jcl, am mid 60s and speaking to a Blue 10 years older the other week and we both agreed that we have missed out on so many trophies during our supporting lifetime years that we both want as many as possible in the years we have left....
 
Everything about the week was complacent. Night out, days off, Ten hag news leaking making everyone feel United won’t turn up/team selection and then actual performance. Hopefully they’ll see it as lesson learned.

Might have already been mentioned in this thread but I was talking to a blue today about the game. He said ITV actually made a big thing about us only coming out for the pre-match warm up about 15 minutes before they needed to be back out again for the handshakes etc. Apparently they said at the time it seemed really strange when the rags had already been out doing their stuff for about 20 minutes before we appeared.
 
Add Rashford not being in Waistcoats squad - he had a point to prove. So that and all the aforementioned factors contributed to a perfect storm that impacted us negatively and gave the impetus to Yernittid.

I am also baffled why Pep didn't foresee Tent Peg playing the false 9. He deployed it at Brighton, so surely Pep with his precision planning must have given that some consideration....
Rashfurd was gash so it that was him proving a point, he had a strange way of showing it!
 
Not seen this posted before so I thought I would. Kyle is right.

Kyle Walker ️:

We had to take that moment on Sunday, because if we're celebrating now on a downer it won't feel right…"


Agree with a lot of what you post, but not on this. The likelihood is if Kyle et al had the discipline to abstain from the drink an extra couple of days they'd be celebrating twice as hard as they'd have the double to look back on. I'm sorry but they're on 100s of thousands of pounds a week, it's not much to ask them to sacrifice putting their session back a bit and risking it coming on the back of a defeat.

I don't necessarily blame the players per se as it was the ones that gave them permission to get intoxicated that need to give their heads a wobble. As with any employee if you give them an inch they take a mile.
 
Still not feeling that hurt by it. Didn't feel that nervous beforehand, wasn't that stressed during the game, not that bothered by losing. United were the better team and we couldn't go unbeaten forever, could we? We've reached immortality already and even losing FA Cup finals doesn't hurt. Wanting any more from these lads isn't something I feel.

Last week we did something no other team in English football history has ever done and 50 years from now we'll be looked back on as the team who did the treble and then four in a row. That's something literally no other team in England can ever claim to have done, and we'll all be dead before someone does it again.

Nobody remembers Forest losing the 1980 League Cup final, do they? Or bottling the league title in 1979? They remember them winning the European Cup twice in a row. Nobody will look at City as the team who lost the FA Cup final in 2024 because we'll be remembered for winning it in 2023, along with a whole skipload of silverware.

(Charges pending etc.)
Yes, I do. My brother in law’s son (sister’s step son) was in goal for Wolves on that day;)
 
Now the dust has settled and the season is finally over, I’ll say this -

I still can’t believe we let that fucking shit rag team beat us.
I know.. first defeat since early December in an all manchester FA Cup Final against the worst rags side in living memory

Typical City will never ever totally die
 
I don’t even think the two team selections are in the same stratosphere, as far as weirdness goes.

That season I’m pretty sure one or both of Rodri and Fernandinho had started every single game in all comps. To leave them both out was just a complete mind fuck, that I’m still non the wiser about his thought process on.

Saturday wasn’t even close. In hindsight we’re all jumping on the fact Stones hadn’t played for a while and the defence had been looking as solid in the run in without him, than at any part of the season. But how many times in the past has he stepped straight back in after injury and looked the part?

As good as Akanji has been this season, he maybe had the Tottenham/ Son incident in his mind and thought that was the most likely way United were to score. Big hoof up the pitch for a pacy striker. He would have been right aswell. Just picked the wrong one to leave out.

Whatever his thought process, we were all probably mildly surprised at it but not a single person saw that team and had the reaction that every single one of us did before Chelsea game.
Dropping Rodri/Fern also meant playing Gundo at DM when he was scoring like prime Lampard from an advanced midfield position, it hurt us defensively and offensively.
 
Agree with a lot of what you post, but not on this. The likelihood is if Kyle et al had the discipline to abstain from the drink an extra couple of days they'd be celebrating twice as hard as they'd have the double to look back on. I'm sorry but they're on 100s of thousands of pounds a week, it's not much to ask them to sacrifice putting their session back a bit and risking it coming on the back of a defeat.

I don't necessarily blame the players per se as it was the ones that gave them permission to get intoxicated that need to give their heads a wobble. As with any employee if you give them an inch they take a mile.

They went out on Sunday night and even if they staggered in at 5 am Monday morning they had the rest of Monday and four whole days to recover. How long does it take the average Joe to shake a hangover off? I'm an old sod so feel it more now but after a day lying about, drinking soft drinks, a bit of food I'm as right as rain the next morning. These are young, fit highly trained athletes. By Wednesday when they reported back for training they would be bang on it. Now if they carried on a few more days then yes, we have a problem.

I'd say it was more a mental switch off after the relief of winning the league. That and the ease of how we beat United twice in the league games made them go into it thinking they only had to turn up to win. When they saw Martinez and Varane at center half, after not playing for months and no Shaw they must have thought happy days. We all did. A slow start and two mistakes that led to goals did for us. It's the worst thing that can happen against a defensive low block side as we know from.past experience. With a slice more luck we could have not only equalised but won it. Haalands shot goes in instead of hitting the bar, Alvarez scores that sitter he missed and Doku would have been scoring a late winner. Add to that if we'd been given one of two decent penalty shouts we had.

No, one night on the piss six days before the final didn't cost us that game. Pep and the clubs doctors would never have sanctioned it if they even remotely thought it would.
 
