Total Humiliation
By: Inara | September 19th, 2007Barcelona 3 – 0 Lyon
Post-match analysis:
I’m too depressed to write up anything and probably never will. Feel free to discuss the absolute stupidity of Alain Perrin in the comments. Or about how Remy Vercoutre, one of our worst players and a backup at that, put in the best performance on the Lyon side of the things. Or about how Lyon gave up in the last ten minutes of the game. Or just about how Lyon’s stock, already falling, has dropped pretty damn low. My only consolation is that Sevilla lost to Arsenal by just as much.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
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I am so surprised by this. Juninho’s complete lack of existence is both a testament to his age and to Toure’s abilities. The game was played almost entirely in Lyon’s half, with a couple of half chances for Lyon, but nothing that made me suck my breath in too much.
I predicted to myself before the game a 2-1 victory, but I never, ever saw 3-0 coming. Not humiliation, per say, but very, very close. What you say, Inara, about not playing with passion is oh so true. Barca took it to you guys from the beginning and it was as if Lyon knew it and accepted it, which blew me away. We’ll see what happens in France in a couple of months, but gooooood lordy I am surprised by the capitulation.
Posted from
United States
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ok… I was too optimistic…
But I really think we should have managed a win there. Why the hell did Perrin use this formation with those players?
We had won the last 4 games with a kind of “typical team”, and he just changed everything! Played a usual right back on the left (although he played there from time to time when he used to be in Rennes).
Plays Belhadj on the left wing… Belhadj who only really played in the peace cup.
He missused Juninho as well. Didn’t play with the pairs that are working.
Perrin tried to show his “coaching” skills by trying to counter Barca’s players, but he completely forgot that Lyon also had a game to play! I liked Perrin so far, but he’d better keep it simple, or he will lose more games.It’s simple enough : Lyon don’t need to counter teams, they have to play with there best players in the best formation for them to score goals…
Sorry, I know I repeat myself… I am just very sad losing this way. What am I supposed to tell my students now? “LYON plays attracting football”… yeah…Appart from Perrin, Juninho’s free-kicks were crap, I think mainly because he didn’t feel comfortable in this formation and doubted (although I am probably trying to find him an excuse, because it also happens that he just f%#@s all his fre-kicks).
OK… I have to update my champions league poster in school… 3-0…
Posted from
Japan -
Ridiculous. What is the deal with Ligue 1. What the hell were Lyon thinking when they hired Perrin. Championships are won with champions (Capello, Ancelloti, Rijard) not Perrin who the hell is this guy. They pay 20 something million for Keita but have a complete loser coach. Lyon will never win the champions league until they get a championship caliber coach which we have yet to see over the years. They were afraid no attacking game for Lyon, this is’nt life or death, just go out and show the world what your made of, Or else the 6 league titles wont be remembered worth a damn.
Posted from
United States -
Well I do not think that much people expected Lyonnais to get a result at the Camp Nou. I would not say it was a humiliation but Lyonnais I think gave too much repsect to Barcelona and in the end it was comfortable for Barcelona.
This is probably the hardest match for Lyonnais and it is out of the way. Rnagers got a result against Stuttgart and that I think favours Lyonnais. They just need to get three points in their next match and they will be in the thick of it again.
There is no need to panic at this stage but the manner of the loss was disheartening.
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Today’s loss was completely tactical. There isn’t a single player I can pick out and say he played badly because you could tell that Perrin had told all of them, “defend defend defend.”
Out of the three starting fullbacks today, only one was played in position (Clerc). Except Clerc is not the kind of defender you use against Barcelona. Clerc is for teams who don’t have very dangerous left wingers. Reveillere is more solid defensively and would have had a better time dealing with Abidal and Henry.
Lyon hardly ever saw the ball, so Juninho and Kallstrom couldn’t do anything with it. Benzema couldn’t attack because he hardly got any service, and both Govou and Belhadj spent the majority of the game defending. I don’t think Toulalan was ever more than 15 yards away from Vercoutre. As for Vercoutre, he was definitely Lyon’s Man of the Match. How sad.
I am not angry with Clerc for the own goal because if he hadn’t made contact with it, Milito would have take the shot, and Clerc had some good moments during the game (he was the one with the cool sliding save on Messi’s second attempt). Nor am I angry with Bodmer for Henry’s goal because he’s not a defender. Let’s be honest – Barca could have been up 7-0.
Belhadj should never have been on the pitch. I think Perrin was thinking about the times when Houllier used to use Clerc as a RW when he wanted extra defense, but Clerc always had Reveillere behind him. Belhadj had a RB behind him, and again, it was too defensive.
