Pep Guardiola speaks on substandard Manchester City season

Manchester City reached their third straight FA Cup final with a 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at Wembley, but Pep Guardiola suggested triumph in the competition would not be enough to salvage a poor season.

While their hunt for a fifth consecutive Premier League title was all but concluded months ago, Manchester City remain hopeful of an eighth FA Cup honour.

It was a bit more of the Man City of old against fellow top-four candidates Nottingham Forest at the weekend, conceding just one shot on target in 90 minutes.

UEFA Champions League football for the 2025/26 campaign season will undoubtedly near the top of their priorities, currently placed fourth with four games left to play.

Citizens boss Pep Guardiola was however quick to highlight that potential success in the FA Cup doesn’t take away from an underwhelming campaign.

When speaking in his post-match press conference, Guardiola said: “The damage would be minimum. It's not going to confuse [that] the season has been good.

The club has to take the decision, the right ones, so next season will be better.

"We are a thousand million points behind Liverpool. I said many times the season hasn't been good because we define if the season is good or not with the Premier League.

"This season it could not happen, at the same time we tried to avoid the damage. We have to be calm now and recover."

While Man City aren’t ‘a thousand million points behind Liverpool’, the gap is far bigger than most anticipated prior to the start of the term.

Hopes of an 11th league title for the club have remained slim for a while, but Man City weren’t completely out of the race in January, and they took to the market to significantly bolster their team.

Adding the likes of Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis to the squad was not enough to encourage a late surge for the title, but Guardiola’s side could be well placed for top spot in the 2025/26 term should they further strengthen in the summer window.

Ellis Statham

• Manchester City F.C.
• Premier League
• FA Cup
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