***City v Palace FA Cup Final Official Match Thread***

[Sparklehorse]

I am not paid 20 mil to rethink our plan, mate.
I am saying we've become too predictable. It is not ok for me to stick with a principle just to prove a point, when it's clear that even Leyton Orient has a plan to stop it.

I hear what you're saying mate, but we used to be able or have good discussions and debates on here, but now a days it's just about who screams the loudest and comes with the most ludicrous Pep insults. I'm also far from happy with this season, but I'm still trying to see the big picture.

Nool, every time someone criticises Pep it's "WELL WHAT WOULD YOU DO?!!!" We're not managers and we're not paid to do his job. It's up to him to come up with a Plan B for when teams like palace sit and counter us.

This isn't anything new, we've seen it creeping in for 2 season now, where teams have figured us out and we have no answer. We can't just carry on going back to the boyfriend that leathers the fuck out of us

I don't think he's perfect. I think he's made plenty of mistakes this season (and in seasons past). But I don't think he's a fraud, I don't think he's over the hill, I don't think he's been found out, I don't think he's weak or a coward, and I don't think he's a muppet.

I'd be very happy to have a good discussion about our shortcomings this season, but lately there's just histrionics on here. I find it extremely tiring and off-putting. That's why I usually stay away. I made an exception today, but won't shut up when I see stupid, totally over the top white spouted.

Take the recent success, which has been astonishing and brilliant. You’ve told us what he isn’t, fair enough but what has he done this season to earn his £25 million salary? As far as I can tell he’s fallen very short of what we would expect the supposedly best manager in the World should achieve. We have been serving up dross pretty much every game this season, OK we’ve won a few against poor opposition but in general it’s been abysmal. For me the whole point of this forum is to discuss it and criticise where it’s due and my god this season it’s most definitely due. He waited to 75 mins to make a change in a game plan that was obviously not working from the start. Sorry, I loved the guy and have obviously enjoyed the success but all he’s proved to me this season is his narcissism, stubbornness and lack of initiative.

[PeterParker]

Not confident about this. We are playing against a team that has Peps number.
Hope i am gonna eat my words, but I think we are going to lose.

It was that predictable.
He gave the team days off instead of preparing for the final. He reportedly went to Barcelona while the squad stood idle, lacking intensity, cohesion, or even a basic game plan for one of the most important matches of the season. He chose arrogance over preparation — and we paid the price. Those who went there will have a long way home, while next week his salary will fill his account like clockwork.

He’s spent over £200 million in the past window, he threw money at problems he couldn’t solve with tactics anymore. The signings haven’t made us better — they’ve made us bloated. And worse, they’ve made us slow.
This final wasn’t a fluke. It was the culmination of a season where Pep’s ego outgrew the club’s needs. The relentless tinkering, the obsession with control, the refusal to trust players who don’t perfectly fit his mold — all of it finally collapsed under its own weight. Crystal Palace, with a fraction of our budget and none of our resources, came to fight. We came to pass sideways. It’s no longer beautiful football. It’s stubborn, lifeless control.

It’s time for him to go. Not because he’s done, but because he’s lost the hunger. The spark that once made us unplayable is gone. He’s given us greatness, he’s given us trophies, but now he’s giving us excuses. Manchester City deserves a leader who’s fully here, fully invested, and willing to adapt. Not one clinging to outdated ideas while booking flights to Catalonia. Enough is enough.

[Sparklehorse]

How many corners we had? What's the point in them?

Why the hell have we stopped taking short ones ?

[carl_feedthegoat]

I am not paid 20 mil to rethink our plan, mate.
I am saying we've become too predictable. It is not ok for me to stick with a principle just to prove a point, when it's clear that even Leyton Orient has a plan to stop it.

I hear what you're saying mate, but we used to be able or have good discussions and debates on here, but now a days it's just about who screams the loudest and comes with the most ludicrous Pep insults. I'm also far from happy with this season, but I'm still trying to see the big picture.

Nool, every time someone criticises Pep it's "WELL WHAT WOULD YOU DO?!!!" We're not managers and we're not paid to do his job. It's up to him to come up with a Plan B for when teams like palace sit and counter us.

