AFC Ajax vs. Olympique Lyonnais

By: Nikhil Apte | September 14th, 2011
   

Champions League Group Stages Match Day 1


On to the most exciting competition of the season! Lyon looks to stamp its authority on the competition it has truly made its presence felt in. Group Stages are probably the only part of the Champions League that Lyon look comfortable in, so start off well, Les Gones!

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OL comes into the ring with all teeth intact, slightly hurt but ready to inflict pain. Second in the League, and without any losses to its record, get ready to see a fired up Lyon. But what of Ajax?

The (Former) European Giants

Ajax is a Champions League power-horse of the yesteryears. Four European titles in their trophy cabinet!

Traditionally, attacking football has been their key strength, and this is something universally taken to be a given in today’s match. Ajax shall attack, Lyon shall try and defend (and perhaps not concede the first goal?) and look for breaking on the counter-attack.

Remi Garde seems to be of this opinion anyway, “Ajax have played an attacking game for quite a while now and they are always faithful to their principles so we know what to we expect and we will have options on the counterattack.”

From what I’ve seen of their recent games, their attacking strength seems to lean on early crosses to their strikers. Kolbeinn Sigthórsson is likely to be a pain in the ass. Bakary Koné and Dejan Lovren will have to be on their toe-nails all throughout the match, and Lloris might go flying and punching around the box.

LYON_LLORIS_110310

Who’s in the Line Ups and who’s out racing pigeons?

Lisandro, Cris, Ederson, Gourcuff, injured. How bad can things get!

Can Gomis take care of the scoring all by himself? Gonalons has been shooting from the distance a lot! Being alongside Källström must have its side-effects. The lineup is out, and Grenier is going to be given a starting spot! Great time for the talented youngster to shine.

The U-20 brigade will be keen to prove a point, while Pied might be getting more Champions League playing exposure in this one.

Ajax: Vermeer, Van der Wiel, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Boilesen, Eriksen, S. De Jong, Janssen, Sulejmani, Sigthórsson, Boerrigter

Lyon: Lloris, Réveillère, B.Koné, Lovren, Cissokho, Gonalons, Källström, Grenier, Briand, Bastos, Gomis.

Allez Lyonnais!


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Category Category: Champions League
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  • Will

    does anyone know whether OLTV online streams matches live?  i'm in Canada - very limited TV/Satellite options for ligue1 - and tired of desperately hunting for grainy streams to watch in arabic.  Willing to shell out a few bucks to watch this team properly.

  • John

    No live streams. The games are posted later that night. It's good to have bec you they archive the games- at least a year or two- and you can watch them at your convenience. You do need to have a high internet speed though, since I have 512k and it's impossible to watch.

  • Boz

    So our ex mismanager wants to sue for a sh*tload of money when:-

    1. He had no f**king clue what he was doing
    2. He had no f**king clue what he was doing, and
    3. Ah what the hell, you know what I'm going to say anyway.

    The guy has no morals, no shame and yes....you guessed...no f**king clue!!!!

    What a complete wazzock! Lost reputation beacuse he was sacked for taking a group of highly paid professional footballers and turning them into a bunch of overpaid, demoralised group of people who didn't want to speak to the guy. Please...spare me.

    What next? Fans bringing a class action against clubs or managers for emotional distress, failure to win the league (or cup) and then the same against national associations for failure to win the World Cup/Euro Championship/Copa America etc etc. Please...thank goodness that the Judge can see straight through this clown's act. Just a shame it took us a lot longer to see through it and get rid of the idiot!

  • Luke99

    HEADLINES

    (Claude Puel, who was sacked as
    Lyon coach in the summer is claiming the club owe him €4.9 million, which
    includes damages for the effect it has had on his professional
    reputation.)did this guy even have a reputation to begin with? like who even knew this monkey before he joined LYON he should be glad Lyon gave him a reputation and gave him a chance to coach a big club like Lyon as a matter of fact we should be suing him for damaging the clubs Reputationwhat a joke i cant even believe this guy is seriouse

  • Megame

    The tribunal session didn't go very far. Neither Puel nor Aulas were present, they were represented by their lawyers. The judge said he couldn't understand the rationale for the indecent amount claimed by Puel's lawyer, so he adjourned to give this poor guy the time to come back better prepared.

  • John

    So Lyon hasn't payed him the final 3.3mill of the final year of his contract? Puel has no shame: no one but he "ruined" his imaginery reputation. Too bad the Samuri are gone: someone needs to show Puel how to accept and deal with his shame. I'm going to buy him a sword for Christmas.

  • Aditya

    Can Lyon not sue him for a few 10's of millions in compensation for losing their reputation on the European scene.

  • Ronald

    yeah, a lot of people getting on Gomis....true he didn't have a good game, but he was our most in form striker we had available

    as far things going forward, its obvious the Gomis works best when Lyon have the lion's share of possession and he keeps getting fed opportunities. Unfortunately, like someone said earlier, with the counter attack approach we had, it wasn't going to be very affective. Lacazette or Belfodil need to be integrated into the squad more ( Bel did great coming off the bench ) to pair up with Lisandro ( when he returns ) or Gomis ( needs someone to set him up more ).

