A journalist has revealed that Pep Guardiola was absolutely furious with one of his Manchester City players during the first half of their FA Cup final clash against Manchester United.
After beating the Red Devils home and away in the recent Premier League campaign with an aggregate score of 6-1, the two Manchester sides faced off against each other in the FA Cup final for their final match of the season.
The first half saw the Blues concede two goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo.
In addition to that, one journalist spotted something that Guardiola did on the touchline to one of his players just before the midway point of the match.
Journalist says Guardiola was fuming at one Man City player
In a post shared on his X account just before halftime, journalist Jack Gaughan had this to say on the matter.
He said: “Guardiola going absolutely mad at Stones, who doesn’t know who to pick up from dead balls.”
Poor preparation from Stones
Interestingly, the Englishman had only played 21 minutes of action in one appearance across City’s seven final Premier League games of the season.
The last time he completed a full 90 minutes prior to the FA Cup final was during City’s 4-2 win over Crystal Palace in the first week of April.
This shows that the centre-half wasn’t exactly in any sort of form heading into the final, meaning that his inclusion in the starting XI may have surprised some City fans before the game.
However, for him to not be aware of which United player he needed to be marking in dead-ball situations as Gaughan highlighted, this shows a lack of sufficient preparation on his part.
In that case, regardless of how little he has played over the past few weeks, we feel that Guardiola, as the City manager, was right to show his frustration at Stones on this occasion.