Lyon CL QF Post-Match Thread

[SidJames]

How to make sense of the formation last night?

My best shot at explaining it is as follows. Pep watched Bayern destroying Barca the previous night and was convinced that we have to use a much more defensive formation should we play Bayern to stand a chance or avoid a humiliation. But we haven't played such a formation for ages. So, let's practice it a bit against Lyon.

Pep knew that a combo of a 35 y.o. midfielder at CB and a CB who is just back from a very bad injury is not likely to fare well against Bayern or Mbappe and Neymar. So, he thought we could win the CL if we played defensively and relied on our forwards to bail us out. Thus, the implicit message to the team was: we are not good enough to compete right now and have to be clever. The players' confidence took a big hit already before the start of the game and they looked hesitant and confused.

Pep was realistic about our defensive weaknesses but instead of inspiring the team to give 120% he made them fearful. He was thinking more about our weaknesses and not about our strengths. He is failing in the CL not because his philosophy doesn't suit it but because he betrays his philosophy. Go for it, we have a brilliant attack and can beat any team on our day.

Not like he has not done this sort of thing before.Spurs away in the Champions League springs to mind,KDB on the Bench.

We all know what happened next.

He is a hard man to understand.

That Liverpool away game in the Champions League he went there all Guns blazing playing to those scouse fuckers strength.We were all like wtf ?,we never recovered from it.

Then you see that ultra cautious Pep set up last night playing against a mid table french side.It makes no sense.The only chance they really had last night was capitalizing from the now usual 2,3 mistakes per game ,because we can not defend.

This was the game to go all Gun blazing and blow them away..We can not defend so go out and play to our own strengths, score more than them.

Instead of spending 1 hour being scared of making any mistakes,then making the fucking mistakes you knew you were always going to make.

 

[ShaunMCFC]

Still feel as deflated as I did last night. Still think 100% of the blame lies at Peps door, he needs to have a word with himself

 

[Alan Oakes Shinpads]

Yes we were our own worst enemies with the selection/formation,but once again 2 teams refereed differently. A referee who allowed/turned a UEFA blind eye to the Lyon defence persistently foul,the Brazilian centre back committed several more fouls after been booked with no sanction and the diving of Cornet in particular(why no yellow card for the dive in the box?) along with others who appeared to have been shot by the sniper in the crowd whenever we went near them

Just to finish VAR for their second goal was the cherry on the UEFA celebration cake

 

[Great Kompany]

A lot of people often take this match as a singular event and talk about missed chances and VAR and such. But this has happened 4 times in a row. This can't be just down to bad luck. And believe it or not. The money and the time was given to rectify it.

I would also like to give a wobble to your incompetent recruitment department. I don't know who suggested Rodri when Partey was right there next to him. We keep on saying we need to bring someone to complement Rodri. Why did we buy him in the first place. Same with the defenders.Another full back to strength the defence then one more fullback. It has become a typical rag situation where they buy a new midfielder every year to free pogba.

 

[hateutd]

I had some great expectations for this game... I spend more than 40 years following City, depends my happiness or sorrow from a final score.... last night a well known feeling of shit came back from early 80's.... Pep fucked everything, players also... I can't say anything to my son today, I couldn't say anything last night.... Just, blue moon you saw me standing alone..... :(

 

[lonestay]

How on earth have you come to this conclusion?

by the way he was here one moment our inspirational leader and although his contract was ending gone in an instant to Anderlecht, Now i dont know if there were any plans to bring Vinny onboard at the end of last season and start him in the process of possibly at some point becoming manager, but after 10 years i thought Vinny could have
handled it better, he knew what he was to City and the fans and i just think that it all seemed a bit rushed .

 

[City_Sean]

That setup was so badly wrong last night that it's hard to even know where to begin.

I dont actually mind the back three and I had a feeling Pep would utilise it to match up with Lyon. The problem is his XI was so badly wrong that it afforded us no pace or legs.

If you're worried about the pace of Lyon, then you play Walker as the RCB, Cancelo RWB and Mendy on the left. You don't play Garcia and Ferna, both of whom are slow. You don't play Garcia full stop with the news that he wants out.

Rodri and Gundo were both passengers in the midfield. No legs to get up and down and support both ends.

We lacked any width too as Cancelo can't use his left, so it enabled Lyon to defend more on the inside which blocked off the space for KDB.

All in all, that from Pep was utter garbage. Serious questions need to be asked. The whole season since the restart has been geared towards the cups. In both cups we've gone out with insipid performances.

 

[Mon Autre]

by the way he was here one moment our inspirational leader and although his contract was ending gone in an instant to Anderlecht, Now i dont know if there were any plans to bring Vinny onboard at the end of last season and start him in the process of possibly at some point becoming manager, but after 10 years i thought Vinny could have
handled it better, he knew what he was to City and the fans and i just think that it all seemed a bit rushed .

Might have seemed rushed to you perhaps but it was pretty obvious to everyone else he was going. The club had plenty of time to prepare and they chose not replace him.

 

[eastmanc]

first thing Foden does when receiving the ball is to go forward with speed as does Bernie (mostly). Yesterday mostly our players went sideways . Jesus was having to come deep to get the ball than try to get forward !. Our front 3 of Foden, Sterling and Jesus having the freedom to play along the line popping up on the left or right or central causes defences all sorts of problems and gives KDB plenty of choice. We had nothing going forward last night only Jesus and Sterling against a back 5 .....why Pep ?

KDB in last nights system looked very isolated and short of options.

 

[bluemoon32]

KDB in last nights system looked very isolated and short of options.

He looks increasingly pissed off at times lately, we seem to have turned into a side where everyone gives the ball to KDB and expects him to do something magical, almost like Barcelona and Messi