As for Juni’s free kicks, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him be so off target with ALL his fks. You could tell he was stressed and nervous and uncomfortable. He couldn’t be our playmaker because he hardly got to play!
The thing with Barcelona is that they know their weakness is their defense, so they just attack all the time so the ball is never in their own half. Perrin fell for that hook, line, and sinker when he decided to field a defensive team. Lyon would have been better off doing their own thing. Had they taken the initiative and taken the game to Barca, the result would have been different.
In fact, the few moments Lyon did take the initiative, they looked good. They made some great movements and strung together some decent passes. You could tell that Barca got nervous during a few moments. But as soon as we lost the ball, we panicked and couldn’t handle their counterattacks.
Even after the own goal, Lyon still had a chance, and I thought that maybe we could score a goal. But Perrin must have told the players at half time to be happy with the 1-0. And wtf was up with his substitutions? He put in Baros, which was fine. But then he took out Benzema and put in Ben Arfa. What is Ben Arfa going to do? He’s never even played with Baros before. And then Keita in the last five minutes. Seriously?
Lyon are not a team built for defensive play. We’ve learned that many times during the Houllier and Santini eras. Remember the losses to AC Milan two years ago, as well as to Marseille last year in the French Cup? Lyon don’t possess the kind of players who are good at having ten men behind the ball. It’s just not who we are. That’s like asking a team like the Rangers to play attacking football.
In the grand scheme of things, we can say that a loss here was expected anyway, and it will be important not to lose points at home as well as pick up an away draw at either Stuttgart or Rangers. But this defeat will hurt the team mentally, and I’m sure they are doubting themselves. When OL lose confidence, it’s a very bad thing.
I know Lyon is capable of more than what they displayed tonight. Maybe we would have lost anyway, but we should have gone down fighting. Today just brought back bad memories of the Roma match (though at least we didn’t loose 7-1).
Anyway, cheers to Barcelona for being classy. There is a reason why they are CL contenders, and tonight they showed why.
Posted from
United States -
Also, I’m pissed at all the comments from Lyon about having no pressure. That’s just stupid. Maybe they should feel the pressure to keep them from playing like total crap.
Perrin said Lyon had nothing to lose, and today, Lyon completely lost.
It’s just another example of his naivety.
Posted from
United States -
Mourinho was sacked. Maybe Aulas could give him a call. No way Perrin is going to last this entire year if this is a glimpse of his incompetance.
Posted from
United States -
Wow, no offense, but did you guys really think you were going to put up a fight against Barca? They have to be the clear favorite for the CL right now.
I’ll admit I did expect better from Lyon, but this is what Barcelona will do against much better opponents this year. They’re a collective formidable beast. (and yes, I think Roma would get creamed by them right now)
Barca’s defense may be their weakness, but it’s not all that much of a weakness at the moment. Zambro, Milito, Marquez and Abidal is not a weak defense by any stretch of the imagination – and Yaya ain’t bad either.
But it’s altogether possible Perrin may have taken a page from Rafa’s book last year. Defend ad nauseam, then hit out on quick counter attacks hoping to expose a much weaker defense (then).
I wouldn’t call for heads yet, Lyon will still probably advance. And of course, you guys have Mancini to look forward to in January.
Posted from
United States -
I had low expectations going into the match, but 2-1 was what I was thinking of. I guess tonight reminded me that despite all of Lyon’s progress, we still have quite a ways to go. It’s not even the overall quality of their players but the confidence they had going into the match. I got the feeling that Lyon expected to lose from the outset. I was disappointed by that.
Posted from
United States -
Just kidding on Mourinho. He earns 10million/year. But Aulas should have gone with Deschamps. I agree with Ar that Perrin wasn’t an ambitious choice for europe. Ligue 1 sure.
Posted from
United States -
Perrin can go die. What the hell was he thinking? Why didn’t grosso start? he may be crap at defending but hes started just about every other match played. Apart from Vercoute, Squilacci was definately the best player for me. If it weren’t for him it would have been 5-0 at half time.
Posted from
Australia -
And did they just hire Perrin because he won the French Cup with Sochaux? And now they expect that he can win the Champions League with Lyon?
Posted from
Australia -
I found it highly surprising that out of Lyon’s 5 “big” buys (Roux excepted, that is) only 2 started, and both of them were out of position.
Of course it would be difficult to get a result in Barcelona, but wouldn’t it be better to have two DMs, rather than just Toulalan? Toulalan had a good game, but he was up against the odds by a long shot : Ronaldinho, Xavi, Deco, Iniesta… There was no way he could take on 3 players of that level, and he would have been super if he could keep 2 at bay. Källström and Juninho are attacking midfielders, and they are good (especially Källström… Our little swede), but they can’t be expected to give very much to help the defence. Govou and Belhadj were constantly pushed back to help the defence, leaving Benzema without support from the wings.
