Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola admits he made a tactical error in their 2-1 FA Cup final defeat to Manchester United.
Guardiola made three changes to the team that secured the Premier League title against West Ham last weekend.
At half-time at Wembley, trailing 2-0, he brought on Jeremy Doku and Manuel Akanji for Mateo Kovacic and Nathan Ake.
Belgian winger Doku scored in the 87th minute, but City could not mount a comeback to defend the trophy they won against United last season.
“Congratulations to Manchester United on winning the FA Cup,” Guardiola said afterwards.
“I think my gameplan was not good. The second half was much much better. We were more intense, in part because we were 2-0 down and had nothing to lose. It was a tight game.
“We had clear chances in the second half which wasn’t easy because they had man-marking and defended the pockets but we had the chances and unfortunately we scored a goal a little bit late.”
It was the first time Guardiola had lost a domestic cup final in England, after four League Cup and two FA Cup successes.
“It’s normal teams can lose finals but this season has been extraordinary, fighting for all the trophies in a good way,” he added. “We’ll rest and come back next season.”
Guardiola was asked if his side was sluggish, but said: “No. For my decisions we were not in the right positions to attack them. My mistake, my gameplan was not good.”
When asked what he was trying to do, he added: “The players know the reason why. Tactically, it was not good. I was not good today. You plan a game for different positions but it didn’t work.
“Always when we play against United, we have the control and we created in the second half but we were not able to do it.”