In his press conference, Squillaci said that he wanted a new adventure and to continue progressing his career. He failed to mention that his salary has also progressed (it’s doubled now). I hope he has fun playing in the UEFA Cup.

I’m rather sad about this. I’ve never been particularly attached to Squillaci, but his departure surprised me as much as Tiago’s because I wasn’t expecting it. Surely Lyon could have tried to match wages if they really wanted to. And it’s not like he had to worry about Jean-Alain Boumsong pushing him out of the pecking order.

But after the horrible year he endured in the Lyon defense thanks to that crazy injury crisis, maybe he felt a change was in order. He’ll also get the opportunity to play in another league - he’s only ever played in France.

Unofficially, part of the reason for this departure was that this would allow Cris to return to his post in the right side of central defense. He used to play there, but when Squillaci arrived, Cris was put on the left to accommodate him. Cris didn’t appreciate this and complained about this several times - he even threatened to leave once.

Of course, this isn’t the only reason, but I guess when Sevilla came sniffing around, Lyon didn’t fight too hard since at the end of the day, Squillaci is a replaceable player, unlike Cris.

Some of you may be concerned because right now, Lyon are really short of central defenders, but the club have pretty much signed Squillaci’s replacement. They’ve been in talks with Rennes for several days over John Mensah, who has already come to terms with Lyon. The problem is that while Lyon don’t want to pay more than what they will get off the sale of Squillaci, Rennes wants €8m. These details will be sorted out soon, I’m sure.

There isn’t much you can see in two minutes, but the video does a decent job of it. My only gripe was that I wished there had been more footage of the showers locker rooms.

Random factoid: Tours like these at the Gerland are only available for a few weeks in a year, basically when the players are on vacation. So if you’re ever in Lyon in June, you should definitely check it out, even if it’s only to leave love messages on Jeremy Toulalan’s locker.

With Ben Arfa gone, I’ve decided that it’s time to upgrade Fabio Grosso to his own category, especially since he’s always in the news (sometimes he’s stripping, sometimes he’s slapping people, and sometimes he just makes us say wtf). To celebrate, here is a picture of Fabi with his WAG, Jessica Repetto. Their son Filippo looks just like his dad, btw.

Anyway, I hope Grosso doesn’t do anything stupid like leave Lyon this summer because that would make him the shortest category in the history of the world. Plus I’m getting really attached to him, and I’d miss his long, flowing, curly locks of hair as he runs up and down that left side. Even if his defending makes me cry sometimes.

Not as bad as I first feared.

First of all, Juninho was given the captain’s armband. It’s not really a surprise because he was the captain during the last two seasons, and he’s also the most senior and most experienced player on the squad. Still, I was concerned because Juninho and Puel got off on the wrong foot at first.

Going into the match, there was a lot of speculation about what players would be aligned for this game.

Still on vacation: Karim Benzema, Sidney Govou, Jeremy Toulalan, Kim Kallstrom, Jean II Makoun, Francois Clerc, Sebastien Squillaci, Fabio Grosso
Injured: Fred, Fabio Santos, Anthony Reveillere, Hugo Lloris
Transfered/Out of Contract: Hatem Ben Arfa, Frederic Roux, Patrick Muller, Gregory Coupet, Loic Remy, Marc Crosas

FYI, that’s nine of the usual starters missing. For any coach, it’s always a challenge to come up with a competitive team when such a huge chunk of the senior squad is missing, so to compensate, Puel used many of Lyon’s younger players, some of whom are in the reserves and some of whom play in even younger divisions. I seriously doubt Puel had any idea what sort of team he wanted until ten minutes before the game started.

For this game, Puel basically aligned two different teams in each half. In the first half, it was basically Lyon’s “B” team, and in the second, it was the “C” team (with an average age of 12). What surprised me was that he elected to use a 4-3-3. I was hoping expecting that he’d try something different - that’s the point of friendlies, right? Anyway, here’s how it looked:

First half:

Vercoutre
Gassama - Paillot - Cris - Fontaine
Bodmer - Juninho
Ederson
Keita - Tafer - Delgado

Second half:

Hartock
Gassama - Faure - Seguin - Valdivia
Beynié - Mehamha
Pjanic
Pied - Grenier - Mounier

Typically of these types of friendlies, Puel was more concerned with easing his players back into the season than anything, so it’s important not to take the result too seriously. It’s also difficult to form a solid opinion on performances since most players were on the pitch for 45 minutes. Plus you could definitely tell that some of the guys were taking it a little too easy (*points at B team*).

Still, I do have some comments. First of all, it’s so obvious that Remy Vercoutre hasn’t played in a while. The first goal he conceded was absolutely cringe worthy and something my fourteen year old sister could have prevented with ease. On the second, he was way off his line and looked clueless as a Nimes player chipped a ball over his head. His replacement in the second half, Joan Hartock, didn’t have anything to do, though the one time Nimes threatened, he was saved by the post (also, this was the first time I’ve ever seen Hartock play…he’s very loud for a keeper).

The backline was hard to evaluate. Cris looked okay while Sandy Paillot (who is so tall) showed signs of the experience he got last season at Grenoble. He also had a rocket of a shot that the Nimes keeper barely saved. The two fullbacks in the first half, Thomas Fontaine and Lamine Gassama, were really solid. Gassama in particular impressed (he was the only one who played the entire match) and has made a very strong case for making it into the senior team (it also helps that Lyon are really short of fullbacks at the moment). The CB pair in the second half, Nicolas Seguin and Sebastien Faure, looked alright, but they weren’t really tested.

Mathieu Bodmer and Ederson looked good in midfield, Bodmer especially. Ederson needs to get used to playing with his new teammates some more, but he looked promising. Juninho didn’t really do much, but the little he did do was the most crucial - he got Lyon back into the game. In the second half, the midfield was less active, with both Romain Beynie and Said Mehamha rather lukewarm (but then again, they were played slightly out of position). Miralem Pjanic took a while to get settled, but once he did, he was terrific, creating chances for both himself and his teammates. He was unlucky not to have scored.

Up front, Kader Keita did his usual Houdini routine. I was hoping that Puel would immediately get Keita back into his Lille-form, but I guess he’ll need more time. Cesar Delgado played well technically though he really needs to work on his fitness and physical strength. It’s obvious that he’s having trouble coping with the more physical aspect of the French game, but this is something that will improve over time. I thought Yannis Tafer (the top scorer in the Euro U17 Championship this spring) did really well considering he’s only 17. He might not be the “new Benzema,” but he’s a special player that will grow into his own as he gets older.

In the second half, I was a little surprised to see Clement Grenier used as a striker since he’s actually an attacking midfielder. But he showed a lot of complicity with Pjanic and looked good on the ball. At his side, Jeremy Pied was pretty much invisible, but Anthony Mounier was IMO the best player in the second half and possibly the best Lyonnais over all. He looked really good and should definitely be on the senior team for next season. Then again, this is what happened last season too - Mounier impressed in all the friendlies and subsequently vanished at the start of the season.

I’m trying to hunt down the entire match, but for those of you looking for highlights, you can download then here (courtesy of the fantastic Jejeinho).

Pictures (you guys know how much I hate posting watermarked images, but these are all I could find):

Both Lyon and the France NT train at Tignes yearly.

Right now, half the squad is missing because they took part in Euro 2008 or World Cup qualifiers, and they aren’t due back from vacation until July 15th. They’re missing pre-season at Tignes, but Puel will have a second training camp from July 27 to August 1st at Divonne les Bains.

There has also been some revisions to Lyon’s original schedule of summer friendlies. The club has dug up some other opponents, so this is what to expect:

7/12: Lyon vs. Nimes @ Albertville, France
7/19: Lyon vs. Rapid Bucaresti @ Bucharest, Romania
7/23: Lyon vs. Partizan Belgrade @ Belgrade, Serbia
7/24: Lyon vs. Nancy @ Villefranche-sur-Saône, France
7/29: Lyon vs. Monaco @ Annecy, France

I’m slightly confused as to how Lyon will play in Serbia on the 23rd and then play in Villefranche one day later, but what do I know? Anyway, these games are meant to be a nice transition into Lyon’s first “real” match of the season, the Trophée des Champions (French Supercup), where they will face off against Bordeaux.

So what have the boys been up to so far?

Well, they’ve been spending a lot of time biking. Rather infamous among the players, the Mountain of Iseran trail is an eight mile course up to the peak. People have been known to break down and cry, it’s that grueling. And when fitness coach Robert Duverne isn’t putting them through hell, they are doing the usual workouts, plus fun activities like rafting, rugby, handball, basketball, etc - basically, a bunch of team building activities. When they have time, they also play football. Only sometimes though.

Unfortunately, there are some injuries to report. Anthony Reveillere has a strained calf muscle, Kader Keita hurt his arm when he was away playing for the Ivory Coast, and Juninho right thigh was sore (the MRI came back all clear), so those three are taking it easy.

More seriously, Fabio Santos picked up a pretty bad ankle sprain yesterday and will probably be out for six to eight weeks. Hugo Lloris is still at least a month away from playing competitively, so it’s possible he’ll miss the start of the season.

Fred has tendinitis of the knee (raise your hand if you’re surprised), and though no one is overly concerned, he has a history of being injury prone, so he’s being monitored constantly.

Finally, a word on Puel: It’s too early to say anything about his coaching techniques, but I’ve been impressed by his willingness to participate in the physical workouts with the players, everything from the running to the biking to even the rugby and rafting. The players seem to appreciate the fact that their coach is toiling alongside of them as opposed to watching from the sidelines, so hopefully they will respect him more for that.

Perhaps a bit controversially, he’s banned headphones from practices and workouts (other than in long distance singular activities like terrain biking). I’m guessing he noticed the total communication breakdown amongst the players and staff last season, so he wants everyone to talk to each other more. On one hand, this is great news because the players really need to work on their team building skills, but I’ll be honest, I’m slightly worried about how Karim Benzema will take this new rule - that kid is always glued to his iPod.

Puel’s also been paying close attention to the youth, not just in Lyon’s CFA but also in the U16 and U18 teams. The kids who were lucky enough to get invited along make up nearly half the group at Tignes, and judging from the information on the website, they’re having a blast. Unlike Houllier and Perrin, who had little to no interest in academy players, Puel wants to work with them as much as possible. This doesn’t mean that Lyon will be more of a homegrown team, but these guys will at least be given a chance to fight for a spot on the senior team.

Suffering with his players.

Another thing I like about Puel is that even though he has more authority than any OL manager before him, it isn’t getting to his head. He could just as easily have disbanded Lyon’s technical staff (something that Le Guen, Houllier, and Perrin wanted to do) with his new powers, but instead he not only chose to keep them, he also promoted Sonny Anderson (who before had an unofficial role at the club) to his staff. One of Perrin’s biggest problems was that he didn’t get along with the technical staff, but it looks like Puel is taking all the right steps in earning their regard.

He’s also not going crazy with the transfers despite Aulas promising lots of funds. So far, he hasn’t requested any new players - in fact, he wants to trim down the squad. He said that he’ll only bring in a defender if Sebastien Squillaci leaves, and he actually wants to keep Sidney Govou.

His first official game as coach will be next Saturday when Lyon face off against Nimes in a friendly. It’ll be interesting to see who he names as captain (Juninho hasn’t done himself any favors by criticizing Puel’s appointment). And it’ll be even more interesting to see what happens when the internationals show up next Monday as well.

I’m going to keep my fingers crossed for Puel. He’s a keeper.

Pictures:

Welcome to the team, Miralem Pjanic!

OUT:

Gregory Coupet: Greg’s transfer to Atletico Madrid has been finalized. AM surely got one of the biggest bargains on the summer transfer market, having paid 1.5mill Euros + performance incentives(500,000 if Atletico makes it to the CL) for the veteran goalkeeper. The contract is said to be for 2 years with an extension option.

Sebastian Squillaci: Squillaci’s transfer to FC Seville continues to move along slowly. According to Spanish papers, the transfer should happen by next week at the latest. The deal is reported to be in the neighborhood of 6-7mill.

Anthony Reveillere: Apparently negotiations with Fiorentina have collapsed. The Italian club has brought in Gianlucca Comotto(Torino)and Juan Vargas(Catania),to fill their defensive needs. Obviously, we’ll have to wait and see what happens now with Reveillere, to see what Lyon does about the #2 RB spot. I’m hoping Rev stays and fills in the #2 RB and LB spots, but being that he’s disgruntled, that’s higly unlikely.

Cleber Anderson: According to Le Progress, Lyon is working out a loan deal with FC Sao Paulo. This will free up an EU spot and hopefully Anderson won’t find his way home after the spell is up.

Mathieu Bodmer: Claude Puel has emphatically slammed the door shut on PSG’s 8.5mill bid.

Mark Crosas: Crosas has publicly stated his desire to remain at Lyon permanently, but it seems that Crosas’ desire to stay at Stade Gerland will not be realized. Barca wanted to sell and Lyon did not want buy, preferring another loan spell, but Barca has decided to loan Crosas to Getafe CF instead.

Kim Kallstrom: I’ve struggled to find anything new on Kallstrom. The last news of his potential move to FC Seville was in the last week of June. However, with the signing of Le Mans star Kofi Ndric Romaric, it seems doubtful that Seville are still in the market for another left-sided central midfielder. I hope Kallstrom stays, especially after the departure of HBA and the gaping hole on the left side of the field. After a very young Miralem Pjanic, Kallstrom is the only left-footed offensive player on the roster.

Juninho: According to a British source, Daily Star on Sunday, Liverpool is interested in Juni’s services. Juninho came out a while ago and said that he would finish his career at Lyon, and when Puel came in, later made a counter-claim that he wouldn’t tolerate not being on the first team. Apparently Fred and Sidney Govou’s bipolar disorder is contagious. More probable is that Juhinho had a tacit understanding with Perrin that he would remain on the first team, despite next year’s overcrowded, higly talented and youthful midfield. Juni voiced his disapproval of Perrin’s sacking, saying that the club needed continuity.

Sidney Govou: PSG is said to have been in contact with Govou, according to Le Parisien. Lyon are said to be asking somewhere between 5-7mill.

In:

John Mensah: Apparently Mensah’s love affair with England wasn’t as strong as we were initially led to believe, and Lyon seem to be waiting on Squillaci’s transfer to Seville FC to be finalized in order to sign the Ghanaian CB. The price is supposedly around 8mill.

Other CB Possiblities:

Nicolas Burdisso: Burdisso is an Argentine CB playing for Inter Milan. He is a strong, versatile defender. Supposedly, he can play any position along the back line and after CB, is especially partial to RB. Burdisso can also score goals, with headers being his specialty. He’s won (3) caps for the Argentine NT. Burdisso is sought after by PSG, Villareal, and Fiorentina.

Thiago Silva: Silva is a big, physical, Brazilian central defender playing for Fluminense. The line of suitors is to long to list: Bayer Leverkusen, AC Milan, Porto, Valencia, Liverpool, and so on…

Nicolas Plestan: Plestan plays CB for Lille LOSC and is one of Puel’s former players. Supposedly, not to many of the staff, besides Puel, are excited about him.

Quincy Owusu-Abeyie: Former Arsenal man, currently plays for FC Spartak Moscow. With the departure of HBA, and possibly Kim Kallstrom, Abeyie is being looked at to fill the LW spot as well as back-up striker. His price tag is said to be around 4mill.

But I just can’t let this go. I can’t just delete the “Ben Arfa” category on the right and list him as “Former Lyonnais.” I can’t just shut the door on years of history, at least not without closure. So please bear with me (or ignore me entirely) as I try to come to terms with Lyon selling the most gifted French player of this generation to a hated rival.

I’m going to skip over the mundane details of his transfer and the stupid and pointless squabbling between Lyon and Marseille over some technicalities in Ben Arfa’s contract. You can read about that here and here.

Instead, I’m going to focus on why this transfer, as painful as it was, had to happen.

You guys know how much I love Ben Arfa. I’ve been saying since I started this blog that he’s one of the most talented players I’ve ever seen, and I’m not just talking about prospects. He was also my favorite OL player, surpassed only by Jeremy Toulalan and Juninho. So please understand that when I say this transfer was for the best, it’s not because I don’t like or want Ben Arfa at Lyon.

