He did say that Yannis Tafer and Jean II Makoun for starters for sure. Porto will be tougher to play against than Beşiktaş, so I expect Puel to line up a slightly more competitive team. This game will be especially important for Aly Cissokho (and Lopez, but he’s not playing) because he was a Porto player a week ago. Let’s hope he’ll be eager to show off and prove that he made the right decision coming to OL.

Given that Lyon drew with Beşiktaş, the need to win against Porto in order to win the group. If they draw or lose today, and there is a winner in the Porto-Beşiktaş game, then Lyon will also fail to progress. If the Porto-Beşiktaş match ends in a scoreless or 1-1 draw, then Lyon could still get by if they draw a 2-2. Or something. I hate coming up with these scenarios. Let’s just say that Lyon need to win.

The game will be starting 4:30 PM Eastern US time and 22:30 Central European time. This game will be broadcast on GolTV. As always, please post match links in the comments section below.

Tomorrow, Lyon will be taking on Beşiktaş in the opening match for Group D. It’s been a long time since they’ve faced Turkish opponents, and Beşiktaş – winners of a domestic double last season – are hardly anything to scoff at. Both teams will be taking this friendly a bit more seriously than most of the other clubs in the tournament for the simple reason that their respective seasons begin sooner, so they don’t have much time to mess around before getting into tiptop order.

Let’s bring that trophy home again!

July 25, 2009
Stade Nuevo Colombino, Huelva, Spain
2:30 ET (20:30 CET, 19:30 GMT)

Beşiktaş, like OL, have been quite active in the summer transfer market and have been the biggest spenders in Turkey so far (though it’s pocket change compared to Lyon). I’m not going to lie and claim to know much about Beşiktaş, as I’ve only ever seen them play once, and that was a while ago in the Champions League, though they do have some very good players who could wreak a great deal of havoc if Lyon aren’t careful.

One name that is sure to ring a bell is Matteo Ferrari, who recently transferred to Beşiktaş from Genoa. For those of you who can’t remember, Ferrari was on the pitch the night that Lyon lost to Roma two years ago. Another name that might sound familiar is Matias Delgado (no relation to ours), who is something of a freekick expert.

Like Lyon, Beşiktaş have certain key players injured or in light training, so they also have to deal with a trimmed squad. Still, they’ll be more challenging opponents than what we’ve faced so far, and we need the practice in order to get ready for the upcoming Champions League qualifiers (how humiliating…).

On our side of things, I have to once again curse the OL website for being so sparse with details. No word on the squad selection for tomorrow’s game, though I’m cheered to see several of the kids included for the trip. Besides Yannis Tafer and Clement Grenier, Yoann Court and Maxime Gonalans have also been invited along.

Le groupe lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre – Bodmer, Boumsong, Cissokho, Clerc, Cris, Grosso, Mensah, Réveillère – Bastos, Court, Delgado, Ederson, Grenier, Gonalons, Källström, Mounier, Pjanic, Makoun, Toulalan – Govou, Lisandro, Piquionne, Tafer

It seems likely that both Lisandro Lopez and Cesar Delgado will be sitting this game out. They both picked up slight knocks in training, so I guess Puel wants to keep our Argentine duo cossetted as much as possible. On the other hand, I am absolutely amazed that John Mensah is fit enough to play. When was the last time that happened?

To cap off this post, I guess I should write out what formation I expect tomorrow. Problem is, I have no idea what to expect. The friendlies against Lille and Lens aren’t really informative because in those games, it was more Puel giving everyone a change to place (hence the 100% player turnover) rather than figuring out tactics. But I’ll try anyway.

Vercoutre
Clerc – Bodmer – Mensah – Cissokho
Makoun
Mounier – Pjanic – Bastos
Piquionne

So I totally made that up. But my reasoning is sound. Mostly. The reason I have so many “second” choice players is that Lyon have a game against Porto barely two days after this one, and that match should be a lot harder. So I can see Puel wanting to rest as many key players as he can without sacrificing too much quality.

Then again, I’ve seen Puel use Lyon’s best starting eleven barely three days after a grueling Champions League encounter against Bayern, so what do I know?

And that’s all I have regarding the match. I did however find some mildly amusing photos of Lyon’s arrival in Spain, so enjoy!

For some reason, I enjoyed this picture far more than I should.

Sonny Anderson was greeted very warmly in Spain.

On the other hand, I’m totally confused as to why Sidney Govou of all people would get flowers.

