Manchester City’s second-team players needed a boost from the substitutes’ bench to beat a determined and organized Southampton side in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
Josep Guardiola led his team to their fourth consecutive FA Cup final (Image: Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
As Manchester City manager, Josep Guardiola has played more games at Wembley than most Chelsea managers have played at Stamford Bridge. But in all my games here at City, I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated a extravagant strike as much as I have for Nico Gonzalez’s dream strike.
It was a right-footed strike that relieved Guardiola of the stress of extra-time and allowed him to escape criticism for being a shadow team in the FA Cup semi-final. And that means he will return to his adopted home of England on May 16th, when hopes of winning the Triple Crown will be high.
It was a deserved victory for City, who became the first team in the competition’s history to reach four consecutive FA Cup finals. But for some time it was a painstaking effort, their winning instincts only sharpened by a fine goal from Southampton’s Finn Azaz.
But the incident, which lasted well over an hour, underscored just how depressing it can be to play such a match at Wembley.
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Half the stadium was full and interested, and the other half was half full and half interested. There was certainly more to this than City’s complacency. It wasn’t just team selection. That complacency has led to a lot of laxity.
There was no rhythm to City’s second-choice lineup, which meant the Championship side had a relatively easy job of keeping Guardiola’s side at bay. They also had some strange moments during their breakaway. Leo Cienza had the most eye-catching performance of that first half, barely being offside when a decent shot was ruled out.
As for what led to the chances, City probably overshadowed the first half, but the truth is it was quite unforgettable. That’s not to negate Southampton’s efforts.
Pep Guardiola got away with a much changed team (Image: Michael Regan/The FA via Getty Images)
Tonda Eckert organized this team well, and if anything, it was a more lively team during the better parts of the game. The only real conversation at half-time centered on how long it would take Guardiola to call up some of the players who had served him so well in the Premier League.
He resisted the temptation at half-time. The main issue that Guardiola probably needed to address was the chronic lack of support for Marmouche. Although that problem was partially resolved without changing personnel, the quality of the final pass was still lacking.
However, it soon became clear that the second period would be played towards one end of the ground. A half-empty end. It was actually a little surprising that manager Guardiola made a change just 10 minutes into the second half, when City seemed to be in complete control.
Phil Foden failed to make an impact and was substituted (Image: Cameron Smith/The FA via Getty Images)
One of those changes involves the departure of Phil Foden, and despite limited opportunities, his struggle for form shows no signs of slowing down. It is becoming increasingly easy for manager Thomas Tuchel to leave Foden this summer. It is becoming easy to see that Foden is not playing much of a role in City’s rise to the Premier League.
With the introduction of Jeremy Doku and Sabinho, it was clear that Pep was not expecting much defensive work, and as expected, he was right. It truly became a training ground for offense versus defense.
And while City didn’t attack particularly well, Southampton defended very well. Guardiola had hoped that bringing in Erling Haaland would change the situation, but that didn’t happen.
Suddenly, and quite surprisingly, Azaz finished off what had started as a mistake from Rayan Cherki with a beautiful curling shot with his right foot. The lead didn’t last long thanks to Doc’s widely deflected attack, but at least it gave the contest some much-needed excitement.
Then Gonzalez hit the winning shot, bringing the match to a spectacular end. It wasn’t very clean from the city, but the treble was still quite extended.
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