Lyon CL QF Post-Match Thread

[Brendan110_0]

In the midst of this debacle, a question that is uppermost in my mind: just how far can City/Pep stretch young Phil’s loyalty to his boyhood club?
If I were that lad, I’d be absolutely fuming. He’s been ‘ready’ for fully two seasons. He is, with Kev, our most creative midfielder. What the hell is he supposed to do to get on the pitch?

Change his name by deed poll to Gundogan?

 

[Saddleworth2]

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

 

[alexmcity]

Semis with Bayern and quarters with City...

The strange thing is Pep always talks about learning from mistakes but he never learns from his mistakes in the CL. I think he might suffer from a burnout. The formation last night was insane. In attempt to neutralise their strengths Pep killed our strengths and we didn't have a shot in the first 40 minutes. Insane.

I really love Pep but he needs a rest, he is getting lost in tactical details and doesn't see what even many fans can see.

 

[balotellishaircut]

I never felt so deflated as i did yesterday, with both the tactics and watching City and most of all Pep make a complete horlicks of a standard game of football.

Anybody would of thought we were playing the Brazil team of 1970, the way we set up.

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.

 

[mjkismgs]

good bye football, I will never put my happiness in the hands of people who work half as hard as I do but make more in week than I will in my life.

OK well sod off then.

 

[Ancient Citizen]

As soon as I saw the formation I was sceptical. After about 10 minutes of City playing side to side amongst the 5 at the back, then watching as one of them hoofed yet another ball over the top, to either go dead, or get intercepted,my spirits were dropping. We have lost virtually every time we play these hesitant,
unimaginative tactics, why the fuck Pep just didn't play the fast, silky, flamboyant style we're admired for I'll never know, we looked shit scared of them.

 

[HorlocksWalk]

Probably been said loads of times but I need to get it out of my system. If we were going to be have three defensive midfielders why were we so high up the pitch for the first goal. In the first half Razz received a number of through balls but their defense was deep so he was out wide, near the end of the pitch and immediately had three defenders on him.

 

[bondsman]

Cancelo and Rodri are having their first seasons. They'll get better next season. Cancelo already looks good and in the first half he made some key passes.

Cancelo already looks good? He couldn’t get a game at rb he did well against Norwich, who couldn’t, was a fault for Madrid’s goal and at fault last night. He can’t defend and he’s soft as shite. Rodri is a slug.

 

[doobyedoobye]

This team doesn’t lack a cutting edge ffs! That selection of players/tactics was just plain wrong tonight, and that’s why we lost

So you are suggesting this is all on Pep?

 

[bestia_negra]

Once again sorry that I am here and creating an account in such a bitter moment but I am not here for trolling.

I think that Pep seriously needs a psychologic like many teams with blockades have one as well. It is absolutely showing that he is under a lot of pressure since being called "the best manager in the world". He proves that in the league matches greatly, all teams under his flag are playing superb football in non crucial cup matches. But as soon the pressure highers and he is facing either teams who are seem on paar (Bayern vs Real, Bayern vs Barcelone, Bayern vs Atletico) or he faces teams where a cupwin seems in easy reach (City vs Arsenal, City vs Lyon) he is loosing it. He overthinks his formation, not sure because he wants to be fancy so everyone still think highly of him, or just because he is scared of losing his face. That problem has developed in Munich and is getting worse every season, we had the same discussion while his time in munich, over and over again.

Nonetheless City had straight bad luck yesterday, they were dominant and created many good chances to beat Lyon, Lyon hitting 3 goals from 3 chances and the 1:2 is just a straight up scandal, I would be fuming in you skins.

But do not be bitter much, you team needs fresh blood and maybe the last game was a key turning point for that and since your financial aspect is not that bad you can do clever transfers to strengthen your squad.

Your are still a powerhouse in Europe and that performance yesterday will not change that, I am rather disapointed in VAR and Uefa, these decisions yesterday have a bitter aftertaste.

 

[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.