Lyon CL QF Post-Match Thread

[Bozzie]

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.

I thought Garcia had a decent game but, tbh, I do tend to get a bit wrapped up in the moment and miss the bigger picture so stand to be corrected. I definitely thought he was unlucky for their opening goal.
The selection of Gundogan and Rodri in midfield and Fernandinho in a back three was a surprise and, imo, meant our play from the back was predictable, pedestrian and, more annoying, it was so unnecessary.
Obviously they can't all play, but seeing David, Bernardo, Mahrez and Foden watching from the bench was frustrating. It felt like we'd played to our weaknesses not our strengths.
At some stage, if we are serious about the CL, we have to recognise that we are getting knocked out every year in pretty much the same manner and address the situation.

 

[kevodevo]

how on earth did Cornet not get booked for diving - it was not only the penalty dive but he did it several times elswhere on the pitch - the ref was conned badly there - clever move them complaining he was dutch before the match and 'coild be biased' he tried hard not to be - too hard! Missed chances and inadequate defending all season is the story - needs a rebuild of defence mainly- make that solid -we will score goals with our machine- roll on next season and lets stuff those dippers and rags

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

 

[the blue panther]

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.

And, to cap it all, we finish with Dave and Gundo together, which is slower than slow, and hasn't worked all season when they've been paired. Therefore, this was the last combo to finish the game with, imho.
I've said it before, Foden is in our strongest team, along with KDB. You can perm any combination of many of the others, but Foden is THAT good, I believe. That was our most important game of the season, because it could have been our last - the fact that it WAS our last is because of the poor selection and the absence of Foden.

 

[CC1]

Whatever we think about team selection, at 1-1 VAR had a major impact on the game. How an "offside" player allowing the ball to go through his legs and then subsequently score is totally beyond me. UEFA only needed one opportunity to make sure we didn't progress and they got it. I'm not denying we weren't good but there's plenty on here who should look at themselves and their comments.

Some very spoilt fans on here today - understandably- but Pep & the team only last year, won every domestic trophy. The year before that reached 100 points.

they got it wrong yesterday but the level of criticism is uncalled for. Pep must stay & oversee a slight rebuild & (we go again) we’ll be even stronger next year

 

[KS55]

My heart sank when I saw the selection. Just pick the team, Pep. None of this super analysis producing a bonkers formation, tactics and game plan. If I were a player, I would be tearing my hair out.
Previous game we learned something about tempo, then threw it away last night with a selection which confused the players and resulted in almost walking tactics.

 

[madden150]

Devastated. Pep throws a wobbler again with a needlessly crap team selection against a team that finished 7th in France, 7th! 2 holding midfielders and we were still defensively shite again, De Bruyne isolated, Jesus practically feeding off scraps. To be that poor with the squad that we have and knowing how good we can be is sickenening. Still think VAR f##ked us over with the 2nd but to be honest we just weren't good enough anyway.

That result happens at any other top european team and the manager has serious questions to answer. Peps needs to sort this shit out pronto with that performance and an overall disaster of a league campaign. If he doesn't then we'd better get ready for
more results like this.

 

[domalino]

7th in a farmers league.....wow

People keep repeating this but it is bollocks.

Lyon are the second best team in France, the had a disastrous managerial appointment in Sylvinio who dropped them down to 17th, but as soon as Garcia came in they surged back up the table and if the season hadn't been curtailed by covid, they'd have finished in the top 4 like they always do.

They beat Juventus a week ago and took PSG all the way to penalties a week before that.

They are a good side.

 

[Damanino]

Can you imagine Klopp changing his Mane, Salah, Firmino trio to go 3 at the back when they face Lyon?

 

[simon23]

Sorry but I'm utterly confused, you're contradicting your own post and it wasn't just a typo because you said it four separate times. Doesn't matter.

No you are right my first post was wrong.....but it was about the 3 of them being selcted together not playing together as a midfiled 3 - (which i did type)that was my issue - we were so slow in those areas of the pitch

for me it should have been a flat back 4 from the off (possibly with Ferna at centre half with Laporte and garcia nowhere near the pitch.

The one of Rodri or gundogan in the 'Number 6 role" - play both of these and our midfield is dull and slow

For me the team should have been

Ederson

Walker Ferna Laporte Cancello

rodri

Kdb Silva

Mahrez Jesus Sterling

Now you could argue foden in there as well over Mahrez or instance and i wouldnt disagree. SOme may have Bernardo in there as well - again I wouldnt disagree.

