Sochaux vs. Lyon
By: Inara | October 28th, 2008So here’s the situation. Bordeaux are currently in first place thanks to goal differential, Marseille are two points behind us, also with a better goal differential. Tomorrow, Lyon are playing the last placed team in t, he league, the only one who has yet to notch a single victory.
If Lyon can’t win tomorrow, perhaps it is time to freak out.
October 29th, 2008
Stade Bonal, Sochaux
1 PM ET (19:00 CMT, 18:00 GMT)
Match background:
It’s hard to believe that Sochaux were French Cup winners and European contenders two seasons ago. But that was when Alain Perrin was around. When he left (for Lyon ironically), Sochaux never recovered and have been fighting relegation since then.
They have some good players, notably Melvut Erding, Valter Birsa, and Teddy Richert, but they don’t have enough of it to make their campaign this season any easier. Sochaux aren’t known for their youth academy either, so they can’t rely on a steady production of talent.
Currently, they are in 20th place, with zero wins, six draws, and four losses. They’ve scored 10 goals and conceded 14, which isn’t too bad, but they don’t have the points to back up their average goal differential.
Lyon are in *gasp* 2nd place thanks to a poorer goal differential than Bordeaux. OL defense, despite being very criticized by yours truly, is the best in the league, with only 8 goals conceded. But with only 14 goals scored, Lyon aren’t doing as well in the offensive department. They’ve also only earned two points in the last three matches, which is pretty much relegation form.
Lyon info:
Geez, every week someone else gets injured! This time, it’s Ederson, whose knock to the ankle (thanks Auxerre) turned out to be a bit more serious than originally thought. Juninho’s knee is sore, so he’s also out. Hugo Lloris is still recovering from his serious throat infection, and both Mathieu Bodmer and John Mensah aren’t anywhere near ready. So I guess they’ll keep Sidney Govou and Francois Clerc company in the stands.
Le groupe: Vercoutre, Hartock – Grosso, Boumsong, Cris, Faure, Réveillère, Gassama – Toulalan, Fabio Santos, Källström, Makoun – Delgado, Mounier, Pjanic, Keita, Benzéma, Fred, Piquionne.
FABIO SANTOS IS BACK!!! So that’s good news. Otherwise, nothing else interesting. Despite the injuries, no youth players besides Sebastien Faure and Lamine Gassama were called up.
Expected lineup:
Vercoutre
Reveillere – Cris – Boumsong – Grosso
Fabio Santos – Makoun – Kallstrom
Keita – Fred – Mounier
I don’t have anything to say about that defense because that’s the only possible combination. There are no backups at all in that sector (not counting academy kids). So we better pray that no more injuries are picked up, or else Lyon are screwed.
Kim Kallstrom looks sure to play, as does Jean II Makoun, who only played a few minutes this past weekend. I’m hoping Puel starts Fabio Santos because he hasn’t played all season, thanks to his untimely injuries. It’s also possible that Jeremy Toulalan will start, and Fabio Santos coming on for him in the second half.
With so many players out, that leaves Anthony Mounier on the left and Kader Keita on the right, unless for some reason Puel decides to give Miralem Pjanic more playing time. Fred will probably also get to start, though I wouldn’t mind it Frederic Piquionne did instead. I would also like it if Karim Benzema didn’t play tomorrow, but I have a feeling that Benzema himself wants to play, if only to keep scoring so that no one overtakes him as top scorer.
Viewing options:
I don’t know if there will be any streams, but you can keep an eye on this page.
Expected result:
I’m praying for a 3-0 victory, just because Lyon need to show the world they know how to score domestically. But Sochaux are a tough team and won’t make it easy on Lyon.
Category: Ligue 1
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Comments
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LYON!!!!!!!
Posted from
United States
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thanks for the stream, mrCham!
Posted from
United States -
If I’m not mistaken, our formation is now something like this:
Vercoutre
Gassama – Cris – Boumsong – Revelliere
Keita – Makoun – Toulalan – Delgado
Fred – BenzemaPosted from
United States -
Benzema on the rightwing? Good idea to give Gassama some help with Rev as a mid to track-back, but Rev still doesn’t get a rest. No Pjanic? What did he do to Puel?
Posted from
Costa Rica -
Delgado! Victory for Lyon!
Posted from
United States -
That Man hug that Benzema gave Delgado was epic lol
Posted from
United States -
It’s worthy of a place on the habs blog
Posted from
United States -
wow Sochaux had two players sent off.
Also what happened to Pjanic?
Posted from
United States -
i think that it will be a smart thing if Lyon’s managment get the players off the pitch immediatley after the game is over. Sochaux are pissed !!!
