Erling Haaland has branded Manchester City's season 'horrific', 'boring' and 'not fun' – but insisted that the prospect of silverware this weekend proves they remain a behemoth.
City go into the FA Cup final with Crystal Palace knowing that Champions League qualification is still not confirmed after last Saturday's surprise goalless draw at Southampton.
Haaland admitted that the hunger has been missing within Pep Guardiola's squad as they look to salvage something from the year.
'This season has been tough,' Haaland said. 'It is not nice to lose so many games. It is boring and not fun. That's why we need to finish well.
'We have the FA Cup final to play for and in a horrific season we still managed to do this, that says it all.
'It hasn't been good enough. We haven't been there fighting in the Premier League or the Champions League and that's not good enough for a club like City. You should be there and you should compete.
'I don't know the answers to be honest, but sometimes you just need to run. You have to run more. We haven't run enough this season.
'You have to run more, you have to perform better, you have to be more stable as a team. You have to be more, find the spirit.'
He added: 'Every single one of us hasn't been good enough and we haven't been at our best, so when you are not at your best you aren't going to win games in this country because it's so hard.'
Haaland made his comeback from an ankle injury at St Mary's and claims to have boundless energy ahead of the final three matches of a gruelling season before the Club World Cup.
The 24-year-old believes winning his second FA Cup would go some way to saving the season but is unsure whether his team-mates feel the same way.
'For me it would help,' he added. 'That's what I want. That's why I'm here. So it would help, definitely. But again, the standards these guys have been putting up, maybe for them it doesn't mean anything because they put the standard so high. But for me it would help, definitely.
'When you have won four league titles in a row, if you don't win five it's not going to be a successful season.
'The bar is so high that this season is a catastrophic season that just says it all. Next season we have to find something inside our stomach again to attack the season.'
