Lyon CL QF Post-Match Thread

I've tried to find some sort of reasoning behind Pep's thinking in picking a team and formation in a game of that magnitude. I've reached a conclusion and therefore can only assume that he was "resting' players for the Bayern semi and in doing so, grossly underestimated Lyon.

Absolutely unbelievable, as indeed was changing the formation to 3-5-2.
 
alexmcity said:
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 mesage 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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You would think after 4 seasons he'd have sorted our defence out or is he incapable of that? Our recruitment is a fucking joke.whoever scouted Rhodri should be sacked immediately. If the owners want us to win the thing then it's time to change again. At any of the top clubs in Europe the manager would be in deep shit after the season we had. Double figures for defeats!
Wow Pep setting us up to fail against Lyon. Unforgivable.
 
lonestay said:
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.
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How on earth have you come to this conclusion?
 
northstandgiveusasong said:
I've tried to find some sort of reasoning behind Pep's thinking in picking a team and formation in a game of that magnitude. I've reached a conclusion and therefore can only assume that he was "resting' players for the Bayern semi and in doing so, grossly underestimated Lyon.

Absolutely unbelievable, as indeed was changing the formation to 3-5-2.
Click to expand...
The Dunney Monster said after the game that he could see why Pep had gone for 3/5 at the back, to counteract their forwards, because as soon as we went to 442, we couldn’t handle their forwards.
Is that what everyone saw?

I didn’t think it mattered how many we had in defence, if we play a high line at all times we are likely to be killed by the goals that Vardy, Aubameyang, Mané, Traore, United keep scoring against us.
 
SidJames said:
I personally thought not giving Bernado,and Foden any game time was c^^^ish,i really did.
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agree i dont understand not using them to, Foden, Bernado, Sterling, Jesus all closing down their defenders quickly leave KDB to pull the strings not trying to help out that slow, boring midfield from last night. When those 3 or 4 play with KDB pulling the strings even Gundogan plays ok !

I believe City have a really good young team in the making but for some reason Pep doesnt trust them in some games and goes for the old slow boring players
 
B\connellblue said:
You would think after 4 seasons he'd have sorted our defence out or is he incapable of that? Our recruitment is a fucking joke.whoever scouted Rhodri should be sacked immediately. If the owners want us to win the thing then it's time to change again. At any of the top clubs in Europe the manager would be in deep shit after the season we had. Double figures for defeats!
Wow Pep setting us up to fail against Lyon. Unforgivable.
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Pep & the powers that be should be shot over the state of our defence
 
alexmcity said:
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 mesage 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.
Click to expand...

I thought last night that this is how Pep saw it. If that is the case, then the bloke is losing it. He always used to go on about his players having big balls, how he likes his players to not to be scared. Yet shits himself on the biggest stage.
 
northstandgiveusasong said:
I've tried to find some sort of reasoning behind Pep's thinking in picking a team and formation in a game of that magnitude. I've reached a conclusion and therefore can only assume that he was "resting' players for the Bayern semi and in doing so, grossly underestimated Lyon.

Absolutely unbelievable, as indeed was changing the formation to 3-5-2.
Click to expand...
I could accept getting beaten by any team if you put your best team out and play the right formation. But even before a ball was kicked last night you could just sense that the team selection just wasn’t right. It has become a recurring theme in the Champions league unfortunately.
 
jimharri said:
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.
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Fair enough the plan is not working and so change it immediately. But, that’s not Pep’s way. He prefers to wait well into the second-half before accepting change is necessary. That is the most frustrating thing of all for me.
The writing was on the wall from around 15-minutes in and the worst thing you can say about it was that it was a ‘typical Guardiola defeat’!
 
B\connellblue said:
You would think after 4 seasons he'd have sorted our defence out or is he incapable of that? Our recruitment is a fucking joke.whoever scouted Rhodri should be sacked immediately. If the owners want us to win the thing then it's time to change again. At any of the top clubs in Europe the manager would be in deep shit after the season we had. Double figures for defeats!
Wow Pep setting us up to fail against Lyon. Unforgivable.
Click to expand...

Recruitment of defensive players hasn't been great. But I wouldn't blame Pep for Laporte's horrific injury, for Stones' personal issues and injuries, for the decline of Otamendi and Dinho, for Mendy's injuries and behaviour, etc. We had an excellent defence in 2018 and conceded just 4 goals in the final 14 league games in 2019. It's not like we never had a good defence under Pep. We won all domestic trophies in England over 24 months.

Pep is partly responsible for the recruitment but I doubt we could blame him for the injuries, aging and personal issues of our defenders.
 
argyle said:
Not just defence, buying Rodri, keeping hold of ageing players.

Squad needs a serious overhaul and it won't take one summer window to fix.
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The defence and the midfield. Rodri was a bad buy but we've got Bernardo and Foden, and KDB. Rodri is not complete write off. He'd be OK in the right team. It's always about balance.

Can't believe City got this game so wrong. Pep had too much time to stew and over thinked it. This is what people have repeatedly said about him and I can't see what he was thinking.
 
alexmcity said:
Recruitment of defensive players hasn't been great. But I wouldn't blame Pep for Laporte's horrific injury, for Stones' personal issues and injuries, for the decline of Otamendi and Dinho, for Mendy's injuries and behaviour, etc. We had an excellent defence in 2018 and conceded just 4 goals in the final 14 league games in 2019. It's not like we never had a good defence under Pep. We won all domestic trophies in England over 24 months.

Pep is partly responsible for the recruitment but I doubt we could blame him for the injuries, aging and personal issues of our defenders.
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But he kept plaing Fern and Ota. Some problems are external. We had bad luck with injuries. It's also impossible to get everything right in the transfer market and that's not all down to Pep. However, he failed in the most basic duty of selecting the best side for a huge fixture.

This is arrogance. I would forgive him if after 30 mins he made changes, or even came out afterwards and said he got it completely wrong but he wont do that.
 
dajd1984 said:
The Dunney Monster said after the game that he could see why Pep had gone for 3/5 at the back, to counteract their forwards, because as soon as we went to 442, we couldn’t handle their forwards.
Is that what everyone saw?

I didn’t think it mattered how many we had in defence, if we play a high line at all times we are likely to be killed by the goals that Vardy, Aubameyang, Mané, Traore, United keep scoring against us.
Click to expand...
I agree that ultimately the high line was the issue. He tried to mitigate their forwards by having an extra player at the back and playing with two defensive midfielders but all it achieved is stunt our attack
 
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