Perrin’s confidence in Belhadj is touching, but it’s surprising that he (and Aulas) bought 2 players to “replace” Abidal’s departure, and then play neither of them… Pity for Bodmer to play once more in central defence, a position he has constantly played for Lyon, even though Cleber Anderson could now fill in, and he could move up in DM (with Fabio “Bench” Santos) to help Toulalan…
On the other hand, it’s good to see that Vercoutre is getting better. Not that he’ll challenge Coupet for a starting spot, but it’s still good.
Posted from
France -
I think Perrin played Belhadji because he made a fantastic game when Algeria played Argentina i the Nou Camp a few months ago. He museled Messi for real. That was some creative thinking.
But he should have taken more risks. You don’t go to Barceloona to not lose. You go there to win and take five goals. But so what, everybody expected it. You might as well have gambled.
The thing that was more humiliating in my mind was for Rijkaard to put in the Babygranas (Dos Santos and Krkic are good but come on).Posted from
France -
By the way, Inara, I have no idea what you look like so I now have a mental image of you as the picture above, only sometimes you’re happy, like when you’re thinking about domestic titles.
Posted from
United States -
Belhadj did do a good job against Messi, but that was the Argentina NT, which is (I think) far inferior to Barcelona FC. Belhadj could defend Messi back then because Messi had a greater share of defensive responsibilities and wasn’t free to go forward every five seconds. But last night, he had more license, and couple with the fact that Belhadj had extra defensive duties, such as coping with Ronaldinho and Deco whenever they ventured over, he could contain Messi like last time.
Isaiah, I’m Bengali (pic is in my author profile), so that face doesn’t exactly look like me, but the expression is spot on.
Posted from
United States -
Inara: To take some of the anger off your sweet face, go and see some pics of the new stadium on olympique-et-lyonnais or olweb.
Brings back to mind Lyon has a project. So Im confident for the future. Posted from
Japan -
Lyon has a strong future. I guess I’m just impatient and want it right now. I’ve never been much for waiting.
Anyway, the match was good for Vercoutre because he was great. I don’t blame him for the goals because his team was falling apart, and what do you expect.
And Perrin’s job is safe. This defeat, while embarrassing, won’t lessen the Aulas’s support of him. BUT if he doesn’t qualify out of the group stages, that is another story. Lyon are still a better team than Stuttgart, despite last night’s displays. So Perrin better ensure more sound tactics next time.
Posted from
United States -
i actually think Perrin will learn from this. he’s not a stupid man even though in retrospect his formation was stupid…and his substitutions. but lyon is lyon, he has to realise that now. you don’t turn an attacking team into a defensive one at the flick of a switch.
Posted from
United States -
From L’equipe –
Aulas: “On the tactical aspect, ask the coach,” answered the president of the Gones coldly. “I never pass judgments on the choices of the coach. He made a bet. He did not win it.”
Juninho: “I do not speak about tactics, ask the coach,” said the Brazilian.
Perrin was thought to be a good tactician. But winning the Champions League trophy and the French Cup are two different things.
Posted from
United States -
I never saw Toulalan upset until last night. After the game ended, he walked right off the pitch and didn’t even stop to talk to anyone.
It sucks for the Lyon players b/c they played their hardest. I disagree that yesterday was like the Roma game b/c the players worked hard. But they had to do what Perrin said which was obviously wrong.
I’m not trying to say Barca won because of Lyon’s bad tactics but I don’t think Barca would have won so easily if Houllier (yes I said it) had been there. If it had been Le Guen I think Lyon would have walked away with a win or at the very least a draw.
Posted from
United States -
Perrin has shown that he may simply be lacking the tactical know how to deal with the big guns of Europe. Which is why I said the CL is not within our reach any longer this summer.
Posted from
United States -
Mourinho is out of Chelsea. I say boot out Perrin and make sure he never gets a job as a coach and hire Mourinho to put together a championship squad and not rely on Lacombe assembling wanna be champion teams. LYON NEED CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER PLAYERS AND STAFF. If not its all waste.
Posted from
United States -
I should mention one thing – Lyon have never lost by such a big margin in the CL. The biggest defeats we have had were by two goal margins – 3-1 or 2-0. The last time we had a three goal defeat was in the UEFA Cup in 2002 against Slovan Liberec.
The good thing is that we got our hardest match out of the way. We have five games left, of which we need to win four and draw one to secure qualification (three wins and a draw is the absolute minimum and still may not be enough).
Posted from
United States -
I agree with Ara, get a real coach. I mean, who is Perrin? Where did they find this guy?
Posted from
Australia
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