An alternate way of looking at your view of Lyon’s forward line may be a centre around definition Bizkit.
I’m guessing your definition of “functioning forward line” means solely kicking high scores as an end in itself.
While Lyon may define a “functioning forward line” as one that contributes significantly to winning the game.
This approach frees it up from being a one dimensional approach, to allow taking a number of approaches. For example, they might simply aim at kicking big scores, or maybe ensuring the ball spends a maximum time in the forward line where possible (reducing opportunities to score for the opposition as well), or floating down the field and helping other team mates get the ball and link up in possession chains.
The latter can (theoretically) be less personnel dependent and less prone to disruption by supreme defensive units (a la the 2006 prelim vs Sydney). Maybe as McCarthy comes on and if the forwards as a whole coalesce into a potent unit, there’s more of an opportunity to revert to a high scoring model more often.
Essentially the second approach (i.e. focus on winning the game as primary purpose) is a much more flexible one and opposite to the idea of it being rigid. Whether you like it or not is a personal matter of taste, for the coach though, if he thinks it’s going to help him achieve wins, it’s pretty sensible approach.
For me, I’d argue that our scoring rate has been pretty good in patches this year. We seem to be able to find goals if we’re still in the contest as the game wears on. Sure signs that the forward play isn’t so random or neglected.
