LILLE vs. LYON

By: John | December 6th, 2009

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Week 16, Sunday, December 06, 2009
3:00 EST (21:00CET, 20:00GMT)
Stade Lille-Metropole

Well, I’m back from my trip to Lyon- I’ll try to have a post up with pictures later in the week after I’m over my jetlag- and after seeing the boys barely come out of alive- were it not for a fabulous Lilo free kick- against one of our thorn-in-the-side, bête noire clubs, I would normally be feeling ok. But my state of anxiety has hit an all time high before Sunday’s match, because not only have we hit a wall in that we have gone the last five matches in all competitions without a win, but it is happening at a time when we desperately need a win to avoid being left behind in the wave of squads clawing-it-out for first. Not to mention, the fact that we are heading into the gates of what has been an abbatoir for us lately, in that tiny stadium on the Deûle river, and will have to pull-out a higly improbable win in the worst possible place and against our nemisis, in order to turn things around. Truth be told, it doesn’t matter where we play, Lille have been handing our asses to us, using us for a punching bag and would continue to do so, be it in Gerland or wherever.

Lyon are currently in a rutt that is higly reminiscent of that downward spiral of last year, which saw them lose their grip on the title; only difference is, we actullay aren’t losing at the same rate: draws are doing-us-in. Since the catalyst of this current mediocrity- the Sochaux match- Lyon have had two wins in their last nine matches with three losses in all competions; not to mention, the dubious distinction of turning around both Nice and Grenoble’s lowly seasons. When you look at our league form on its own, it gets even uglier: one win in their last six, with two losses. And what really hurts about our current form is that Bordeaux have basically been handing us the keys to the house- having a stale run of their own in the meantime- dropping two of their last four and we haven’t taken advantage of that in the minimum.

Lille’s Form: I don’t really think it matters what form they are in, we’d have to fear them no matter what, but here it is anyway. LOSC have been sporadic as of late with three wins and two losses in their last five league matches. In that span, they have had two impressive victories, a 2-0 downing of Bordeaux, and a 4-0 whalloping of new L1 “powerhouses” Valenciennes. They are having a rougher time of it in the Europa League, having lost their last two matches, with a recent 3-1 loss this week to Genoa.

Les Dogues are midtable in every sense: they currently sit in 13th place, with a 5-4-5 record and (19) points. LOSC are 9th in attack with (18) scored, and 10th in defense with (16) allowed. At home they are ranked 10th with 3-3-1 record and (12) points.

Their danger men are ex-Lyonnais P.A. Frau (6) goals, Gervinho (5)goals, and Yohan Cabaye with (3).

History: No surprise to anyone hear I’m sure, that Lille own our ass. Despite being our feeder club- a sitiuation that besides Bastos and Makoun, I don’t think has been working out too well for us- LOSC always manage to get the better of us on the pitch, no matter what we take from them personnel-wise during the summer. Les Dogues are 21-8-7 against us.

Last season we drew once and lost twice in all competions against Lille, and aside from two OL wins in ‘07 and ‘08, you’d have to go back over five consecutive LOSC victories to ‘01 to find a Lyon win on the books. The matches are usuallly tight though, with a one goal average seperating the winner and loser.

Injuries: Cleber, Bodmer and Toulalan; Bastos is suspended and will miss out on action against his old squad, along with Bodmer. Francois Clerc is back in the group.

Lille Injuries: Nicolas Plestan, and Stephan Dumont are injured, and Franck Beria is suspended.

Le groupe lyonnais : Lloris, Vercoutre – Cris, Boumsong, Réveillère, Clerc, Gassama, Cissokho, Seguin – Gonalons, Makoun, Källström, Pjanic, Delgado, Ederson, Govou, Gomis, Tafer, Lisandro.

Formation:

Lloris
Reveillere-Cris-Boumsong-Cissokho
Pjanic-Makoun-Kallstrom
Govou-Gomis-Lisandro