This isn't anything new, we've seen it creeping in for 2 season now, where teams have figured us out and we have no answer. We can't just carry on going back to the boyfriend that leathers the fuck out of us

I don't think he's perfect. I think he's made plenty of mistakes this season (and in seasons past). But I don't think he's a fraud, I don't think he's over the hill, I don't think he's been found out, I don't think he's weak or a coward, and I don't think he's a muppet.

I'd be very happy to have a good discussion about our shortcomings this season, but lately there's just histrionics on here. I find it extremely tiring and off-putting. That's why I usually stay away. I made an exception today, but won't shut up when I see stupid, totally over the top white spouted.

Take the recent success, which has been astonishing and brilliant. You’ve told us what he isn’t, fair enough but what has he done this season to earn his £25 million salary? As far as I can tell he’s fallen very short of what we would expect the supposedly best manager in the World should achieve. We have been serving up dross pretty much every game this season, OK we’ve won a few against poor opposition but in general it’s been abysmal. For me the whole point of this forum is to discuss it and criticise where it’s due and my god this season it’s most definitely due. He waited to 75 mins to make a change in a game plan that was obviously not working from the start. Sorry, I loved the guy and have obviously enjoyed the success but all he’s proved to me this season is his narcissism, stubbornness and lack of initiative.

His shite management started early on when he refused to bench walker and Gundo and that alone cost us over 12 points and since then he has gotten worse and worse and worse.
His apologists blamed it on injuries but the reality has little to fuckall to do with that - it was down to his arrogance thinking he still has those world class players at his lucky disposal and played what he did have in positions that they could and can not excel in...round holes in square pegs all season long.............. I said hes shit when he has not got his best 11 players available but hes been just as shit this season when he does have them available !!!.

Sorry , but the evidence shows he will be the same next season and I cannot see me watching this boring shit every week...fuck that.

[Sparklehorse]

Foden, fuckin useless

He’s not a winger, never has been or ever will be, OReily is not a left back and never will be, this game was a shocker from start to finish, I have to say I fucking hate our manager and want him gone. All season I’ve been watching the same game over and over and over again, I predicted early in this thread what would happen and other than it being 1-0 not 2-0 I was right and it will be the same on Tuesday and against Fulham and the World Club Cup.

[Sparklehorse]

What a bunch of spoiled moaners this site has become.
We were the better team no doubt but it's the goal that counts.
Ageing problem amongst the most important player.
Let's hope the 115 kicks in and we will see how many left here.
A proper fuck off to everyone. I love you!
CTID!

If you think we were the better team today pal you need to give your head a wobble. We were tucked up like a kipper by Crystal Fucking Palace.

[Indianablue]

Beat his man 3 times on the outside in the 2nd half. I agree he's not been good but i thought his first few games he was ok then Peps tactics and change of fullbacks made him isolated . I'd stick with him, i think Echeverri and Foden and Sav could be good. Doku on the othe hand has shown us everything. Tricky but fools himself teammates and opposition equally. Palace wrapped him up today

[Sparklehorse]

Foden another one that's finished isn't he. Don't think he has the mentality to adapt his game to new heights. He lost his burst of pace a while ago. Doesn't offer anything now except a shot on goal and he never finds himself in that position any more. Needs to really dig deep and find it within himself the ability to change his role in a game.

Doku. I'm not a hater. Fucked it at the end there. But can somebody explain to me the logic in him having it out wide, he's doubled up, and we *never* send anybody on the overlap to assist him? Everyone just stands around expecting him to do everything himself. Somebody help the cunt.

Haaland is only as good as his service and the service once again didn't exist.

Kevin. The mind and spirit is there. The sharpness in the legs has long since departed.

Gvardiol excellent. Bernardo excellent.

That's about it. Shit season rightly ending potless.

The thing is with Haaland is he has to earn service, his whole body language and hunger seems to have gone and in a game where teams park the bus we have seen time and again he is totally ineffective. When teams try to play against us and he gets space there is nobody better.

[Dubciteh]

Biggest culprit on the pitch was Kevin, uninterested, slow, sloppy and lazy. Cancel the statue, ginger cunt.

