City need to stay grounded after League Cup final defeat
Nick Cushing didn't quite get a new manager bounce, but what positives can be taken from Saturday's loss to Chelsea?
The idea of ‘losing well’ is a pretty empty one in football. For elite athletes, a defeat is a defeat – and a 2-1 defeat in a League Cup final, in part down to an own goal, is far worse than that.
Manchester City will not have gone home and reflected on the fact that they bettered Chelsea when it came to shots on target, touches inside the box, corners, duels won, or any other statistic that means absolutely nothing in the battle for a trophy.
It will not matter that they played with more intensity, more passion, and more potential than in any other game this season (barring their Champions League win over Barcelona, of course).
But as someone who had expected Man City’s defeat to be far more comprehensive, there was much to be pleasantly surprised about.
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