L’OL = LOL

By: Inara | November 12th, 2008

If any of you read my match preview of yesterday’s Coupe de la Ligue game against Metz, you can see that I was expecting a comfortable win for my team. Not champagne football, but a solid, no-nonsense victory. But it turns out that I, along with the entire squad of Olympique Lyonnais, am now being punished for such arrogance.

I say that because yesterday’s game turned out to be the match from hell, and for all the wrong reasons. In one of the biggest upsets in the history of this tournament (and probably in the history of Lyon), Metz walked all over Lyon in a fairly comfortable 3-1 victory.

What follows is my post match ~~tirade~~ commentary. If there ever were a time for justified bitching, I think this would be it. Match highlights at the bottom of the post. Try not to laugh too hard.

First of all, it was a home game for Lyon. In the last three years, Lyon have lost at home only four times in all competitions – to Bordeaux, Marseille, Roma, and Rangers. That’s it. And those teams are hardly chumps. Amazing that the list can now include a team that’s currently hanging out in France’s second division.

Secondly, rotation aside, the lineup Puel put out last night shouldn’t have lost like that. Besides Sebastien Faure and Lamine Gassama, the other nine players are all very experienced, many of them internationals to boot. Sure, Lyon were resting Hugo Lloris, Jeremy Toulalan, Karim Benzema, and Cesar Delgado, plus some other players to injury, but still…it’s Metz, not Barcelona.

I suppose in the grand scheme of things, the Coupe de la Ligue was the lowest priority of the club, so by the end of the year, I doubt too many people will be shedding tears over this game. But the fact that Lyon was kicked out in such a fashion and in such an early stage of the competition makes it a little hard to bear. It’s also a little scary that this is the second trophy Claude Puel has missed out on – he was also the first OL coach to lose the Trophee des Champions since 2001. It’s not a big deal, I know, but I hope this isn’t some sort of ominous sign of impending change.

This picture says it all, really.

As for the players themselves, they were all really mediocre. I’m not even being harsh. If I had to give them ratings, the highest would probably be a 5. I’m not sure why the players had such a meltdown of epic proportions. Juninho was probably the best of the bunch, and he tried, but there is only so much he could do with the incompetence around him. Fabio Grosso picked the wrong day to forget his defensive duties. Cris fluctuated between good and bad. I don’t know if he was nervous playing next to the babies Faure and Gassama, or if he was revisiting his form from the earlier part of the season, though I will say that he made up for it during some moments and was responsible for Lyon’s only goal of the match. Kim Kallstrom, Ederson, Frederic Piquionne, Kader Keita, Anthony Mounier, Fred, and Jean II Makoun all had a match to forget.

And OMG, Fabio Santos was injured AGAIN. He has the worst luck ever. After receiving a nasty tackle from Metz’s Pascal Johansen, he was in so much pain that he had to be taken off immediately. Apparently it’s an ankle sprain, which means he might be out for another couple of weeks. I hope it’s not too long because he is a good player and deserves to play. It would be terrible if injuries ruin his career – which is ironic because despite all the injuries, he’s not injury prone, but he gets injured by other players on a fairly regular basis.

Jean-Michel Aulas was very pissed in his post match interview, saying that it was really annoying when high caliber players, who are fighting for playing time, decide to waste the opportunity instead of proving to the coach that they deserve a place in the starting XI. He also put additional pressure on the players by reminding them that great teams never lose twice. Puel on the other hand gave full credit to Metz for a deserved victory, and by the look on his face, it was obvious that he plans to put his players through hell for their performance today. I kind of feel sorry for Bordeaux, who are Lyon’s next opponents.

Finally, I want to end this with a word of congratulations for Metz. While Lyon were so wrapped up in their certainty of success (everyone down from Aulas to the ballboys), Metz came to the Gerland with an appropriate mixture of determination of humility. They knew they couldn’t match Lyon player for player, so they worked harder and pitched a very intelligent battle of tactics. They knew which players to shut down and which players to exploit. Before the match, I had never heard of Victor Mendy, Sebastien Renouard, and Romain Rocchi (Metz’s three goal scorers), but I won’t forget them ever again. So bravo to Metz, and I hope they continue their good run into this competition.

Highlights:

Goals: Lyon (Cris 49), Metz (Mendy 20, Renouard 28, Rocchi 66)
Warnings: Lyon (Faure 58, Gassama 59), Metz (Johansen 31, Delgado 85)

Also, Evilo is now piloting the Ligue 1 Prospects Blog at the Offside, so stop by to say hi. Given that L1 is a breeding ground of some of the world’s best players, his blog is most welcome for those who want to keep track of France’s latest talents.