City face Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final on Saturday.
Erling Haaland has described Manchester City’s season as “horrific” (Mike Egerton/PA)open image in gallery
Erling Haaland has described Manchester City’s season as “horrific” (Mike Egerton/PA) (PA Wire)
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Erling Haaland has said “every single” Manchester City player has come up short in a “horrific” season even as they bid to end it with a trophy this weekend.
City face Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final on Saturday, needing to win to avoid a trophyless campaign, with their run of four consecutive Premier League titles coming to an end with a meek defence which has left them in a fight for Champions League qualification.
“This season has been tough,” Haaland told BBC Sport. “It is not nice to lose so many games, it is boring and not fun. That’s why we need to finish well and get a trophy.
“It is a good habit to reach Wembley and always important to win trophies. We have the FA Cup final to play for an in a horrific season we still managed to do this and that says it all.”
City were disrupted by a series of injuries in the first half of the season, not least the campaign-ending knee injury suffered by Rodri in September, but Haaland – who returned from an ankle problem to start Saturday’s goalless draw at Southampton – said he was not interested in finding “excuses”.
“We haven’t been stable enough this season and we haven’t won enough games, it is as simple as that,” he said. “We have to perform better in the big games.
“We haven’t won enough consecutive games. Of course we have had injuries throughout the season. But we should not search for excuses.
“Every single one of us hasn’t been good enough and we haven’t been at our best, so when you are not at your best you aren’t going to win games in this country because it’s so hard.”