Govou again, this time signing autographs. It just boggles my mind.

At least the other players are getting some attention.

AWKWARD team picture.

This time, the tournament is taking place in Spain, and the list of invited teams are a lot more impressive. Many players are calling it Champions League practice because half the teams are European regulars while some of the others are impressive in their own right.

Kim Kallstrom won the Golden Shoe in 2007, and Karim Benzema was the tournament’s MVP.

Unlike the last two season, where there were two groups of four teams each, this summer there are four groups of three. The winner from each group will go on to the semifinals, and the winners from those two games will play in the final. Each group winner will earn €500,000, the finalist will get €1m, and the winner will win €2m. Not bad for a summer friendly.

Lyon are going to have it a lot tougher this time around because they are in a group with Porto and Beşiktaş. Should Lyon top their group, they may face Real Madrid, Sevilla, Juventus, Aston Villa, and LDU Quito. But before we can worry about that, Lyon need to take care of their group first.

Group D
7/25/09 – Lyon vs. Beşiktaş – 2:30 PM ET, 20:30 CET
7/27/09 – Lyon vs. Porto – 4:30 PM ET, 22:30 CET
7/29/09 – Beşiktaş vs. Porto – 4:30 PM ET, 22:30 CET

Semi-Finals
7/31/09 – 1st Group A vs. 1st Group B – 2:30 PM ET, 20:30 CET
7/31/09 – 1st Group C vs. 1st Group D – 4:30 PM ET, 22:30 CET

Third Place
8/2/09 – Loser Semi-Final 1 vs. Loser Semi-Final 2 – 2:30 PM ET, 20:30 CET

Final
8/2/09 – Winner Semi-Final 1 – Winner Semi-Final 2 – 4:30 PM ET, 22:30 CET

While all the players are excited to play in such an exciting tournament, it will be especially interesting for Karim Benzema (who was the 2007 MVP when Lyon won it the last time), who is now with Real Madrid, and for Lisandro Lopez and Aly Cissokho, who will be confronting Porto (the team they just left) in a few days.

Though Puel hasn’t said much about what formations he has in mind, he did say that Cesar Delgado and Lisandro Lopez would probably not feature against Beşiktaş due to slight injuries they picked up in practice. It’s nothing serious, but the staff want to play it safe and give them enough time to heal. Otherwise, all players are healthy and raring to go.

Le Groupe Lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre – Bodmer, Boumsong, Cissokho, Clerc, Cris, Grosso, Mensah, Réveillère – Bastos, Court, Delgado, Ederson, Grenier, Gonalons, Källström, Mounier, Pjanic, Makoun, Toulalan – Govou, Lisandro, Piquionne, Tafer

It’s probably to early to see Puel assemble a dream team, as the purpose of friendlies – even high profile ones – is to experiment. From the last three Peace Cup campaigns, we’ve seen a lot of the younger players show what they can do. Last time, it was Loic Remy, Anthony Mounier, Karim Benzema, and Hatem Ben Arfa who stole the spotlight from the older players.

Tomorrow, I’ll be putting up a preview for Lyon vs. Beşiktaş, and we’ll know more about the condition of the players.

Today, OL are in Rhône-Alpes to take on RC Lens. Lens is gearing-up for a return to first division football after last year’s soujourn in L2 purgatory.

Last week was the first action of the summer against Nice, in which Ederson had a fine first half, playing in the hole, were we finally got to see him play in position. And he seemed to flourish in the role, scoring in the 9th minute and missing another left- footed shot at the 28th. Our new hitman Lisandro Lopez, won’t make see any action, but our new, sizzling winger Michel Bastos is in the squad, so that should be fun too watch.

By the way, don’t forget, the entire summer schedule is here in this prior post.

Le Groupe: Keepers: Lloris, Vercoutre; Defenders: Bodmer, Boumsong, Clerc, Cris, Kolodzieczak, Réveillère, Seguin; Midfield: Ederson, Källström, Pjanic, Makoun,Toulalan; Forwards : Bastos, Govou, Mounier, Piquionne, Tafer

Out: Lopez, Delgado, Mensah, Grosso.

Please post any links ASAP.

P.S. My Friend Javier is now running the Lens blog, so make sure to stop by and welcome Les Sang et Or back to L1 and check-out the site often.