Completely disagree. Hes nowhere near his best or peak but he was our best player and only one who looked like he could create anything. He created at lesst three great chances off top of my head, haaland at start of game, o reillys chance that he didnt shoot for some reason and echeverris chance. Three huge chances for someone who was our worst player on the pitch? Not having it. Would have been far far worse with anyone else there

He was fuking shocking unless I watched a different game struggled passing 5 yards absolutely woefully

What about the 3 chances i just mentioned he created? Easy chances in years gone by. Who else created anything of note? We would have been even more clueless if he didnt play, if it was foden or gundogan in there we wouldnt have created zero. Im not advocating we should keep him, or that he is anywhere near peak kdb, but if we were going to score it was going to come from something he did cos no other fucker even played a forward pass.

[nottsblue]

Guaranteed the non red card for Henderson will be barely mentioned. Despite it being a game changer. Let’s be fair, we were poor, no question about that, but it could have been a very different story if the VAR wasn’t corrupt and a cheat

Id have taken the team off the pitch and gone home. We can't keep letting VAR get away with this shit. We get an apology the next week and just take it.

The BBC have now got a thread on it

But it’s about whether Henderson stopped a goal scoring opportunity. Have I completely missed the point here? I thought a goalkeeper handling the ball outside the area was a red card? Regardless of the situation of play

[Sparklehorse]

It’s funny nobody was singing “we’ve got Guardiola” today !!

[PeterParker]

Guaranteed the non red card for Henderson will be barely mentioned. Despite it being a game changer. Let’s be fair, we were poor, no question about that, but it could have been a very different story if the VAR wasn’t corrupt and a cheat

Id have taken the team off the pitch and gone home. We can't keep letting VAR get away with this shit. We get an apology the next week and just take it.

The BBC have now got a thread on it

But it’s about whether Henderson stopped a goal scoring opportunity. Have I completely missed the point here? I thought a goalkeeper handling the ball outside the area was a red card? Regardless of the situation of play

That is bent as it can be. Just last week everyone showed in plain sight the VAR room in Spain saying on camera "thank God" when they had to disallowed a goal of Barcelona vs Madrid.
That being said, I can't blame it on that decision. I am too ashamed of how we looked today to look beyond that.

[Indianablue]

Not confident about this. We are playing against a team that has Peps number.
Hope i am gonna eat my words, but I think we are going to lose.

It was that predictable.
He gave the team days off instead of preparing for the final. He reportedly went to Barcelona while the squad stood idle, lacking intensity, cohesion, or even a basic game plan for one of the most important matches of the season. He chose arrogance over preparation — and we paid the price. Those who went there will have a long way home, while next week his salary will fill his account like clockwork.

He’s spent over £200 million in the past window, he threw money at problems he couldn’t solve with tactics anymore. The signings haven’t made us better — they’ve made us bloated. And worse, they’ve made us slow.
This final wasn’t a fluke. It was the culmination of a season where Pep’s ego outgrew the club’s needs. The relentless tinkering, the obsession with control, the refusal to trust players who don’t perfectly fit his mold — all of it finally collapsed under its own weight. Crystal Palace, with a fraction of our budget and none of our resources, came to fight. We came to pass sideways. It’s no longer beautiful football. It’s stubborn, lifeless control.

It’s time for him to go. Not because he’s done, but because he’s lost the hunger. The spark that once made us unplayable is gone. He’s given us greatness, he’s given us trophies, but now he’s giving us excuses. Manchester City deserves a leader who’s fully here, fully invested, and willing to adapt. Not one clinging to outdated ideas while booking flights to Catalonia. Enough is enough.

A fair synopsis but i'd argue our signings in January haven't been used. Reis, Gonzales, Khusanov and Echeverri. KDB had a decent game trying t get a contract extension but well past it. Too many ?

[Mase]

It’s funny nobody was singing “we’ve got Guardiola” today !!

StuPot - "even the Palace fans were singing it today!"

[Sparklehorse]

What he’s done with Grealish over the last two years is absolutely criminal. I will never forgive him for it. Cunt.

[PeterParker]

Not confident about this. We are playing against a team that has Peps number.
Hope i am gonna eat my words, but I think we are going to lose.

It was that predictable.
He gave the team days off instead of preparing for the final. He reportedly went to Barcelona while the squad stood idle, lacking intensity, cohesion, or even a basic game plan for one of the most important matches of the season. He chose arrogance over preparation — and we paid the price. Those who went there will have a long way home, while next week his salary will fill his account like clockwork.

