Lyon Get Their Asses Whupped

By: Inara | October 5th, 2008

These 3-0 losses are starting to turn into a yearly ritual. A humiliating one.

The game was so bad that Lyon’s official website posted a highlight video that was only three minutes long – usually they are around twenty minutes. Watching it, I realized why. Apart from Mickael Pagis’s three goals, not much else happened. Rennes dominated from start to finish, and even Jean-Michel Aulas conceded that Rennes deserved their victory 100% whereas Lyon were lucky to leave with the shirts on their backs. Puel on the other hand didn’t even want to talk about what went wrong.

Lyon had eleven men on the pitch, but they might as well have been ghosts because their physical presence in the game was barely noticeable. They didn’t win any tackles, couldn’t make any decent passes, had only two shots on goal, and only a few more shots in general. They did muster up 12 fouls though, and Anthony Reveillere can count himself extremely fortunate that he didn’t get a deserved red card for his foul on Jimmy Briand.

So what is the reason for this meltdown of epic proportions? I’m not panicking because this loss isn’t a sign of the team’s weakness or lack of quality. This is the first loss of the season, and it’s possible that it might be Lyon’s only league loss this year. But today does show signs of tiredness, malaise, and an overall sense of disorganization, which is ironic considering that Puel is the king of organizing.

First of all, Anthony Reveillere has played every single minute since August 17. For a fullback, that’s overkill, and it’s no wonder that he’s so exhausted. I wish Puel would allow Lamine Gassama to play. Surely that is less risky than playing Kim Kallstrom as LB.

And speaking of LB, problems continue. Kallstrom proved to be just as disastrous as John Mensah in that unfamiliar left back role. At this point I’d even take Thimothee Kolodzieczak. Even the usually reliable duo of Jeremy Toulalan and Jean II Makoun were uninspired and insipid at times.

Things are also a mess up front. The attacking four combination changes every game. Today it was Karim Benzema paired up top with Frederic Piquionne, and they were supported by Anthony Mounier and Kader Keita. Normally those four would bode GOALS! GOALS! GOALS!, but today all they managed to muster amongst themselves was a single paltry shot on goal.

Typically, the anti-Puel threads have already started popping up in various OL forums, but I think this game was more of a freak event than anything truly worrisome. At most, this game just highlighted problems that we already know Lyon have – their issues at LB and RB, the constantly changing attack lineup, as well as the continuing lack of cohesiveness from Cris and Mathieu Bodmer. These are problems that can only be fixed with time, and that’s something that’s not in our hands.

Though I will be SO GLAD when Fabio Grosso returns to fitness.