    The person i  wasn't impressed by and am going to be critical about was Grenier. I mean, i know he isn't Pjanic and i know he's going to be our Attacking Midfielder of the future...but i wasnt impressed by him. He seemed nervous and didn't attack the other teams Defense like Pjanic or Gourcuff would have done

    ...he in my opinion needs to step it up the most.

  • I was actually pretty satisified with how he handled the pressure of Amsterdam arena in his FIRST CL GAME EVER. Of course he didn't show experience and reliability Pjanić or Gourcuff would've shown, but he was far from catastrophical as most 20 y.o.'s would've been playing their first CL game.
    He can certainly draw positives and confidence from the game as he was also very close to scoring in last couple of minutes.

  • Megame

    Fair comment.

    Re Grenier, don't forget this must have been his first or one of his very first complete games with the top team, and for a Champions League game on top of this! He knew he was being watched by Garde, the whole club and millions of viewers... Enough to be scared to make the fatal mistake that would ruin his debut, and therefore enough to get him somewhat lukewarm. He had some nice phases, though. But you simply can't compare a complete beginner like him to experienced players like Gourcuff and Pjanic.

    And indeed, yesterday Gomis was more affective than effective.. :)

  • Luke99

    It seems that alot of people on this blog seem to have a problem with Gomis remember hes the one that got Lyon past Ruben Kazan hes the same player that one us the game against Dijon so take it easy on the guy hes not a machine

  • John

    Does anyone have links to torrents of the game? Missed the second half.

  • John

    WTF is Lovren's problem? He gets more cards than Toul but is much less effective in breaking-up plays. He needs anger manegement classes.
    Reveillere looked bad. I think Lloris should get the armband.
    And Gomis looked bad as the lone striker. He def plays better with Lisandro. Don't know if it was our lack of ball control by the midfield, Gomis' own ineptitude or a combination of both. Why did Garde move away from the 4-4-2? He should pair Laca/Grenier/ Briand with Gomis.

  • Yeah, Reveillere so far looks like he just can't get out of his lukewarm start of the season. Not happy to say this, but maybe his age is finally getting to him?
    I'm also very confused about why Garde abandonned this season's successful 4-4-2. I know Lisandro is injured, but hasn't Lacazette deserved one single minute?? Which brings me to another puzzling thought about Garde. What's up with waiting last 10 minutes to make those subs and only using 2 of them? Gomis was useless throughout the game, someone faster, taller, more technical and agile like Belfodil we could've used way earlier in the game. Just like it was logical to me to bring in Lacazette or even Pied instead of Briand. So much for trusting the kids when there's every reason to trust them.
    Now that Gourcuff's back I'm really eager to see what kind of team will Garde field against OM. Also wouldn't mind seeing Dabo and Fofana playing a bit. I bet Gonalons/Reveillere/Cissokho could sure use a rest.

  • carvivlie

    Ajax just seemed to want it more. We didn't have any urgency to our play. We made bad passes, gifted possession time and time again. We need Licha back in order to add some heat to our team. Gomis is too laid back, Briand doesn't talk much, Bastos was much quieter than usual...We lacked passion...which seems a first this season.

  • sdzsdz

    this was a good result i think considering who we're fielding at the moment. and we actually had 3-4 really amazing chances to go in front but we didnt capitalize. and the defense, minus a few hiccups, functioned pretty well and lloris was there for the hiccups.
    he's by far our best player. i have a good feeling about this team, with cuff stitching the mid and licha finishing the job we're in for a good season i hope.
    on a side note, gomis is so fucking lazy. frustrates me so much to watch him walk around.

  • carvivlie

    Our midfield possession has been awful. Can't hold onto the ball. God do we need Gourcuff back!

  • John

    I think Gourcuff can play the box-to-box mf in the 4-4-2, since he's pretty good at recovering the ball, as well as holding on to it while moving foward, obviously.

  • sdzsdz

    gomis is a piece of shit

  • Aditya

    Playing on the counter with him is a disaster.

  • sdzsdz

    noooo bastos...

  • Aditya

    0-0 at half time. How was the gameplay? Also interested in Grenier's performance?

    Allez Lyon, go grab a goal or more in 2nd half.

  • Nikhil Apte

    The counter-attack one would have been a goal to relish.

  • sdzsdz

    wow what a chance butchered by gomis...

  • John

    I was watching these racist mexican broadcasters on ESPN 2 and they were talking about how ridiculous it was that Gomis' nickname was "Baby Drogba." Two seconds later he squanders that gift-wrapped goal, cross by Bastos. God I wish he would have sunk that to make them shut up!

  • sdzsdz

    and another..

  • mckn8

    Would have been nice to have Pjanic for this one but...fingers crossed, the young ones can step up!
    Allez Lyonnias!

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