Summer is here and Lyon’s preseason is about to get underway very shortly. Aside from a pair of interesting L1 friendles(vs. Lens and Nice), this year’s Peace Cup- which Lyon will be defending as champions- will be very interesting, with several of the top clubs in Europe, entering the fray. Surely OL will have an uphill battle trying to repeat as champions this year, with teams like Aston Villa, Real Madrid, Sevilla, FC Porto, Juventus and others joining the tournament. BTW, Porto is in our intial group, so that should make the signing/non-signing of Lisandro Lopez all the more interesting.

Summer Schedule:
The squad will be back at Tola Vologe on June 29th. Then, they will head-up to Tignes, where they will train from July 2-11, the final day seeing the friendly vs. Nice.

- 11 July. Vs. Nice @ Albertville.
-18 July. Vs. RC Lens @Stade De L’Escale d’Arnas, Arnas

July 24- August 2, OL will be in Andalusia, Spain, defending their Peace Cup title.

- Sat 25 July, 20:30 CET. Vs. Besitkas.
-Monday 27 July, 22:30 CET Vs. FC Porto.

Today, Lyon are up in Evian to play an amicable match against one of our cross-town rivals, Grenoble. Judging by the group list and current state of crisis at OL, Puel is taking nothing lightly: not a single CFA player was called-up, and every first-team player except Santos- suspended for ten days, and probably never to set foot on OL premeses again- has made the trip. We are 100% fit for the first time since…since I can’t remember when.

Le groupe lyonnais : Lloris, Vercoutre, Hartock – Mensah, Cris, Boumsong, Réveillère, Clerc, Grosso – Makoun, Toulalan, Bodmer, Källström, Juninho – Govou, Delgado, Keita, Ederson, Pjanic, Mounier – Piquionne, Benzema.

If by chance there happens to be a stream or live blog for this, please post them here. Or if anyone hears any news of the match, please post that as well.

This match is being held in Belgrade, Serbia. Start time is 20:00 CET, 2 PM Eastern Time. And yes, there are streaming links. Well, only two, but that’s better than nothing, right?

Keep refreshing for updates. It’s just a friendly, so I’m not going to be super intense here.

PARTIZAN 1 – 3 LYON

It might not have been the most interesting of matches, but it was still fun to watch, if only to see the new system and the new players adjust. But it’s still obvious that the players aren’t anywhere close to peak form. I saw a lot of laziness as well as a refusal to follow through on some balls. I’m sure Puel will take care of that. Pjanic, Delgado, Toulalan, and Lloris can walk away confident that they had a good game. The others need more conditioning. Benzema looked good but is still in vacation mode as well.

Also, Toulalan did get a yellow card in this game. The only one. He’s so predictable.

93:00: Game over.

92:00: Partizan doing their best to get one more goal in.

89:50: Clerc’s backheel goes directly to a Partizan keeper. Please don’t do fancy tricks within in your own penalty area. Thanks.

88:30: Grenier headed in a beautiful ball, but the Partizan keeper got a hand to it, barely.

88:00: Last substitution. Delgado out, Valdivia in.

84:00: Clerc has a pretty shot on goal, but it’s saved.

83:00: Another thing about the kids is because they are used to playing with each other, there is less hesitation between them.

82:00: Tafer scores, but it’s ruled offside. Barely.

80:00: Things are looking more disorganized for Lyon, but the younger players are making up for it in terms of intensity.

77:00: More substitutions. Pjanic out, Tafer in. Makoun out, Mehamha in. Toulalan out, Beynie in.

75:00: I hope you guys now understand why I was so insistent on Lloris coming to Lyon. He’s fearless.

73:00: Grenier is offside. Ten seconds later, he was in a great position but lost his composure.

71:00: I’m liking Delgado a lot. He’s less like Malouda and Govou in that he won’t directly engage players, and more like Ben Arfa in that he prefers to avoid them by either tricking or running past them.

68:00: Substitutions. Grenier in, Benzema out. Pied in, Govou out.

64:00: GOALLL. Benzema scores thanks to Pjanic.

63:00: Every other player looks like they just came back from vacation, but Toulalan is perfect as usual.

57:00: Lyon are giving the ball away a lot. Partizan players are able to slip through despite both Toulalan and Makoun being on the pitch.

51:00: WTF was that, Cris? He tried to clear it but instead put the ball back into the box at the feet of a Partizan player, who took a shot (which Lloris saved).

50:00: Things are slow at the moment. You can tell that the players are treating this game as exactly what it is: a friendly. I miss the intensity of competitive games.

46:00: No changes to the lineup.