We have to look at this situation logically to see that there was a reason that had Lyon acting so aberrantly. Normally, they cling onto their best talent, either to propel the club’s ambitions or to sell them for big money.

We saw Lyon fight tooth and nail to keep Clement Grenier, who hasn’t accomplished anything besides a few good showings for the U16 team. We saw what Aulas did during the transfers of Eric Abidal, Michael Essien, and Mahamadou Diarra - we’re seeing it now with Sebastien Squillaci, Anthony Reveillere, and Gregory Coupet. Lyon almost always make it difficult for good players (and even the so-so ones) to leave. Ultimately, the players who want to move are forced into hysterics and end up boycotting training.

But Lyon didn’t do any of that with Ben Arfa, who is arguably the most talented player Lyon have ever sold besides Essien. In fact, Lyon put Ben Arfa on the shop window and practically begged clubs to take him away.

It was a bad breakup.

Why?

We don’t really know the answer to that. I’ve seen speculation that it’s because he doesn’t get along with Karim Benzema, so the club is sacrificing one to keep the other happy. Please. This isn’t a high school cheerleading squad. Personal problems between two players don’t prevent them from working together unless it involves someone’s wife and/or the threat of violence.

One of Ben Arfa’s problems was that nearly the entire squad was uneasy around him. All you have to do is watch the videos from the last few weeks of the season, and you’ll see what I mean. While everyone else was celebrating, you could tell that Ben Arfa didn’t have anyone to celebrate with.

My maternal area wants to protect Ben Arfa from all those meanies on the team, but this is Lyon, not the Sicilian mafia. As much as I want to believe that Ben Arfa is the wronged one, logically I know that he’s done something to lose the friendship and trust of his teammates.

We’ve also seen comments from Ben Arfa in the media this year where, during the period when he was benched for several consecutive games, he said that he didn’t think there was anything wrong with the way he played and that it was the very qualities that Perrin criticized which made him special.

Ben Arfa is right in the sense that yes, individualism isn’t necessarily a bad quality to have in a player, but he’s wrong when he says that he didn’t have room for improvement. And that’s why all of his coaches have been frustrated with him – his refusal to acknowledge his weaknesses.

Ben Arfa flies south to a new nest.

It’s easy to blame Alain Perrin, and part of it was his fault - he didn’t handle Ben Arfa with a lot of subtlety. But it’s not just Perrin who was unhappy with him. Paul Le Guen and Gerard Houllier also had problems managing Ben Arfa. Even the staff at OL - Remi Garde, Joel Bats, Sonny Anderson, Bruno Genesio, Robert Duverne, etc - people who have known Ben Arfa since he arrived from Clairefontaine, didn’t want him to stay. His teammates isolated him. Even Aulas and Lacombe were willing to see him leave.

So it’s not just one man who wanted him out. It’s not just because of one incident. Ben Arfa’s position at Lyon has been deteriorating for some time now.

The other troubling part of this transfer is the destination. I couldn’t believe that Aulas was not only willing to deal with Marseille, but he was also willing to sell them Ben Arfa at a discount price (final price was €12m up front plus another €1m if OM qualify for the CL next season, as well as 20% of future profits from his sale).

Marseille?!?! Crazy, right? After all, they have been asses themselves when it comes to selling players to Lyon. Remember the Franck Ribery incident, when Diouf swore that Aulas wouldn’t get a player from him over his dead body? How Marseille kept the Bolo Zenden signing on the dl because they were worried Lyon would steal him from under their noses? And how they threatened to report Lyon for sniffing around Samir Nasri last year?

Make no mistake, Aulas could have made more money selling Ben Arfa abroad. He also wouldn’t have reinforced a direct rival. But I guess he really was sincere in his wish to make French football stronger, and with Marseille about to lose Nasri to Arsenal, without Ben Arfa, they don’t have as much chance to challenge Lyon for the title.

I don’t blame Ben Arfa for leaving. He needed a fresh start, and Lyon needed to bring the team back together. However, I would have preferred to see him at any other French club, but with a player of his stature, only PSG and Marseille are attractive choices, except PSG couldn’t match the fee and aren’t in the Champions League next season.

For Marseille, they are getting a terrific player, and I think Ben Arfa will enjoy Marseille. With Nasri gone, he has the chance to be the star and won’t be overshadowed by Benzema.

