Pep hopes Cup win helps City rediscover lost heart

Manchester — After a loss at Bournemouth began Manchester City’s run of poor form this season, City manager Pep Guardiola hopes Sunday’s 2-1 comeback win against the same opponents will help his team rediscover the “soul” they have lacked in recent months.

Second-half goals from Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush helped City reach the FA Cup semifinals for a record seventh time in a row and make amends for the 2-1 Premier League defeat they suffered at Bournemouth in November.

The loss, which ended City’s 32-game unbeaten run in the competition, was the first of four straight league defeats for the defending champions.

City won only one of their next eight games in the competition, suffering a huge setback to their hopes of  capturing a fifth league title in a row.

“We talked a lot about the game we lost deservedly here against Bournemouth. That was when we started to go in our down road this season,” Guardiola said on Sunday.

“This season we have played more games like the [first] one against Bournemouth, which is why we have not deserved more. The most important thing today was that the players have learnt the lesson.

“I told them we cannot accept a performance like the one here in the league when people have travelled down for five hours. What we missed this season was heart, soul; the desire from how we’d done it for many, many years.”

Guardiola said City started to make “incredible mistakes” since the loss at Bournemouth, as they were eliminated from the Champions League in February after back-to-back losses to Real Madrid.

City are fifth in the Premier League with only one win in their last four league matches, and suffered their first loss to Nottingham Forest since 2009 in a 1-0 away defeat earlier in March.

“As a team we didn’t have heart. That’s the most important thing we have to recover at the end of the season and in the future.

“I adore to play like today. A few weeks ago at Nottingham Forest, did the team play like today? No. Hopefully at the end [of the season] we can change, learn and prepare for next season.”

City face Forest again in the FA Cup semifinals at Wembley later in April. 

Reuters