Was Manchester City’s season a success after FA Cup defeat followed Premier League glory?

Despite having a shot at winning a domestic double, Manchester city dropped on Manchester United in the FA Cup final 2-1. By conceding two goals to the Red Devils in the first half, City ended their season on a negative note despite winning the Premier League for the fourth consecutive season. Pep Guardiola secured his first Club World Cup and the UEFA Super Cup with Macher City, but with multiple trophies expected every season, was this season a success?

It’s difficult to have a basis for what success is for City, having already won a treble during the 2022/2023 season. It’s a tough achievement to follow up. It’s easy to motivate a team that is missing something in the trophy cabinet, but when it’s the chance of a second successive FA Cup final before they go on holiday, it’s normal for heads to drop a bit.

“In terms of my decisions, we were not in the right positions to attack them,” Guardiola said after the match. “My mistake. My game plan wasn’t good. Tactically it wasn’t good. I wasn’t good today.”

Guardiola also mentioned the improvement in the second half and that he planned for players to be in different positions, but that made no difference.

Manchester United preferred the FA Cup final and despite City being one of the strongest teams in the Premier League all season, that doesn’t matter when it comes to a knockout tournament. Collecting fifteen trophies under Guardiola means there is a time when it is difficult to motivate a team to achieve more, which could be one of the reasons behind Guardiola He may leave after next season.

“The reality is that I am closer to leaving than staying,” Guardiola said ahead of the final. “We have spoken to the club and I have the feeling that I want to stay now. I will stay next season and during the season we will talk. But after eight or nine years we will see.”

That statement could have also filtered down to his team, but if we look at the season as a whole, when there was an extremely competitive race for the Premier League, and there is the fact that City had to deal with injuries to Erling Haaland and Kevin De Buryne. , they were able to bounce back.

In determining that the season was a success, the question must be answered whether City did what they were supposed to do, and despite coming close to retaining a treble, they still won the Premier League, which was the most important goal during the season. began. Missing the league against Liverpool in the 2019-20 season would be Guardiolas least successful season in charge of City as they only won the EFL Cup and the Community Shield.

Expectations are high as City are expected to win every competition they enter, but that is simply not possible. Winning the league and adding another trophy is a sign of a good season, even by City’s standards.