Pep Guardiola cites infamous Lyon loss to defend stance as he hails new Man City undroppable

Pep Guardiola cited the infamous defeat to Lyon in the Champions League as he defended his latest tactical approach.

The Manchester City manager has moved one of his defenders up alongside Rodri in recent months ahead of three centre-backs, limiting the influence that his full-backs can have. Joao Cancelo left on a six-month loan to Bayern Munich after it was established he would not see many minutes with that formation, while Kyle Walker has started just two of the last six games.

Guardiola insists that the club have not lost faith in Walker but that he does not have the skills required for that particular system. However, as well as pointing out that the 32-year-old can play in many different set-ups he also used the Champions League defeat to Lyon three years ago to make the point that he only makes decisions based on what he sees from the players and the team every day.

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"Since I arrived here there are players who played and then don't play," he said.

"Ruben Dias in the last games has been exceptional but went two months without playing a minute. Kevin De Bruyne didn't play some important games.

"It happened with me - I'm sorry, it's my fault. But I see the players in training and on the pitch.

"Maybe I want players now who defend better or do the build-up better. Always I change, it depends on what I see and the mood of the team.

"I played five in the back in the Champions League against Lyon when I never used it because that year we defended really really poor and when we played four at the back we were incredibly inconsistent.

"I decided to use this in that moment. It doesn't work? Overthinking, Pep. If it works, genius.

"I