Dejection

By: Inara | January 16th, 2008

I think the picture below sums up how I feel.

Someone give Juninho a tissue. And give me one too.

Goals: Le Mans (Matsui 28)

I haven’t seen the game yet and only saw very brief highlights, but from what I was able to glean from match reports, basically Lyon just had an off day. A really bad off day in which all the players couldn’t help but play in the crappy relegation style that only Lyon are capable of. I mean, what other French team can boast such a wide array of firepower and yet fail to score one goal against a mid-table team that’s missing six of its starters? Yeah. Exactly.

I’m going to skip over player performances, though I understand that Fabio Grosso was responsible for the Le Mans goal. Apparently Sebastien Squillaci was the best player, and the only rating he could muster was a “6/10.” As for the others, Juninho was too tightly marked to be of any help, and both Kim Kallstrom and Jeremy Toulalan were not their usual selves. Well, Toulalan did pick up another yellow card, so at least he was in character. Karim Benzema had a lot of technical waste to his play today, and Loic Remy, who started the match brightly, eventually revealed himself to be the inexperienced player that he is.

As for Milan Baros…my heart weeps for him. He tries so hard, but he’s hardly been played in position in recent weeks, has he? Today, Perrin had him on left wing…when I saw that, I knew there would be disaster. Baros is just too slow to be a winger and has pretty poor crossing skills. He’s only good to be played up front, preferably behind another striker.

Which leads me to talk about the tactics. So this is basically what we saw today:

Coupet
Reveillere - Squillaci - Anderson - Grosso
Juninho - Toulalan - Kallstrom
Remy - Benzema - Baros

The back line and midfield make sense, though I would have played Mathieu Bodmer instead of Juninho, who’s been playing a lot and needs his rest. So this is what I don’t understand. With Sidney Govou and Hatem Ben Arfa injured, and with Kader Keita off at the African Cup of Nations, Lyon don’t have any real wingers on the senior team. We do have Remy and Anthony Mounier available, both of whom are good youth players but have yet to earn a place among the grownups.

So obviously, Lyon’s beloved 4-3-3 just doesn’t work with the manpower he had available. But he did have three strikers available - Benzema, Baros, and of course, Fred (who is about to move to Tottenham apparently). So it would make sense that Perrin change his tactics to accommodate his resources - meaning a temporary return to a 4-4-2. Something like this:

Coupet
Reveillere - Squillaci - Anderson - Grosso
Remy - Toulalan - Bodmer - Kallstrom
Benzema - Baros

Granted, that isn’t the greatest lineup ever seen, but it’s hella better than what Perrin put out this morning. Which brings me to my point: Perrin is again showing that he’s afraid to take risks. Yes, he did have some bad experiences with the 4-4-2 at Lyon, but that doesn’t mean that he has to play a 4-3-3 all the time no matter what. When you have a situation where you have fit strikers but no wingers, it’s sometimes best to adapt.

I’m getting a little worried that Perrin is afraid of being independent. He fears failure so much that he doesn’t want to stray from the tried and tested, which, in my opinion, is a very bad thing. A coach who can’t color beyond the lines isn’t someone who can take Lyon all the way.

Many of us have written off further progress in the Champions League, but the club did make it clear that attaining a seventh title and capturing both domestic cups was a priority. Yet we’ve already slipped out of the Coupe de la Ligue, and we know that Lyon has a poor track record in the French Cup (at least in the past three decades). If we also miss out in the Champions League, we will once again be left with an “empty season.”

Video Highlights:

Match Pictures: