Lyon CL QF Post-Match Thread

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.
 
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Aguero scores in that game. Then we have Pep’s lineup, Sterling miss, VAR, the fact we’d probably have gone through over 2 legs with fans.

The CL always seems to create the perfect storm for us. Some of it of our own doing, some not.
 
Wake up more resigned than livid this morning. That was so frustrating to watch. Formation just did not work. Team looked like strangers in first half, nothing in the box and the idea of playing walker and Cancelo as wing backs left them not far enough forward to have any impact and then stranded in some sort of no mans land. Never seen Kyle so impactless. And never seen us kick so many aimless punts and hoofs to no one for years and years. And we had, as tv commentary kept saying, such a strong bench. But so what when Pep stubbornly stuck to something everyone could see wasn’t working. Only two subs. Genius!

I was fuming at Var for giving their second goal but actually the foul was rather 50/50. And I thought walker did give a penalty away that wasn’t picked up, albeit Lyon fell at the slightest thing.

But after all that, there it was 2-1 to us with a simple tap in for Raheem. How he missed I’ll never know but can’t lay this defeat on him. One of few who tried. We were dreadful and that is on Pep as he overthought it. Why tinker So hugely at this point! If we started again with our 442 or 433 we’d win I’m sure. 4-3 or some such but at least we’d have played our game.

Disappointing season, go again in a few weeks.
 
We've shown an inability to deal with the high ball defensively all season long. It relies on a quick pressing by aggressive defensive midfielders which we don't have and defenders with pace to recover quickly. Both facets are our biggest weakness and yet we constantly give the opposition 40+ yards of clear space to our goal. Why Pep continues to play Rodri, Gundogan and an ageing Fernandinho together remains a mystery. Cancelo is now our LB, is he ? Another player shoe-horned into an unfamiliar role. Collectively the team defensively is nowhere near good enough.
Ederson was at fault for all 3 goals yesterday - he has been well below par all season in terms of shot stopping to keep us in big games. He was desperately poor yesterday. Again - no pressure on him for his starting place so his performance levels start to dip. Laporte, since he returned from injury, has been unimpressive and error-prone. Needs a regular partner and to start playing like the £50million defender of his first season again. Garcia - should not have been on the pitch. Sterling - massive miss in the most important part of the match. Jesus - invisible and easily contained.
This feels like a watershed moment together with the Arsenal loss - either Pep gets the issues sorted out for next season (he's been given enough new players to do it by now) or he steps aside and we get someone else in to move us forward. The curve has been on a downward trend all season and 1 League Cup win does not alter that.
 
Seriously worried that we are replacing our spine of Kompany, Toure, Aguero with players like Ederson, Laporte, Sterling. KdB is the only one who can carry on the mantle but 1 player is not enough.

We are going from players who relished the big games to those who statpad against weak teams and are liabilities in the big games. They are good players of course but they shouldn't be our spine, they should be the ones that can rely on others in these games.

Major surgery needed but this ain't gonna happen. I don't care who the manager is, this team ain't winning the CL any time soon.
 
Even after sleeping (not all that well) on it, I still can't fathom out how Pep got it so wrong last night. 3 DMs (with very little pace) against the 7th placed team in Ligue 1. With Bernie and Phil kicking their heels on the bench. Completely baffling. What's wrong with going out there and imposing our game on them? Mendy (if fit) for Cancelo in defence, and a midfield of Kev, Phil, Rodri, Bernie and Riyad, with Gabby up front. Go out and have a go at them, respect them but don't fear them. But Pep seems to have a blind spot with the CL. 9 years now, since he's won it. For arguably the best coach in the world, that's a piss poor record.
 
give it to gordon said:
and that was City going all out to win the CL last night .......................really ?

3 matches to get to the final play your best 11 and play to their strengths and i believe City would have been in the final
Click to expand...
We should have played our best 11 in their best format. We would still have lost to BM though imo.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
it was Walkers job as wing back to track their wing back. What is the point in matching their formation and then not doing the basics of defending. Thats what the conversation with Pep was about. He was tracking him on the half way line and then ball watched and then jogged behind him. it was as expensive an error as Raheems or Eddies.

In order of culpability we lost because:

  1. our team formation in the first half was wrong
  2. our use of substitutes was poor
  3. VAR/Refereeing their second goal and more generally the referees game management
  4. individual errors
Click to expand...

We lost because Pep played 3 DM's who are renowned for not scoring lots of goals or creating chances - no wonder it left DeBruyne isolated and thoroughly pissed off.
 
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