Rio Ferdinand believes Pep Guardiola must accept the majority of the blame for Manchester City’s shock Champions League defeat against Lyon.
The likes of David Silva, Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva were left on the bench, while the former Barcelona tactician switched to an unfamiliar 3-5-2 formation.
City lacked their usual fluency, hardly created an opportunity in the first half and fell behind after a defensive error allowed Maxwel Cornet to open the scoring in the 24th minute.
The introduction of Mahrez belatedly sparked City into life and they duly equalised within 13 minutes of the Algeria international’s introduction through Kevin de Bruyne.
Raheem Sterling then squandered a golden opportunity to win the tie, missing an open goal from six yards, before more defensive uncertainty allowed Moussa Dembele to strike twice in the closing stages.
The minute that sunk Manchester City 😱
86′ Sterling miss
87′ Dembele goalMan City’s top scorer couldn’t capitalise, but Lyon’s top striker was there to take full advantage!#Club2020 pic.twitter.com/ElLEB62PkG
— Football on BT Sport #Club2020 (@btsportfootball) August 15, 2020
‘I’m stunned really, we spoke about the game beforehand, City being overwhelming favourites given the standard of player they have in their squad but they never performed today,’ the former Manchester United star told BT Sport.
‘We spoke about it at half-time, Pep Guardiola tinkering with his formation tinkering with the players.
‘I think so his most creative players were off the pitch and we saw when Mahrez came on they looked a much better team, one creative player out of probably the three or four that you’d normally see in and around the starting XI.
‘But listen, Raheem Sterling and Ederson are going to get the headlines for the mistakes that they made and Jesus as well when they were on top at 1-1. Not much went for them today but they have to look at themselves.
I think he’ll have to look at himself in terms of his team selection and the way he changes his formation.
‘Even Cancelo playing left-back, how many times did the ball go out there can he cut back on his right foot? Getting behind teams is what Pep’s about.
‘But you need creative players to draw people out, create space for runners to then get in and they didn’t do it enough in this game definitely.’
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