We have seem Pep shoehorn Gundogan into big game teams before (Liverpool champs league) and we got beaten well that night as well - Now if you play Gundogan as the 6 fair enough (I would say it would have been very risky against Lyon last night personally

Cancello didnt have the best game but he is playing on the wrong side - people will say Mendy should have played but I think Cancello got it on merit and deserved to be there and for me Mendy is another liability

Jesus had one of those games - great build up play, link up, pressing and work rate but AGAIN when it comes to the main job of a striker he doesnt do it - not in the difficult moments

And what Sterling did defies belief - its what he used to do 3 years ago all the time but i thought he had put it out of his game

 

[simon23]

According to The Athletic Gundogan is there to keep the ball moving with small passes, but he doesn't have the killer pass or movement forward when there is no space for him to float one in. Rodri doesn't move the forward like Fern did for the past few years, and between the two of them there just isn't the final ball forward, leaving Kev to come and collect the ball. Fixing that puzzle, with a press that actually presses, has been a problem all year.

Gundogan for me serves no purpose in our team at all - neither good enough offensively or defensively - we jut dont need him

 

[alexmcity]

Distance covered: City 106 km, Lyon 115 km.

We didn't run enough.

 

[Ted_Bovis]

You are nuts if you think our downfall was due to FFP and reffing rather than our set up tonight.

Can’t blame UEFA. Nonsense.
We also should know that they will be trying to do is over at any point so playing into their hands is crazy.

We said it last season. The only way we can score and be confident it won’t be overturned is from 20 yards out and no question of offside

 

[chaddblue]

People keep repeating this but it is bollocks.

Lyon are the second best team in France, the had a disastrous managerial appointment in Sylvinio who dropped them down to 17th, but as soon as Garcia came in they surged back up the table and if the season hadn't been curtailed by covid, they'd have finished in the top 4 like they always do.

They beat Juventus a week ago and took PSG all the way to penalties a week before that.

They are a good side.

Maybe they are a bit better than 7th in a pub league suggests

But if we had concentrated on our own strengths rather than ludicrously worrying about combating a far inferior side, we’d have brushed them aside with ease

 

[stonerblue]

Whatever we think about team selection, at 1-1 VAR had a major impact on the game. How an "offside" player allowing the ball to go through his legs and then subsequently score is totally beyond me. UEFA only needed one opportunity to make sure we didn't progress and they got it. I'm not denying we weren't good but there's plenty on here who should look at themselves and their comments.

I've just got up. Watched the game on foreign channel and didn't watch any after match coverage, no interviews or analysis or any internet chat last night.
This morning i've read one match report before coming on this thread. First 4 pages are all 'Pep is shit' so i skip forward to see more of the same.

Now, last night i was fuming because i thought their second goal should never have stood simply because the player who dummied the ball looked a mile offside. I didn't see any var check for this. Then i saw the replay and fleetingly got a glimpse of a City defender crashing to the floor (again i've not seen a proper replay of this). Still no var.

I went to bed convinced we were robbed, tossed and turned all night thinking we were robbed and woke up this morning still thinking the same.

 

[Blu3m00n91]

Can you imagine Klopp changing his Mane, Salah, Firmino trio to go 3 at the back when they face Lyon?

I don’t like talking about them but it’s true. He would of played the same team he always plays and in the same style.

 

[madden150]

The way we panicked and kicked everything away in the first 20mins set the tone. Pep set the tone for that panic with the selection.

We'll be nowhere near again next season - the squad is miles off

You could argue the squad is miles off Bayern, but not Lyon. That's what is concerning.

 

[give it to gordon]

We play our best when playing a quick tempo, and our front 3 closing down their defenders, like both goals against RM, that front 3 interchanging all the time one minute Jesus in the middle next left wing same with Sterling and Foden. It gives KDB passes as well as Bernie giving the midfield legs. So much energy and pace and movement. Than Pep scraps that and goes for a slow boring setup in the next game, Lyon. i can think of one team that we moan about playing their strongest 14 players for over two season now yet Pep wont play his strongest team 3 games in a row in a 3 match tournament !

 

[Beanhead]

Can’t blame UEFA. Nonsense.
We also should know that they will be trying to do is over at any point so playing into their hands is crazy.

We said it last season. The only way we can score and be confident it won’t be overturned is from 20 yards out and no question of offside

We lost because we played our most defensive side ever under this manager in a one off cup tie against the 7th best team in the French league.

Just listen to that crazy sentence, the craziest part is it’s entirely true.

 

[Robinho's Subbuteo]

Some very spoilt fans on here today - understandably- but Pep & the team only last year, won every domestic trophy. The year before that reached 100 points.

they got it wrong yesterday but the level of criticism is uncalled for. Pep must stay & oversee a slight rebuild & we go again.

I agree with you but please don’t use those last three words.

 

[iwasthere1968]

Distance covered: City 106 km, Lyon 115 km.

We didn't run enough.

We were not chasing the ball for most of the game.