HALFTIME: Lyon might be in the lead, but this game is far from over. Partizan were initially a little star struck, but as the game got on, they’ve been growing more in confidence, especially with all those supporters behind them, who went crazy at the Partizan goal. We’ll see what Puel whips up in the second half.

For me, the best players in this half were Lloris and Pjanic, and perhaps Toulalan as well. Lloris has been making tons of saves, it’s just too bad that he always ends up conceding (his tally is three in both games he’s played so far). Pjanic is playing with a maturity way beyond his years. He’s creating and taking his chances and not at all suffering from the typical new kid caution. Toulalan is doing most of the sweeping in midfield. I’m not sure what Makoun has been doing besides fouling Partizan players though.

42:00: Some nice build up play from Lyon, with a clever nutmeg from Govou. His shot is deflected out by a defender, so Lyon get a corner, but nothing happens from it.

39:00: Partizan get a free kick in Lyon’s half. It goes in the box, and another Partizan player heads it just barely over the crossbar.

38:00: Partizan score their first goal, thanks to some confusion at the back. Lloris couldn’t do much.

32:00: Makoun is fouling people a little too enthusiastically.

30:00: The match has a nice pace to it now, though you can definitely tell that the players are still somewhat unfamiliar with not only each other but the lineup. But I’m pleased at the complicity between Pjanic and Benzema.

25:00: My computer went all funky on me, and I had to restart. By the time I got back to the game, Lyon had scored TWO goals. The first one, at 16:00, was almost entirely due to Benzema, who faked the defender and keeper. His shot was deflected in by a Partizan player, so technically it’s an own goal. The second goal, at 22:00, was from a Clerc cross, which Govou shot past the keeper.

12:00: Makoun concedes a free kick in a dangerous area. Lloris sets up his first ever Lyon wall. The Partizan player’s free kick is just a bit too high.

10:30: Govou’s shot goes nowhere, as usual.

10:00: Are Lyon purposely trying to lose possession?

7:30: Pjanic took the worst corner kick ever. Benzema then has a shot on goal, but it was too high.

5:30: Partizan had a shot on goal, but Lloris saved it. I’m a little troubled by how the Partizan attacker got through. Toulalan I see hasn’t lost his touch. I have a feeling he’ll be carded in this match.

3:00: Not much is happening. Mostly the ball is going from one end to another. Pjanic is pretty involved though, which is nice to see.

Kickoff: It’s so good to have Toule and Benzema back. That is all.

Pre-match: Is it bad that I recognize the voices of the OLTV commentators? Also, I’m hearing “We are the Champions” in the background. Excellent. Player handshakes. Lyon are in their white kits. Cris is captain. And Lloris looks good in a Lyon kit.

Pre-match: Partizan’s trophy presentation is going on right now. They’re having a lot of fun, streamers and balloons everywhere.

Here is the lineup:

Lloris
Clerc – Cris – Boumsong – Grosso
Toulalan – Makoun
Pjanic
Govou – Benzema – Delgado

Bench: Hartock, Seguin, Faure, Gassama, Valdivia, Mehamha, Grenier, Beynié, Tafer, Pied

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:

But not Lyon. Claude Puel has decided to scrap summer friendlies for the club so that he can spend more time getting to know his squad while also focusing on fitness and training. With so many OL players on vacation until July 15th, Puel doesn’t want his players traveling around in the pre-season unless they absolutely have to. It’s why he canceled Lyon’s US tour (thereby ruining my chances of seeing them this summer).

As of now, the LFP lists only two friendlies for Lyon: against Dinamo Bucarest and Nimes Olympique while there also are rumors that Lyon will play against FK Partizan on July 23rd. Except the date for the Bucarest friendly hasn’t been decided yet (which means it probably won’t happen), the game against Nimes will probably be canceled, and the Belgrade friendly hasn’t been mentioned by anyone except the Serbian press, so…

…I’m not sure if these friendlies will really happen because Lyon themselves haven’t confirmed any of these matches. Unlike all other clubs, Lyon suck at posting this sort of information on their website and haven’t even mentioned anything about their summer schedule. I had to verify the date of Lyon’s first day of training on PSG’s website, which is pretty damn sad (pean8ts thoughtfully provided the LFP’s link to L1’s summer reprise). Still, we’ll do our best to keep you guys updated on our end.

I’ll be going home for the next week or so, but John will be around to make sure you get enough Lyon dosage. I was going to leave you with a post about Ben Arfa’s departure, but since he hasn’t left yet, I’ll hold off until he really does.