Lyon CL QF Post-Match Thread

[bondsman]

Can’t imagine how the other players felt when they saw Garcia start. D.silva, B. Silva, Stones, Otta. He even started in the centre of the 3! Surely Dinho should’ve been there with Garcia out right? A kid who has stated he wants to play for Barca starting that game just baffles me.

 

[city2]

Eufa were never gonna let little old city get their hands on this trophy, personally I don’t give a shit about this trophy and the corruption that is rife within itself.

 

[markstephenhickey]

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.

Agree with all this, against the lesser teams we have a nice time bullying them because they have no quality out ball. As soon as we’ve been up against teams who have quality on a break Rashford, Martial, Pulisic, Auba etc we’ve always looked very suspect.

It’s been a problem that’s plagued us this season. Pep is very well paid and needs to make sure we don’t fall foul next year. Part of me fears next season we will end up seeing the same issues.

Yet he can adapt like against united in the carling cup he used sterling upfront and completely threw off uniteds game plan and we got a positive outcome. Then the next leg he changed it again and we looked awkward.

I really hope he learns from this season cause if he doesn’t his last season with us will be a seriously damp squib.

 

[DMA's]

I’m most concerned about the fact there May be a hangover from this result which leads to us starting next season poorly. We cant Give Liverpool a big lead.

 

[lonestay]

Not replacing Vinny has been a big problem, nobody in our team to verbally bang some heads together or lead by example, but Vinny let us down in the manner that he just upped and was gone without giving us any chance to look for his replacement . KDB is not captain material, nor is anyone else in that side. KDB needs to concentrate on his game not everyone elses.

 

[himalayan_blues]

What a fucking awful season. Started with Spuds and VAR (again) and finished with a CL 1/4 final and VAR (again).
Its all been said about last night. Despite there being only one change in the team than beat Madrid, there were numerous positional changes that screwed us as did individual errors. Lyon are rated around mid 40's in Europe statistically. Burnley and Southampton sit above them and I can see from how they played that looks about right. The fact that we could not comfortably put them to the sword says everything about the mentality of this squad and the tinkering of Pep. Thats the first time I have criticised the man but he deserves it in shedloads for last night.

Some other observations. This is the third season running we have exited based on pivotal refereeing/VAR decisions. Isnt it time someone for the club on behalf of the long suffering fans called that out for what it is?
There were a lot on here that thought Bayerns performance was because Barcelona were very poor. They thought we would have a field day against Bayerns defence. How empty does that look today. Make no mistake, if we had played Bayern in the semi they would have done us good and proper.
Some individual comments: Kyle should watch their first through his fingers. The initial defence against a simple ball over the top was bad enough but when Garcia recovers the ball, their wing back had continued his run and Kyle watches him go past and jogs behind him. If he tracks his man competently thats not a goal. Basic defending irrespective of formation. Gundogan and Rodri are simply not physical or fast enough. Full stop. Contrast that with Goretzka the BM dm.
Garcia? Let him go to Barcelona good luck to him. He certainly is not and never will be good enough for a CL winning team. Bernie and Phil left on the bench? Really pep? really?

Lastly, ffs Pep, on our day we are simply fantastic team. Why not play to our strengths rather than those of our weaker opponent. Feel sad for David. That is not the way he should bow out.

Pretty gutted by that. I do want us to win the CL, I certainly wanted it for Dave and some of the others that clearly care about the competition. Sadly I don't see us winning it anytime soon

The first half was not the mistake of any players. Its pep mistakes. Walker was confused for the first goal. He had Ferna besides him who chould have tracked the goal scorer. If it was 4 at the back i suppose walker would have tracked. If he hadnt it would have been his fault. We should have gone with youth in the midfied to match them but we went for the formation to match them. 352 formation which became achillis heel. Before the game i thought we were making the same mistake that Barca did with bayern.

 

[give it to gordon]

That set up last night was unforgivable. I could understand it in a two leg qtr final away, but it’s knock-out football.
I find myself for the first time thinking, pep has seriously fucked up.

5 at the back with two holding midfielders!!!

The players heads must’ve been pickled.

I’m not sure where we go from here.

i agree in fact i am worried that some of the players heads and confidence might be gone for some time after last night. I dont think its the players fault, will this have an impact on the dressing now some players must be thinking what the hell was that about Pep ? Why so scared of a team 7th in the french league ?. I fear this might have some last effect on the players next season. I am so puzzled by last night team selection, the look on the players faces showed you they wanted it at the end. If so many of us fans are puzzled by Pep team selection i guess some players will be to.

 

[The Black Shed]

Only one change last night to the side that started against RM, but what a detrimental effect it had with positioning and formation. Was horrible to watch, painful viewing. VAR fucked us but that's a) not surprising and b) not the reason we lost

 

[jaiguruKun]

It wasn't just the formation, it was the mentality of the players in the first half that shocked me. Why did we looked scared of playing our normal game? We sacrificed our normal fluid attacking style of play because we were worried about stopping them.

Pep seems to have a massive inferiority complex in Europe as he doesn't believe we belong with the elite. It's weird as he would not consider changing style against a mid-table side in England.

Why not just play with the same team that beat Madrid and not be left wondering? The absence of Foden is baffling, I think he would have thrived against that type of opposition.

We need to know if Pep is intending to stay beyond next season because if not he may as well go now. We can't have a season overshadowed by speculation surrounding his future. May as well get a new manager in now if he isn't going to extend.

 

[the blue panther]

Why oh why start an important game with a reserve line up - especially in midfield - and leave the majority of your creativity and energy (our strengths! ) on the bench?
Previously, I'd been thinking that, this season's City is the worst vintage for 10 years. That selection last night was definitely the worst imho, and was a culmination of a season long decline, triggered by Vinnie's departure, and none-replacement; poor acquisitions by Pep and co over the last 4 years, and all compounded by the great man's brainstorm, resulting in a team selection that aborted our strengths and mistakenly gambled on overcoming a mediocre opposition with our team filled with players which, I believe, most fans regard as liabilities. Prior to the game, on seeing that selection, didn't we all kind of expect the end result we got? Everyone I spoke to knew what was coming.
The chickens really came home to roost.
Major surgery now needed. I wonder if the genius, or, mad professor - take your pick -will be with us next season?