Lyon CL QF Post-Match Thread

[tonea2003]

As a team we have got slower with age, Sane our fastest player has gone, to all extents Aguero`s and Fernandinho`s legs have as well, we are very different to last year, the ability to play Peps tactics is not there, but he should have seen this and adapted or bought better

i assume the reason torres and ake were bought asides from their talent they have serious pace

 

[i8rags]

Exactly.

But 95% of the forum will just blindly blame Pep.

The only stat that counts is 3-1.
those other stats show me how shit Lyon were, pep picked the wrong line up. It’s really not blind blaming.

 

[Brightwell’s left peg]

So it's pep's fault Stirling put one over an empty net from 5 yards and ederson spilled a shot that could off threw my cap on.

No it’s not, but the fact that he needed to score an equaliser in the first place is. We are a far far stronger side than Lyon, and had we played to our strengths I imagine we’d have been out of sight. At this stage a few years ago Bernardo Silva ran us ragged and knocked us out.

We left him on the bench, along with David and Foden and struggled to create decent chances.

 

[Chippy_boy]

.
Pep was terrified of the mighty Lyon, a team that finished 7th in there own league.

All i can say is Pep must be a broken man this morning, it doesnt bear thinking about what went through his head when he handed in that team sheet.

It does not excuse that shit show, but playing devils advocate here, our defending has been utter dross all season. Pep probably figured the team he put out, whilst having less crestivity, would still have plenty enough quality to put a couple or more past Lyon. Whilst at the same time not leaking stupid goals at the back.

Obviously he was wrong, at both ends of the pitch. Hindsight is s wonderful thing, but in hindsight most would say he should have played our best attacking side and that may have meant we dominated the game and scored plenty. But on the other hand, we are talking about City here. We scored 6 over two legs against Monaco remember, and we still went out.

Root cause of all of this is not replacing Vinny. With him, our defence was ropey at times but acceptable. Solid enough to allow us to do our thing and win it at the other end. Without him, we've been screwed. Playing Dino our best DM as a rank average centre hslf because the rest are below rank average. Walker is dross 8 games out of 10 and Cancelo and Zinchenko 10 games out of 10. Our entire defensive line up - Laporte aside - are simply not good enough. Arguably Ederson as well. Great distribution but nothing like a top class keeper when it comes to keeping the ball our of the net.

Just look at the games we've lost this season and the teams we've lost them to. Basically anyone who can defend a bit and have a go at us themselves and we've been all over the place. We only beat Real because they threw us the game with their ludicrous mistakes.

 

[mjkismgs]

90% of City fans on the pre-match thread were unhappy with the starting line up so maybe we knew what was coming. This one is most definitely on Peo. In my opinion his ego dictates that he has to do something different in these games so we can all bow down before his genius. Trouble is, when it doesn’t work he ends up looking like a bit of a dick.

I do think as I have indicated elsewhere that Pep is haunted by his CL record post-Barcelona, so I would suggest that it's not egotism that drives him to do something different but a genuine (if misguided) search for a way back to his old successes. We shouldn't however forget that the radical reshaping of the team in the first leg of the League Cup semi v Utd at Old Trafford was brilliantly successful, indeed crucial to the final result. And Pep had enough self-awareness to comment after we won in Madrid that if Ramos had scored with a good chance at 1-0 to them then, as Pep put it to the journalist: "Zidane is a genius and I am a disaster."

 

[Eric Hitchmough]

No matter how people sugarcoat it, Pep fucked up in yet another CL quarter final. Any manager can get the team selection and formation wrong, but it's downright negligent to watch the mistakes unfold without changing the tactics or bringing on the players who would inject the kind of energy we were crying out for.

 

[Toulousain85]

Champs league: read the books about Pep + his sabbatical hanging out with chess grandmasters in New York.
Having won loads of league titles with all his clubs - he wants to go down in history as the first guy to do something funky en-route to a CL final: the football equivalent of a queen sacrifice to win a game.
(think gundogan out on the wing vs Liverpool at Anfield)
Problem: he has failed numerous times to pull it off - but this bizarrely seems to make him even more stubborn in feeling he has to do something different in key games

Broader football point: it evolves - it moves on
Think how outdated Mourinho's tactics look now.
There is a combination of physical energy alongside technique that is emerging as the current winning formula.
e.g. Liverpool / Davies at LB for Bayern / Wolves via Traore doing the double over us this season.
Pep is stubborn in prioritising technique (Rodri / Gundo) when what we really need is energy + drive to complement our best players

Every style can win, but no style can win without pace and power. That Barça team of Pep had numerous great speedsters, from

When I was growing up playing in this competition was just a dream, that is how far we have come. However our recruitment of players has not been great in recent times, I am hoping that the Ferran Torres signing will prove to be inspired and sincerely hope we do not shell out a huge sum on an ageing central defender. Start getting in players who have pace.

Players with flair and pace usually come with a bagage, like Sancho, Braaf, Sané, and even Gnabry at Bayern. Pep on the contrary seems to prefer nice hard working personalities. I hope Torres hit the ground running but there is no guarantee, especially the first season.

 

[Franny's toilet roll]

Gundogan started every single champions league game. Pep sees some reason to start him, even if it's at right wing.

and our success so far has been?........... Don't know why Pep tinkers like he does, but considering Pep likes pace, running , drive as well as technical skills, his perseverance with Gundogan seems off. Nobody played well last night and typical City comical errors. Sterling also needs his arse kicking for that miss.

 

[Kokonut1307]

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

 

[give it to gordon]

morning !

well i am still steaming mad about last night the difference between the two matches was mind blowing from free flowing attacking football, quick closing down up front by Foden, Sterling and Jesus, a team full of confidence against RM

To

a team playing defensive slow football, the most long balls we have played all season , a nervous scared team, no closing down from the front 3.

Lyon werent scared of City and didnt change they normal game.
City were shit scared of Lyon and didnt play the normal game but changed to try and stop them.

That must have sent out a message to our players that Pep doesnt trust them to beat Lyon by playing their natural fame , very odd. KDB playing right wing why ? Could Pep have picked a slower midfield or a more boring midfield ?

Yes VAR fucked us over even BT said it ! and yes if we had taken our chances but we looked nervous all over the pitch, thats why we missed chances Pep had made them nervous, scared of Lyon. but i am not even that angry about that i am more angry that Pep though that midfield could win a quarter final.
I have said before front 3 of Foden, Sterling Jesus with KDB centre midfield well scare most teams like against RM

I really would like Pep to tell us why he was so scared of Lyno that he picked such a defensive, slow, boring team and why he got into our players heads making them scared and nervous, we should have been doing that to Lyon.