He’s spent over £200 million in the past window, he threw money at problems he couldn’t solve with tactics anymore. The signings haven’t made us better — they’ve made us bloated. And worse, they’ve made us slow.
This final wasn’t a fluke. It was the culmination of a season where Pep’s ego outgrew the club’s needs. The relentless tinkering, the obsession with control, the refusal to trust players who don’t perfectly fit his mold — all of it finally collapsed under its own weight. Crystal Palace, with a fraction of our budget and none of our resources, came to fight. We came to pass sideways. It’s no longer beautiful football. It’s stubborn, lifeless control.

It’s time for him to go. Not because he’s done, but because he’s lost the hunger. The spark that once made us unplayable is gone. He’s given us greatness, he’s given us trophies, but now he’s giving us excuses. Manchester City deserves a leader who’s fully here, fully invested, and willing to adapt. Not one clinging to outdated ideas while booking flights to Catalonia. Enough is enough.

A fair synopsis but i'd argue our signings in January haven't been used. Reis, Gonzales, Khusanov and Echeverri. KDB had a decent game trying t get a contract extension but well past it. Too many ?

And I will repeat my questions, rethorical, of course: why did we buy them? How can they grow if they don't get playing time?

[Dubciteh]

What he’s done with Grealish over the last two years is absolutely criminal. I will never forgive him for it. Cunt.

Maybe he deserved it? I love Grealish from outside looking in but he can also be painful. Didnt he fly off last week to see Rod Stewart on france shortly before we had a game or something?

[carl_feedthegoat]

It’s funny nobody was singing “we’ve got Guardiola” today !!

StuPot - "even the Palace fans were singing it today!"

Stupot and Hazy were probably doing "Ring-a-ring-o'-roses" before and after the game.

[Mase]

What he’s done with Grealish over the last two years is absolutely criminal. I will never forgive him for it. Cunt.

Maybe he deserved it? I love Grealish from outside looking in but he can also be painful. Didnt he fly off last week to see Rod Stewart on france shortly before we had a game or something?

What could a player possibly do to deserve being played, play well and then not play for weeks? This myth about him being on the piss constantly is very weird, we don't believe the media when they're lying about us but when they lie about one of players it must be true? Jack's given time off like the rest of the squad are and he's free to do what he wants.

Pep played him central and he did well. I'm sure Pep played him central in the hope he'd fail so he could do his usual "I told you so" pointing to the board during the game. It didn't work and Grealish played well so we didn't see him after that.

[zabbadabbado]

I don't think it is just a case of our Manager style being found out, which it clearly has.

An element of un- professialisim and complacency has started setting in. We saw last season in the FA Cup Final against the Rags with the players on the piss for a full week before. With some players admitting afterwards they were playing that game hung over.

Was there really any need taking the players to Catalonia just days before one of the biggest games of this Car crash of a season, it is pure arrogance on Pep part. Just an excuse used to fuck off to Barcelona for a few more days.

Reflects in the players on the Pitch look mostly un-arsed, disinterested. They no longer look properly trained. Our Football consists of pointless passing for long periods with no end product, mostly to the side and back. Relying solely on a moment of brilliance rather than good build up play.

Our set pieces are dreadful ,seriously shocking terrible corners that rarely beat the first Man ,or are constantly over hit .Again indicative of not being properly trained zero routine.

Last Season was the pre-cursor to this Season. Those not wearing Blue blinkers saw last season the writing was on the Wall. Struggling against our rivals, and even the shite teams able to nullify our game.

Then we have player recruitment, seriously wtf is actually going on ?.We gave him £200,000 000 to spend in January. We signed players that have hardly figured. He has preferred to revert back to the players that had us in freefall back in November. Players replaced ,City greats have been replaced by shite mid table players with zero creativity. Every City great that leaves is replaced by a sub-standard mediocre replacement.

I fully expect we will be struggling next season if we refuse to accept the reality of our situation. We will have to give a manager going in 12 months in excess of £1 Billion just to get us up there. That is a fact, Pep can not find decent players at decent prices. He manages like a Kid playing football Manager. He has to have all the best players in every position to get a Tune out of Band. He is the very definition of a cheque Book manager. And it shows. He doesn't have a Scooby Doo what to do with a team not covered with Star Dust. He can not adept to the situation. He just carries on the same way. It is actually embarrassing. There are Championship managers would would have done better with this squad this season, he has been that bad.