Ajaccio! Bless You!

By: Nikhil Apte | August 13th, 2011

With action packed couple of weeks to come, Lyon warm up for the Champions League qualifier against Rubin Kazan by attempting to show the Ligue 1 returnees Ajaccio who’s boss. Yes, 5 matches to play from the 13th till 27th of August, two of which shall certainly decide the course of the team for the year. Nice - Lyon 1-3

The Podium Contenders

The start has been good! The 3-1 away win over Nice would have put the butterflies to rest for Remi Garde. Lille, Marseille, and PSG all failed to win against their respective opponents last week.

The first Home game of the season is also to be the precursor to the first Champions League qualifier, and Lyon would be keen to hit the ground running. All the Puel-cursing would go vain if this year Stade Gerland does not become the fortress it once was. The Management is sure to have made this known to the coach.

Remi Garde

One Record To Intimidate Them All

OL has always won against AC Ajaccio. Yep. 10 Ligue 1 meetings in 44 years and all have landed three points each to Lyon. However, given their ability to engineer spectacular collapses against the meagrest of opponents, no amount of instruction to be careful, at the risk of being termed callous, would be too much for this team. To be fair to them, Lyon does have a new face, a new formation and a new zest that all attempts to bring method to the madness that was as yet forced down our trophy-parched throats. The one-touch passing looks like a great beginning, no doubt a result of the emphasis on training WITH the ball more often! Set Pieces remain a huge issue with the team, as do injuries.

Ajaccio should still have enough on their minds, albeit with a full squad at their disposal. New signings IIan and Tiberi would want to prove they are up to the pace that Ligue 1 demands.

Who’s in the Line Ups and who’s back home faking an orgasm?

Another year; continued casualties. Michel Bastos reported a sharp pain in his knee, but is expected to still make the team. Cris, Mensah, Gourcuff, Ederson remain absentees. Who to risk, who to exhaust would be the major headache for Remi Garde, given the match against Rubin Kazan is tantalizingly close. This is also likely to be a new experience for the non-regular crowd in the team with the 5 scheduled matches in 15 days to play out. Bakary Kone should be set to make an appearance!

Team Line Ups
Lyon – Lloris – Reveillere, Lovren, Kone, Cissokho – Gonalons, Kallstrom – Briand, Bastos – Gomis , Lisandro.

Ajaccio – Ochoa – Mostefa, Medjani, Poulard, Begeorgi – Pierazzi (c) – Kinkela, André, Cavalli, Sammaritano – Socrier.

Some Related Lyon Posts:

Category: Ligue 1

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stanley

I dunno how he is defensively but N'dinga completed the most passes in Ligue 1 last season. That has to count for something
Boz

I saw N'Dinga paly for AJA against OM and to be honest, I wasn-t that impressed with him. Control was good, some good moves were made, but he looked lost at times and positionally, he seemed poor. He may have had a bad game, we all do, but on the performance he was quiet and not worth the sort of figures that AJA are asking for. I hope he has had some better games, and it is probable they have seen something in him that can improve the team, but on the performance of sunday afternoon, I'd take Pjanic and Gourcuff any day of the week.

As for tonight, tough game, it really is, but I'm going for a 2-0 or 2-1 win.

Finally, the comments on Licha below - how on earth can you say that Licha is not as good or better than Fred. Please....get a grip....

Fred is not a patch on Licha and in my view, Licha works more for the team than Karim ever did. I'm not saying Karim was no good, far from it, but Licha fights more, works more, runs more and puts more in for the team in most matches than Karim ever did in a season.

