Trophyless for the first time in eight years, Pep Guardiola sniping at opponents in the aftermath of defeat, Erling Haaland stepping away from a penalty. Take your pick, the cues are all there.
Does the system failure that led to Manchester City’s worst Premier League campaign since Guardiola’s first season in charge, and defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final at Wembley, point to the need for a reboot or something more radical?
Has Guardiola’s big idea, death by ronda, had its day, rendered obsolete by the more dynamic templates rolled out by the likes of PSG and Barcelona, and in the Premier League by Liverpool, Newcastle and Aston Villa, and to a lesser degree Forest, Bournemouth and Brighton?
At Wembley, City had all the possession in the world without discomfiting Palace unduly. Of course, Dean Henderson made half a dozen key saves, one from the spot, and should have been red-carded for his errant swipe to knock the ball off Haaland’s boot, but in the past City would not have been poring over details to excuse defeat, they would just blow teams away.
"It doesn't matter, who cares."
Dean Henderson reacts to that handball incident 🗣#FACup pic.twitter.com/WgSae8obtX
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 17, 2025
In the main Palace were not panicked by City’s glacial recycling. Coach Oliver Glasner set up his team to absorb and hit with pace on the break. The out-ball to Jean-Philippe Mateta was a constant threat, and when it stuck it became a knife through the heart. Palace didn’t get lucky with their goal, they boarded a train; the Mateta-Munoz Express. Eze took full advantage of his first-class ticket and knew exactly where to be when Daniel Munoz hit the gas.
Contrast that with the plight of Haaland, the most lethal centre forward on earth boxed in by his own team. The moment of penalty avoidance was symbolic of systemic failure. Granted he had been injured since the start of April, but that would not have held back the marauder that blew through Premier League defences in his first coming.
City sit sixth in the league with two games remaining. On Tuesday, they host Bournemouth before travelling to Fulham on the final day. You would expect them to win both, yet it is not so outlandish a thought that City might miss out on the Champions League.
The sense of an idea losing its force was ruthlessly rammed home at Anfield in December when City were ransacked by a rampaging Liverpool. City could not live with the intensity or pace of Liverpool in the opening half. The most telling aspect was the emasculation of Haaland, who floundered fruitlessly, unable to gain any purchase in the contest.
Though City edged possession, had more touches and made more passes, the shot count was 18 to eight in Liverpool’s favour. Liverpool were not quite the same beast after Christmas but doubled City’s pain with a 2-0 victory at the Etihad to complete the double.
In January, City announced a nine-year contract extension to keep Haaland at the Etihad until 2034. It was the kind of power play intended to signal dominance and strength, to project the virility of the Abu Dhabi empire. The idea then that City might end the season emptyhanded or outside the Champions League spots, that Guardiola would return from a visit to Wembley looking beaten up, sitting alone on the team bus, would not have entered the heads of many.
Guardiola begrudgingly congratulated Palace whilst in the same breath dug them out for their defensive structure and time wasting. “All the fans are there to let the 22 players play, play, play, play. So, when you see Barcelona now, they’re losing, attack, attack, attack, attack, and the other team attack, attack. The show is beautiful. My team, I never try [to defend/waste time] because I try to play the game like the people deserve to watch.”
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The moral high ground is the last resort of the vanquished. Guardiola was echoing last week’s bitter rant of Ruben Dias at Southampton, another example of the blunt blade City have become. Guardiola has seen his team lose nine times in the league, scoring fewer goals than Newcastle and Liverpool. The Palace experience at Wembley was not an anomaly but part of an established pattern.
Kyle Walker is gone, Kevin De Bruyne, Guardiola’s major-general, is going. Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan are in decline. Phil Foden, once City’s great hope, was worth only 15 minutes in a losing effort at Wembley. Those bought to take the story on, Jermey Doku, Savinho and Omar Marmoush, lack the gravitas and consistency to bully teams.
And at the sharp end, the emblematic Haaland pays the price of a system that appears increasingly outmoded, overtaken by time and the fast, aggressive rhythms of teams that are far more direct than Guardiola’s.