PEP GUARDIOLA’S BUST-UP WITH DEAN HENDERSON SYMBOLIC OF CLUB BOILING OVER WITH FRUSTRATION
At the final whistle, Pep Guardiola was mad all over. The frustration was clear after he first congratulated Crystal Palace’s head coach Oliver Glasner.
The Manchester City manager walked onto the pitch and there were words and a wagging finger for Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson – who probably should have been sent off in the first-half – and Guardiola was not holding back.
Glasner and Palace reserve goalkeeper Matt Turner were the peacemakers with fourth official Darren England also coming over and it felt like a revealing moment. Yes, Henderson should have gone for denying Erling Haaland a goalscoring opportunity and there was annoyance over perceived time-wasting. But Guardiola, too, made mistakes. And he surely knew it.
This FA Cup final was not the concluding disaster of what has been a disastrous season for City. But it felt like it. They still have to qualify for the Champions League, making Tuesday’s must-win Premier League game at home to Bournemouth arguably bigger than this.
And then there is also the Club World Cup in the United States this summer, a summer that is set to be huge for City off the pitch with, surely, the verdict on those 115 charges finally coming and the club already set to “go big” in the transfer market under new director of football Hugo Viana as this squad – with several players who have run their race – being re-shaped.
But what happened here? Was Mateo Kovacic who travelled to Wembley injured or was he left out? When the team-sheet was delivered it felt like a re-run of the 2021 Champions League when Guardiola did not select a holding midfielder, surprisingly dropping Fernandinho, and Chelsea scored the only goal right through the centre of the pitch.
Palace’s goal came down their right but it felt there was an imbalance, a Rodri-sized hole, in the City team that gave Eberechi Eze the room to score. The word from City was that Kovacic was, indeed, not fully fit but did that warrant playing Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne in the centre of midfield? Neither has the pace to get back and recover. City were always vulnerable to Palace’s best asset: the counter-attack.
And so it felt like it handed an advantage to Palace, who could overload in that area and did just that. What did it also say about Nico Gonzalez, the £50 million January window recruit who sat on the bench? Surely, he was signed to fill that gap?
And what about the rest of that bench? There was no Rico Lewis or James McAtee and we know the latter is already considering his future with Bayer Leverkusen hovering.
Instead, remarkably Guardiola included, for the first time, 19-year-old Claudio Echeverri and the Argentine has not even made a match-day squad before. As they chased the game Echeverri was brought and should have scored while Jack Grealish stayed among the replacements.
Earlier in the campaign it felt like the FA Cup might be Grealish’s route back into Guardiola’s plans but he obviously has no future at the club. It would be a major surprise if he is still at City next season. Guardiola’s faith in the 29-year-old has evidently gone, whatever he protests.
End of an era
We know De Bruyne is already going with his contract expiring and although another 12 months has been triggered on 34-year-old Ilkay Gundogan’s contract what role will he really play next season? The same can be said of Bernardo Silva and the future of goalkeeper Ederson is also in doubt, while Phil Foden capped what has been a hugely disappointing campaign for last season’s outstanding Footballer of the Year with another underwhelming cameo as an ineffective substitute.
It looks, it feels, it is the end of this team. Guardiola will stay and he will oversee the re-build with Viana but, despite those expensive January signings, there is an extraordinary amount of work to do at City where previously it felt like they managed change and evolution so seamlessly. Only Omar Marmoush of the four big mid-season arrivals started this final. The other three were also unused substitutes.
Mention of Marmoush brings us on to another decision that backfired – allowing the Egyptian to take the penalty that would have drawn City level in the first-half, when they would have gone on and expected to win, but instead was saved by Henderson. He later rubbed salt into the wound by saying he knew which way Marmoush would take it and was less sure about Erling Haaland. Ouch.
Instead of Haaland, who looked like he was taking it but kissed the ball before handing it over, it was Marmoush. Apparently the players decided.
Yes, Haaland has missed three of the last seven penalties he has taken for City but it looked like a strange decision and one that reinforced the air of uncertainty – where before there was utter conviction – around this team.
City are trophyless – with the Club World Cup to come – for the first time since 2017, the end of Guardiola’s first season in charge. Then it felt there was the mitigation of not yet getting the players he wanted. This time? It is impossible to stay at the top forever. But it looks like Guardiola and City have taken their eye off the ball and a summer of change lies ahead.
Recommended
FA Cup final player ratings: Haaland goes missing as Richards shines for Crystal Palace
2025-05-17T19:30:29Z