Given that we had a choice between him & Mrouch, I don't see any problems with the decision they made. There are only so many slow inside midfielders you can have in the team, and Lyons was surplus to requirements. Given the choice between Mrouch & Lyons, I would have chosen Mrouch back then, and I'd still choose him now.
Except that was never the choice, it’s just something you’ve invented to try and explain your error.