They went out on Sunday night and even if they staggered in at 5 am Monday morning they had the rest of Monday and four whole days to recover. How long does it take the average Joe to shake a hangover off? I'm an old sod so feel it more now but after a day lying about, drinking soft drinks, a bit of food I'm as right as rain the next morning. These are young, fit highly trained athletes. By Wednesday when they reported back for training they would be bang on it. Now if they carried on a few more days then yes, we have a problem.

I'd say it was more a mental switch off after the relief of winning the league. That and the ease of how we beat United twice in the league games made them go into it thinking they only had to turn up to win. When they saw Martinez and Varane at center half, after not playing for months and no Shaw they must have thought happy days. We all did. A slow start and two mistakes that led to goals did for us. It's the worst thing that can happen against a defensive low block side as we know from.past experience. With a slice more luck we could have not only equalised but won it. Haalands shot goes in instead of hitting the bar, Alvarez scores that sitter he missed and Doku would have been scoring a late winner. Add to that if we'd been given one of two decent penalty shouts we had.

No, one night on the piss six days before the final didn't cost us that game. Pep and the clubs doctors would never have sanctioned it if they even remotely thought it would.

The general consensus is around 3 days. I only had 4 and a half pints at the final and my run was down about 10 percent the following day. I was completely sober, felt perfectly fine and that didn't effect my sleep or diet like a heavy session would. This isn't Sunday league and it's a game of fine margins with everybody looking for an an edge. We had to travel down to London on top of that which literally leaves no preparation time. These guys live their lifestyles that clean it'd probably effect them more than the average Joe too. If it wasn't detrimental to performance why aren't we seeing other clubs at it each weekend? Because it is. Ludicrous decision.
 
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I noticed a couple of things pre match.
Personally I never thought for a minute they would beat us.I was cocky.
In Pizza express at 12 before the game it was 70% rag but by 2pm they had all gone and the place was 90% city.They were all excited and wanted in the ground maybe.
In the concourse it wasn’t the normal singing..it was a bit quiet unlike visits in the past and I thought it a bit strange.Other levels may have been different but it was low key especially in a game against them.
It wasn’t normal derby day nerves and I wonder if we and possibly the players were a touch expectant and they like us got a surprise with the Utd that showed up.
Just a thought.
 
The general consensus is around 3 days. I only had 4 and a half pints at the final and my run was down about 10 percent the following day. I was completely sober, felt perfectly fine and that didn't effect my sleep or diet like a heavy session would. This isn't Sunday league and it's a game of fine margins with everybody looking for an an edge. We had to travel down to London on top of that which literally leaves no preparation time. These guys live their lifestyles that clean it'd probably affect them more than the average Joe too. If it wasn't detrimental to performance why aren't we seeing other clubs at it each weekend? Because it is. Ludicrous decision.

Most clubs players go out on the piss on a Saturday night after a game if they don't have a midweek game.
All you amateur athletes out there comparing your recovery with a professional athlete is I'm sorry frankly ludicrous. You went for a run the day after having four and a half pints and even then you're only down 10%. The next day! Then you say the general consensus is three days. They had at least four full days to recover. They would have flown down on Friday, night in a hotel.
People are just looking for something easy to blame and "Ohhh they went for a few drinks a good four to five days before a game" is it.
I'd trust our medical team, Pep and our squad of professional players who won the treble last year and had just won a tough league over some amateur runner, sportsman or footballer on bluemoon.
 
I’ll always put this double, double FA Cup final defeat alongside losing to Wigan in the FA cup final, losing to United 2-3 when we were 2-0 up at half-time and would have won the title against them, and Chelsea(Porto) in the CL final. 4 matches we should have and could have won if it wasn’t for an incident leading up to 1 match, and 2 wrong team selections, and complacency.
 
Most clubs players go out on the piss on a Saturday night after a game if they don't have a midweek game.
All you amateur athletes out there comparing your recovery with a professional athlete is I'm sorry frankly ludicrous. You went for a run the day after having four and a half pints and even then you're only down 10%. The next day! Then you say the general consensus is three days. They had at least four full days to recover. They would have flown down on Friday, night in a hotel.
People are just looking for something easy to blame and "Ohhh they went for a few drinks a good four to five days before a game" is it.
I'd trust our medical team, Pep and our squad of professional players who won the treble last year and had just won a tough league over some amateur runner, sportsman or footballer on bluemoon.

Agree to disagree. Shouldn't have put themselves in that position for it to be questioned in the first place.
 
I noticed a couple of things pre match.
Personally I never thought for a minute they would beat us.I was cocky.
In Pizza express at 12 before the game it was 70% rag but by 2pm they had all gone and the place was 90% city.They were all excited and wanted in the ground maybe.
In the concourse it wasn’t the normal singing..it was a bit quiet unlike visits in the past and I thought it a bit strange.Other levels may have been different but it was low key especially in a game against them.
It wasn’t normal derby day nerves and I wonder if we and possibly the players were a touch expectant and they like us got a surprise with the Utd that showed up.
Just a thought.

Agree with this. Didn't have the same feel as last year and the atmosphere was nowhere near the same. Gundogs early goal no doubt helped though. Tried to get it going around me, but very few were joining in. Preferred last year's FA Cup final to Istanbul in terms of atmosphere to be honest. Think most of us were half-dead by kick off over there though.
 
I'd trust our medical team, Pep and our squad of professional players who won the treble last year and had just won a tough league over some amateur runner, sportsman or footballer on bluemoon.
I was talking to my sister - who is a nurse - about this. And she said their medical team would absolutely have things to give players to reduce any potential affects of drinking. Even something basic like IV fluids. Plus carefully calibrated nutrition over a few days. I totally agree with you, this seems like the classic case of mental fatigue. After extending yourself to the absolute limits to achieve the impossible, you fail at something basic. I feel like this happens a lot in sports!
 

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