Loads of Manchester City fans have been reacting on social media, after The Athletic revealed the Sky Blues squad seriously questioned both Pep Guardiola’s team selection and tactics against Olympique Lyonnais in the Champions League.
Guardiola sprung the surprise on his squad that the Citizens would be playing a five-at-the-back against Lyon in the Champions League Quarter-Final days before the Saturday night fixture, but the decision was not met with support from the players who had just three full days practice in the system.
The idea was explained to the first-team as being targeted toward protecting our defence from Lyon’s pacey attack and stopping their forwards from getting between our full-backs and centre-halves, but it simply did not work come game time.
City bowed out to our Ligue 1 opposition 3-1 and we once again miss out on securing the European title Guardiola was brought to England to win, following previous defeats in the UEFA competition at crucial stages to AS Monaco, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.
The Athletic quote sources from within the dressing room as saying the players seriously questioned Guardiola’s decision to mix up the system to combat Lyon’s threat, while also having doubt over the line-up the Catalan tactician called on.
Guardiola has favoured a 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1 variant for much of his four years at the helm, and had only previously opened fixtures in any competition with three centre-halves on 13 occasions over 232 games in charge.
The player’s dismay at the sudden use of a five-man backline against Lyon – and the questions brought from it – has seen some City fans head to social media to urge Guardiola to take the blame for Saturday’s defeat.
— Lou (@Loutoo2) August 17, 2020
I know pep got this so wrong this time around, but he will learn from this. It’s the only time in 4 years that pep is to blame for a defeat.
— The Sky Blue (@TheSkyBlue12) August 17, 2020
De Bruyne saying “Different Year, Same Story” was a very big give away of this thing. Pep needs to indulge in the way these players want to play the game because these are Intelligent, Harf Working players. https://t.co/y35ugnxT3A
— Herschel🎭 (@McfcWatts) August 17, 2020
Let’s be Honest, Pep needs to take full responsibility for that defeat.
We support him.
— KDB (@GeniusKDB) August 17, 2020
He needs to take responsibility. Great manager but bad team selection honestly. We have played 4 at the back the entire season and got this far, then he decides to change things close to the end https://t.co/BuUYXUgauc
— Tshegofatso (@itistshego) August 17, 2020
It was so wierd. We never play a back 3. Pep always tends to mess about with squad/formation in the most important games
— S t e p h e n 🇧🇼 (@CityStephen_) August 17, 2020
The Sky Blues first-team were not only quizzical of Guardiola’s sudden use of a five-man backline at the weekend, as at least one player believes the Catalan was not tweaking his tactics to ensure we beat Lyon but rather in preparation of who would have been to come in the Semi-Final and Final.
The player in question is said to have felt Guardiola’s mind was already focusing on how we could beat Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich or Ligue 1 winners Paris Saint-Germain in a possible showdown with either the German or French giants, rather than focusing on how to ensure the club got through to the next round.
You have to get there first to worry about that. It really was poor management on Peps behalf https://t.co/VYcgTZYg9O
— S t e p h e n 🇧🇼 (@CityStephen_) August 17, 2020
It hurts
— ‘Ruff Fredric’💙 (@DestinyFredric4) August 17, 2020
They say ‘Take a step at a time’
— I believe in Pep💙💙💙 (@RA7821_) August 17, 2020
Man still experimenting even at this stage in cl pic.twitter.com/EzGAvKGLaB
— amir tamboli (@amirtamboli8) August 17, 2020
So we overlooked Lyon…
— Omar (@mcfcomarr) August 17, 2020
That’s what i thought. If worked it will be needed for bayern. But it didn’t work as our team is not set up for this type of game plan. We don’t have players for that
— Muhammad Owais Khan (@owaiskhan75) August 17, 2020
Defo KDB https://t.co/R42JvaVdKg
— linkup (@Linkup_daddy) August 17, 2020
Four years of failure in the Champions League could soon start to get too much for some of the players, and fans on social media believe a fifth campaign without a serious challenge for UEFA glory could see some of our key players head out the door in search of clubs that can clinch European silverware.
Sergio Aguero, Eric Garcia and Fernandinho are all out of contract in the summer of 2021, while John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi currently have two years remaining on their deals – putting City in a strong position to retain those most key to Guardiola’s success for a few more seasons yet.
It deffo cannot happen for a fifth time next year or we’re losing players https://t.co/EUlShCwPK7
— Synne (@synne_17) August 17, 2020