Pundit Frank Leboeuf admitted he felt sorry for one Manchester City player after Saturday’s FA Cup final defeat to Manchester United.
City could not finish the season with a flourish, as they crashed to a 2-1 defeat at Wembley.
United got their revenge for last year, doing their damage in the first-half as Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo put them 2-0 up. The game stayed that way until the 87th minute when Jeremy Doku – who was City’s bright spark – scored to give City hope.
But Pep Guardiola‘s side couldn’t find an equaliser, and the season has now finished on a bit of a low note.
After the defeat, Guardiola was keen to talk up the achievements of his side this term and it has indeed been another successful campaign. But some will need some time to get over this defeat to United.
One man who struggled during the final was Erling Haaland – but Frank Leboeuf has some sympathy with the Norwegian superstar…
Frank Leboeuf slams Man City’s use of Erling Haaland after FA Cup final defeat to Manchester United
City just weren’t at it against United which was a real shame.
The club had the chance to do the Double, but passed up the opportunity by turning into ne of their worst displays of the season.
United defended very well to their credit, with the two centre-backs Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane especially strong on the day.
Their efforts meant that it was a fairly quiet afternoon for City number nine Erling Haaland, who only really had one chance. That was when Doku rolled the ball across and he slammed his effort against the crossbar.
As we have seen many times before, Haaland did not have many touches in the game. And Leboeuf questioned City’s use of him in the final, suggesting the team should have been putting in more crosses, especially given they were chasing the game.
He said in a video for ESPN FC: “That’s frustrating, when I see Haaland playing and when I see how Man City are thinking (about) their game. It’s to go around (the box). Especially in the ssecond-half when they gave the ball to Doku waiting for him to do something special.
“But they never cross the ball, and when you have a powerful guy like Haaland as a striker, I was wondering… the frustration that Haaland must have week in, week out by running and asking for the ball but never receiving.
“They go around and around, again and again. It must be so frustrating for Haaland to be never served. I would support him at some point. You can get crazy out of it.”
It’s the City way and always has been
When Haaland has played and not scored, there always tends to be criticism of him because of how few touches he’s had. Jack Grealish actually moved to defend his teammate earlier this week following this, believing Haaland to have been ‘disrespected’.
But some will share Leoboeuf’s sentiments here. Because of the way City play, £51 million signing Haaland has to be extremely patient. Quite often, he does make runs and is never even looked for, with the ball going out wide instead.
Sometimes, it feels like City should start being more direct and getting crosses in for Haaland, who is 6ft 4in and has a leap many other players could only dream of. Especially when you’ve got a team defending for their lives and making it really hard to play through.
But we rarely see City deviate away from this tactic of passing around the penalty box.
To be fair to Guardiola, this tactic has worked so often down the years and it is understandable why his players don’t just toss it into the box. Even if Haaland is a big physical presence.