Posted from
United States -
And yay for Delgado! I just hope he can follow up with such performances. Love how all the players are so happy for him.
Posted from
United States -
did you not see the injury that Pjanic sustained, im surprised he stayed out there as long as he did. Maybe this is why Puel doesnt start him more often, maybe he’s afraid his still growing body isnt up to par to last 90 minutes.
Posted from
United States -
I missed the injury, my stream froze for like five minutes.
What happened? Is it very serious?
Posted from
United States -
What kind of injury is it? I mean Pjanic…i can’t watch the game.
Posted from
United States -
he got fouled from the side when he was passing the ball. the result being that the ref gave the sochaux player an immediate red card if im not mistaken. But pjanic stayed on the floor for a long period of time and had alot of trouble getting up. limped throughout the rest of the game grimacing…ala benzema last year against marseille
Posted from
United States -
oh no!
The last thing he needs is an injury. It could take him a while to recover.
Posted from
United States -
More bad news: the reason Grosso was subbed was because he got injured.
GREAT.
Posted from
United States -
Also, thanks to Dalmat, Pjanic had to be taken to the hospital.
Posted from
United States -
I just come back home, after watching the game with friends.
That was a very good game, hard, technical and fast.
Sochaux was so good, it’s unbelievable they are 20th.
They gave a lot of problems to Lyon, but our players played very well too. Lyon dominated the game, except on the first 20 minutes of the second period.
Mounier missed a very easy goal by his lack of experience and Benz missed something incredible. The kind of goal he always score. I think that’s what made him so angry and made him man of the match, with one pass, one goal and a huge activity everywhere.
Gassama did very well for his forst game, and I’m happy to see Cris becoming what he was again.
Everything was not perfect, but that kind of game make me very optimistic.
Do not forget we played without Juninho, Ederson, Bodmer, Govou, Clerc, Mensah, Lloris… that’s 7 of our prossibly 11 starting players.I’m worried for Pjanic who really seemed to suffer.
Fred did a good game, so did Vercoutre and Mounier. Toulakoun was as usual a locked door for Sochaux’s midfielder, and Grosso was not so good, probably his lack of playing time due to injury.I hope I’ll see something like this game on sunday at Gerland, against Le Mans.
Posted from
France -
yay….my toulakoun nickname is catching on
Posted from
United States -
Thanks for the recap, Jo!
Sochaux I thought held out really well for the vast majority of the game, and even when they were down to nine men and two goals down, they were still fighting. Their standing in the table doesn’t reflect their efforts, which is probably why the Sochaux coach and the players took their loss especially hard today. The way Perquis slammed the wall with his fist on his way out was especially telling.
And yes, Ronald, I do believe you’ve started something with Toulakoun. At the beginning of the season, they weren’t used to playing together, and when one had a good game, the other one usually sucked, but now they play as one entity, and when one goes forward, the other stays back. Toulakoun = LOVE.
Posted from
United States -
Also, what was Perquis’s second yellow card (the one that led to his red) for? Gillot’s post match interview said that Toulalan’s demands of the referee was what had gotten Perquis sent off. The match video doesn’t show the incident though.
And incidentally, for those of you who have OLWEBTV, they have started making full games available (before they used to have long highlights). The Lille, Steaua, Auxerre, and now Sochaux matches are all available online.
Posted from
United States -
The second yellow card for Perquis is because he shot the ball out of the pitch when OL had a free kick.
“Anti-jeu”.Posted from
France -
Just how good can Benzema get?! Lord knows what Lyon will do when he leaves. Does anyone know the extent of the Pjanic and Grosso injuries? Is there ever a single game that goes by without another Lyon player getting bloody injured!
Posted from
United Kingdom -
it seems the football gods doesnt want us to play with our usual 11. But then again, this might be a good thing in the long run…as gassama finally got playing time, and didnt do so bad.
I was very critical of our deep team in the beginning of the season, now im happy we have a million midfielders lol.
Also, how can one get OLWEBTV ? seriously…im about to ask Santa Claus for it on christmass.
Posted from
United States -
I know what you mean. I also used to be concerned with all the players on the squad, but now it’s looking like a really good thing. And even with so many players missing, Kallstrom didn’t even make the bench yesterday! However, I still wish we had another LB.
Also, I really like OLTV. I feel like they had better coverage last year, with more shows, but it’s still worth it I think for five euros a month. Their match highlights (though now they have started archiving full matches) were the only way I’d get to watch them play most weeks. And there is a lot of other fun content, plus access to their archives, which I need for the blog. The sad part is that I don’t know French very well, so I don’t understand what they are saying, but it’s like who cares, at least I get to see them.
Posted from
United States
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