It’s not just about how many trophies you win, nor how you act while winning, but also how you handle those big losses. And Pep Guardiola proved once again he’s a true leader and a winner despite surprisingly losing the FA Cup final to Manchester United on Saturday afternoon......Read The Full Article>>.....Read The Full Article>>
Talking to the media after a 2-1 loss, the Manchester City boss admitted it was him and only him to blame for the defeat. The Spaniard concluded his tactical mistakes made all the difference in a wrong way.
Guardiola made three changes to the side that beat West Ham last weekend to clinch the Premier League title.
At half-time at Wembley and trailing 2-0, he reversed two of those by bringing on Jeremy Doku and Manuel Akanji for Mateo Kovacic and Nathan Ake.
“Congratulations to Manchester United on winning the FA Cup,” Guardiola said afterwards.
“I think my game plan was not good. The second half was much, much better. We were more intense, in part because we were 2-0 down and had nothing to lose. It was a tight game.
“We had clear chances in the second half, which wasn’t easy because they had man-marking and defended the pockets, but we had the chances and, unfortunately, we scored a goal a little bit late.”
Bizarrely enough, it was the very first time Guardiola had lost a domestic cup final in England, following six wins (four League Cup and two FA Cup successes).
“It’s normal teams can lose finals, but this season has been extraordinary, fighting for all the trophies in a good way,” he added. “We’ll rest and come back next season.”
🇦🇷 Pep Guardiola: “Lisandro Martínez is top 5 centre-backs in the world”.
“He made the difference on this game by playing passes through our defence”. pic.twitter.com/4QeRp9zgSE
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 25, 2024
Guardiola was asked if his side was sluggish but said:
“No. For my decisions, we were not in right positions to attack them. My mistake, my game plan was not good.”
When asked what he was trying to do, he added: “The players know the reason why. Tactically, it was not good. I was not good today. You plan a game for different positions but it didn’t work.
“Always when we play against United, we have the control and we created in the second half but we were not able to do it,” concluded Guardiola.
