By Willow Austin
Published on 2024-05-25 21:22:21
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola admitted to getting his tactics wrong against Manchester United as the Premier League champions were defeated 2-1 at the Wembley stadium.
The Red Devils scored their first goal after a mistake by Stefan Ortega. The lack of proper communication between the City goalkeeper and Josko Gvardiol put Alejandro through on goal and the Argentine made no mistake in getting the ball into an empty net.
A few minutes later, Man City conceded the second goal as Kobbie Mainoo easily converted Bruno Fernandes’ pass. Even though Pep Guardiola’s side managed to register a goal through Jeremy Doku, the match ended in a defeat for them.
Pep Guardiola made some changing to his starting eleven. John Stones and Nathan Ake started ahead of Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji who are his preferred centre-back partners in recent months.
Also, the Spanish tactician substituted Ake, Kovacic at halftime and brought out Kevin De Bruyne a few minutes into the final 45 minutes.
Speaking after the match, he blamed his tactics for the defeat, admitting that his game plan was not good enough, particularly in the first-half.
During the post-interview, Pep Guardiola said: “Congratulations to Manchester United for winning the FA Cup. 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 gave away the first goal, they made a good transition for the second so credit to United for the second goal.
He added, “We tried. 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. Maybe it could have been different but the team was there like all the time when we lose.
“Disappointed today, it’s normal teams can lose finals but this season has been extraordinary fighting for all the trophies in a good way. We will rest and come back next season.”