I have my doubts about it though – Eric Gerets isn’t known for working with youth, and Ben Arfa needs a lot of guidance. But perhaps he’ll surprise all of us and prove me wrong.

I will miss him. But at least he’s still in Ligue 1, where I can keep tabs on him and watch him often. If he moved to another country, he’d totally drop from my radar since I don’t really watch other leagues.

Good luck, Hatem!

First, Alain Perrin accused JMA of making him a scapegoat for any and all of the club’s potential shortcomings. Perrin went on to say of Aulas:

“I soon understood with him [Aulas] in his announcements, that I would always be held responsible for everything that went wrong. The president often tells his stories in his way. When you want to kill your dog, you say that it has a bad temperment.”

But Perrin seemed more miffed at his treatment by certain members of the technical staff than that of Aulas. A.P. divulged his relationship with two of Lyon’s coaching staff who seemed not to approve of his hiring: Goal keeper coach Joel Bats and Fitness coach Robert Duverne. Perrin claimed a certain hostility from the pair since the beginning, and that they played the largest role in bringing his tenure at Lyon to an abrupt end. A.P. went on to say about the pair:
“After about two weeks, I soon understood that the pair of them were systematically in opposition. There was always an underlying but permanent, aggressive way about them. They were trying to turn the players and Bernard Lacombe against me. But he [Lacombe] was always fine with me. One of my few supporters.”

“You had to act like they [Bats and Duverne] wanted you to , or they would start to moan. With those two there , I often felt like a beginner in the job.”

Perrin went on at length, describing what he felt towards the two trainers. He conveyed his belief for the reason behind the pair’s hostility towards him: “They would have liked someone to have taken over after Gerard [Houllier], someone like Remi Garde(Lyon’s Assistant Coach).”

Perrin also claimed that Bats and Duverne’s disapproval of him was manifested outwardly: “Duverne and Bats polluted the atmosphere. I always spoke directly to the players because I knew that they [Bats and Duverne] were talking about me behind my back.”

A.P. finished the interview by talking about his accomplishments at the club and his personal feelings as a result of the treatment he received by some at Lyon:
“We won plenty of titles, we had a magnificent season, but I leave with great frustration over the way the club is run. I haven’t enjoyed myself and , on a personal level, it’s without a doubt the most unpleasant season I’ve experienced. It seems paradoxical when you think about what we won, but I feel I’ve spent the year gagged and bound like I’ve not been able to express myself in my job.”

Even though I don’t think that Perrin was the coach to lead Lyon to CL glory, I was very harsh in my judgement of him. I didn’t see many Lyon games this year, but I’ve heard he made some tactical blunders in a few matches. That aside, he took an injury-riddled Lyon club, with two of it’s best players, as well as most experienced veteran defenders(Cris and Coupet) out of the line-up, to the knock-out stage of CL, and drew one and lost one against the eventual CL champions. In the league,after a bad start, he kept Lyon in first place from week 11 on, albiet by very narrow margins, and eventually won the league, fighting off a very good and hungry Bordeaux team. He also kept the team focused and ended their Coupe de France curse. My only real complaint was the benching of Ben Arfa, but I began to realize that it was probably a necessary thing even if it meant HBA leaving. I would have liked to see Perrin get a full season with a healthy squad. Maybe things would have been different.

The new kits are: Home-White; Away-Blue; and CL-Yellow. I’m personally sad to see the Gold away kit go. I hated it at the beginning of last season, but it became an acquired taste. I grew to love it combined with the red shorts. Also, this year’s white Home kit is just a stripped-down version of last year’s. I miss the blue background on the “NOVOTEL” in the chest, and the red trim in flank areas, collar and sleeves. It looks less bold to me. The knew Away kit is corn blue. I would have preferred a darker shade. The CL kit is absolutely hideous. How they came to change our beloved black CL kit, with the florescent yellow version is beyond me. It looks like someone just grabbed a florescent yellow marker and colored the white Home kit; no creativity what-so-ever. As much as I don’t like Chelsea’s Away kits, they look a lot better to me now,with all the black trim. Take a look: http://www.umbro.fr/maillots-ol.php