That should open the lines of communication today!!
Michael

Le groupeLloris, Vercoutre - Réveillère, Gassama, Umtiti, Cissokho, B.Koné, Lovren - Gonalons, Källström, S.Koné - Pied, Novillo, Pjanic, Bastos, Briand - Gomis, Belfodil, Lisandro.No Cris and Mensah...I hate them both
muadz matmu

good to see more youth playing than last year's
Sam

few sources saying the Ndinga deal is pretty much tied up. What do people know about this guy, could he possibly replace the greatness of la Toule?
The-game4life

i dont think so but i know capoue for sure can
john

Too bad Sadran will want like 15mill from Lyon, but will sell for 10mill or less to any other club.
pierrot

lacazette scores twice for france U20, with an assist to grenier clement, in 3-2 win over nigeria. kolo and faure started, fontaine, reale and tafer on the bench.
Aleksander

Two games into the Garde era we have been playing better football than we ever did under Puel. If we keep improving we can be serious contenders for the title. Cissokho and Bastos have impressed me, it seems like Cissokho got his speed back, and added some control on the ball as well. These guys are important for us and we must not sell them this season. Kallstrom and Gonalons have surprised me during the two first games, though it's clear they are not good enough tecnically to control the game for us, we need Pjanic in there also. Pjanic impressed me when he came on, it's good to have him back, I think he will play a big part for us this season. He should be first choice over Gourcuff, but I wouldn't mind testing them both together in the 4-4-2, Gourcuff being a little more defensive. Kone looks fairly solid, he is better in the air than Chris. If we keep improving we're going to play some beautiful football this season, if we just put those chances I think we can win the league. Very positive first two games under Garde.
john

Kone looks strong, and I like him going foward: good passing skills. Hopefully we've found our permanent replacement for Cris at a bargain price to boot.
Aleksander

Didn't get to see the match :( If anyone got a download for the match please post it!!
MattAU

http://www.fileserve.com/file/... 1st half French commentary
http://www.fileserve.com/file/... 2nd half
Aleksander

Thanks a lot
Alex

how many chances can gomis squander.....
Michael

Lisandro has missed more chances than Gomis
Russ

no kidding. hes tough to watch sometimes
MattAU

If any striker lost us the game it was Lisandro.
Russ

perhaps but im not just referring to this game im basically referring to gomis' entire career in a Lyonnais shirt. He's anything but convincing in front of goal
Michael

Same for Lisandro...Fred is a better striker than Lisandro and Bafe together,I don't wanna even talk about Benzema...
Russ

Yea Fred was a great finisher and hes still scoring goals for the Brazil NT but thats pretty much the only thing Fred offers I wouldn't consider Fred a better all around striker than Licha Licha has so much more to his game than Fred and his energy and committment can never be questioned. As for Benz, yea....hard to replace a player of his immense quality.
Stanley

though we didn't win we can take alot of positives from this game. I really like how this team is growing
Megame

Crap. Game is over, 1-1 final score. Not the ideal springboard ahead of tuesday's game against Rubin Kazan..
Megame

Another f$$g post, it's just getting on my nerves. We could be leading 5 or 6-1!
Megame

At last! Licha! 1-1!!!
Megame

This Ajaccio team is defending well, that's the least we can say...
Megame

Crap. Unfortunately this Ochoa keeper makes brillliant saves one after the other, denying Lyon I don't know how many goals so far...
Russ

not surprised one bit. only thing that surprises me is why hes playing for a small french club. I am from America, and I have seen our national team over the years get denied again and again by Ochoa's brilliance. He's a top-level goalkeeper.
AlexT

hes attempting to be scouted by bigger european clubs. he was originally linked to PSG.
john

PSG dropped the ball on that one: We should snag him if Hugo leaves next season. One of the best matches by a keeper I've seen in some time.
Megame

... and yet another potential Lyon goal hitting the f***g bar!
Megame

Unbelievable! 0-1 !
Megame

When are we going to break the gridlock?
Michael

Lovren is best!!
Michael

Links ?
Nikhil Apte

Try this. Stops every 3 seconds for me though.
http://www.stopstream.tv/ch3.h...
Michael

This is good but better don't watch

http://real-tv-sport.com/chann...
john

All my links are sh#t!