It is three decades since the FA Cup was won by the ‘dogs of war’. It is fair to say Pep Guardiola has never modelled his midfields on the scrappers and scufflers who brought Joe Royle’s Everton glory in 1995. But, some 30 years on, after another FA Cup final that a Manchester club entered as favourites and lost 1-0 to underdogs, the lament from Bernardo Silva was that a Guardiola side had too few warriors.
The Portuguese has looked around many an underachieving Manchester City dressing room this season, asked who he would want alongside him in the trenches and concluded: not enough of them. It was a damning verdict, that City had been softened by success. The lessons from their worst season since 2016-17 – and, should they fail to qualify for the Champions League, their worst since 2009-10 – may be painful for a club accustomed to glory.
