Lyon CL QF | Pre-Match Thread

[ONTHERUNWITHTHAKSIN]

Would he be allowed to play against us? Usually loan players don’t play against parent clubs

Yes UEFA changed the rules he can play against us if we both reach the final

 

[chaddblue]

Would he be allowed to play against us? Usually loan players don’t play against parent clubs

Well Coutinho played against Barca last night

 

[01cravend]

It's silly to think that City have a winning formula which guatantees success at any level including the CL and the only reason why we lose is because Pep stupidly deviates from it (to prove he is a genius?).

Football is such a great game because the better team not always wins and because no formula guarantees success.

Last season we lost from Spurs because Sergio missed a pen in the first leg, Laporte made 2 mistakes in the second leg and Llorente scored with his hand. Not because Pep experimented.

I know nothing guarantees success but are you more likely to beat Liverpool with the formation and tactics that your players are used to, that got you 100 points in the league and comfortably beat Napoli twice with in the group stage or the never before used 3-1-3-3. He tried different things over both legs whilst Liverpool lined up how they always do and proceed to beat us 5-1 on aggregate

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

There's nothing great about this Atletico team. Bayern and PSG are better than them. Mbappe or Neymar or Lewandowski or Messi running at Ferna would concern me much more than the inept Atletico attack. Even Lyon can pose bigger problems to our defence than Atletico for they are better at counter attacking.

This 'the route to the final is not difficult' has to die. We are likely to play at CB with a 35 y.o. midfielder and a defender who is back from a horrific injury. At LB we may use a RB. In Sterling, Jesus and Foden we have the youngest front 3 among the contenders. We have good chances to win and I believe in the team but the route to the final isn't easy.

Why does it have to die? Lyon - Bayern - RB/PSG is about as good a run to a final as you could want given that you're going to have to play a really good team at some point. If we are not good enough then so be it, but this is as good a chance as any we've had (excluding Spurs - Ajax - Liverpool).

 

[mexico1970]

UEFA banning us took the edge off my lust for this competition, since the CAS decision a little of my confidence in the integrity of the system has returned enough for me to look forward to watching this game.

Now if they could take VAR round the back and give it a good kicking I would be a happy bunny again.

 

[hihosilva]

Cancelo for mendy
Foden for mahrez for me

I would expect us to have lots of the ball against Lyon so I'd play Mendy for this match & play Cancelo against Bayern Munich.

 

[alexmcity]

I know nothing guarantees success but are you more likely to beat Liverpool with the formation and tactics that your players are used to, that got you 100 points in the league and comfortably beat Napoli twice with in the group stage or the never before used 3-1-3-3. He tried different things over both legs whilst Liverpool lined up how they always do and proceed to beat us 5-1 on aggregate

I'd say the outcome of those games with Liverpool would have been quite different if the referees didn't experiment with the rules of the game in Liverpool's favour. Have you forgotten that 4 big decisions went Liverpool's way over both legs? I hate it when referees experiment at our expense.

 

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

Crunch time.

i hope we play tonight’s game rather than focussing on a potential match up with the German rags. We need a solid defensive performance tonight ....and raz, gabby, KdB, all firing for us.

edit.

the wife’s just reminded me it’s our 11th wedding anniversary today.....come on city, don’t be cnuts....you know what you need to do !!

 

[Xhavenjoe]

Would he be allowed to play against us? Usually loan players don’t play against parent clubs

You can play in champions league. I remember Courtois having a stormer for Athletico against Chelsea in a semi final and the only goal I saw Patrick Roberts score was against us.

 

[domalino]

I know nothing guarantees success but are you more likely to beat Liverpool with the formation and tactics that your players are used to, that got you 100 points in the league and comfortably beat Napoli twice with in the group stage or the never before used 3-1-3-3. He tried different things over both legs whilst Liverpool lined up how they always do and proceed to beat us 5-1 on aggregate

I didn't see anyone complaining about him overthinking when he played phil foden as a false 9 for the first time in his career against real Madrid in the biggest game of the season.

Or when he played KDB and Bernardo up front in a weird 442 against United and we humiliated him.

Playing Gundogan on the right had absolutely no bearing on the game we lost to Liverpool in 2018, bug individual mistakes in the back 4 ended that game before we ever got the chance to see what Pep was trying to do - apart from us being well on top before Walker fell over clearing a simple ball and passed it to Salah.

The "overthinking" line is just a really lazy and tired narrative pushed by the media and sadly picked up by some fans.

We lose games in our default 433 as well.