Blog announcement.

They’ll be no pre-match blog posting ahead of our next two matches due to both general time constraints and an up-and-coming holiday.

Effectively, I’m signing off for the season. 😧

Feeling flat…

Well, just as was the case against Southampton the previous weekend, we huffed and we puffed but we just could not get through Palace’s packed defence. Very frustrating indeed.

With TV cameras focussed mainly on the loud and impressive Eagles fans, with, apparently, every neutral backing the London-based side, with their keeper somehow managing to stay on the pitch and then saving our first half penalty; there seemed an inevitability about the outcome.

Next up? Two more finals in the hope of at least finishing in a Champions League position.

Why on EARTH we’re being forced to play a rearranged fixture against AFC Bournemouth on Tuesday, giving us hardly any recovery time from an energy-sapping F.A. Cup final, is anyone’s guess. One thing is for sure, a win against The Cherries means that it’ll be in our own hands as we face Fulham away on Sunday 25^th May. A draw wouldn't be bad either, considering our far superior goal difference over Aston Villa and +4 we currently have over Chelsea. A defeat in midweek doesn’t even bear thinking about and will do nothing for any City fan’s nerves on the final weekend.

After that it’s the Club World Cup.

If you work during the daytime, there are two watchable KO times in the group stage in the UK (Channel 5) of 5:00pm and 8:00pm. The other one is 2:00am (BST). Not sure if I’ll bother; I haven’t quite decided. All I can say is that I hope Pep gives players who need a flippin’ good rest…a flippin’ good rest. Use this competition to give some minutes to some youngsters too, such as Abdukodir Khusanov, Callum Doyle (who has had a full season playing lots of games on loan, but...), Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, Juma Bah, Vitor Reis, Alex Alcala, Claudio Echeverri, Jaden Heskey, Matty Warhurst and Divin Mubama plus others I may have neglected to mention. And please take Phil Foden with you but for his sake stick him on a beach somewhere away from football and away from his family for the duration – he clearly needs a complete break.

That’s all from me and I hope you have a great summer. I’ll ‘put pen to paper’ when I have time with the usual close season stuff, such as season player ratings, transfer stuff and perhaps an opinion piece on our three new kits.

Bye!