Look Pep Guardiola is one of the best football coaches in the world if not the best and who are we as random Internet users to question his wisdom. However, and this isn't with hindsight, I was really surprised to see the team lineup and formation.
Let's examine the key details in which I first noticed some surprises thrown up by Guardiola. He played Rodri, Gundogan and Fernandinho across the middle with an attacking formation of Sterling, Jesus and deBruyne. The front three was okay but the midfield?
I've said this previously about Pep where he seems to over rotate his side and perhaps overthink his tactical and strategic planning. This move seemed defensive in nature but City on paper are a far better side than Lyon and should be utilising their attacking prowess. City couldn't get any runners in the early stages of the game and seemed slow.
I think Mahrez is too good a player to be consistently leaving on the bench. He almost always delivers given enough time on the pitch and it's quite frustrating to leave such talent wasted like this. They could have went with Mahrez on the right wing with deBruyne sitting just behind where he has been extraordinarily effective this season.
If not Mahrez, Foden has also been in scintillating form of late and he could have also taken a slot in the side, he was excellent against Real Madrid. The point is, City are an attacking side and they can dismantle any team in the world when they're in full throttle such is the form of their superstar players such as Sterling and deBruyne. The two combined for the City's equaliser with Sterling missing an open goal later but overall he was very lively.
It's a shame City are out due to their own mistakes it seems. I would have really liked a City vs Bayern sem-final as most neutrals would have but take nothing away from Lyon, they fully deserved to go through with ex-Celtic forward Moussa Dembele scoring a decisive brace to put them through.
However, Lyon have definitely benefitted from Pep's crazy tactics. You could see when Mahrez replaced Fernandinho, City looked far more threatening and a team we usually associate them to be. If they had gone with a more positive formation, they surely would have created more chances and goals.
Alas, it was not to be and the adventure ends here, for this season at least. City have now gone out at the quarter-final stage three times now in the last three CL campaigns. This was perhaps their best opportunity to progress if it wasn't for the mind boggling Guardiola tinkering.
