Goals: Lyon (Pjanic 3, Govou 14, Lisandro 80, Lisandro pen 83, Bastos 90); Marseille (Diawara 11, Cheyrou 43, Kone 47, Brandao 79, Toulalan og 92)
Sanctions: Lyon (Makoun 20, Cris 54, Lisandro 86); Marseille (Niang 74, Diawara 87)

No words can adequately describe what will for sure end up being the match of the year. Both OL and OM will rue giving away stupid goals (Gabriel Heinze gave away a penalty while Jeremy Toulalan scored an own goal). If you want to read a really good recap, you can read the official version from the LFP. But I really recommend you download the match itself and watch it from start to finish (not a single boring moment, I promise you that!). For download links, see the last comment on this post. To tide you over until then, there are some extended highlights after the jump (I was also going to post photos, but the OL website has a great selection of them, so head over there and check it out).

P.S.: Toulalan must be so traumatized. After all his desperation to score a goal, when he finally does, it’s an own goal in stoppage time that snatches a much needed victory from Lyon. But that’s okay because I – and I’m sure the rest of you do too – love him anyway. *squishes Jeremy*

The entire match condensed into a single photo.

Ugh. Not only did Lyon lose to Nice for the first time since 1995, but they also conceded four goals in the league for the first time in four years. I suppose L’Equipe has it right in calling Lyon a team with two faces. One day, they’re world beaters, and the next, they’re a scuffed doormat.

Okay, maybe that’s just me being my typically overly dramatic self. Still, it’s not easy to watch your beloved team concede four goals to a club barely hanging on in the relegation zone, especially when two of those goals were blatantly given away for free by Lyon. Not that I’m detracting anything from Nice – they did their homework, knew what to expect from a team tired from the Champions League, and pushed exactly the right buttons (actually, they didn’t have to do much pushing – Lyon were happy to help). Plus, unlike a few seasons ago, when other L1 teams would piss their pants before facing OL, nowadays the fashion is for small clubs to claim Lyon’s scalp, which seems to occur on a semi-regular basis. Teams like Nice will struggle against other smaller teams but play the match of the season against us.

Oh, the unfairness of it all.

/well, not really. Aren’t I always saying how L1 is stronger than it looks from outside? So I ought not complain when I’m proven right.

Remy, thou hast slayed me.

In terms of a match review…not much to review except the general hilarity of it all. I mean, you know it’s just not a good day when L’Equipe’s average rating of our players is a 3.4 out of 10. In the comments of John’s match thread, some of us were discussing why some fans don’t like Remy Vercoutre. Well, let’s just say that he hasn’t won himself any points. Also, I think this was the first match that Aly Cissokho disappointed in, at least to this degree. Man, he was getting ripped to shreds. In fact, I’d say he was getting the same treatment that Sidney Govou gave to Emiliano Inshua against Liverpool. Totally brutal. We might even need an “R” rating.

The other OL players were pretty transparent. They might have had one or two good moves in them, but they were too busy catching their breath to play much football. Substitutes Cesar Delgado and Ederson combined to score the lone OL goal. In fact, the only good Lyon players were the ex-Lyon players. Loic Remy, Anthony Mounier, and David Hellebuyck (remember him?) all had amazing games. I would weep at that, but I used up all my tears on Vercoutre.

But in all honesty, to echo my imaginary boyfriend, it’s not the end of the world. Lyon are still very much in the title race, albeit in 3rd place (possibly 4th after tomorrow). And as agonizing as today’s game was, no one out there is taking it as a reflection of our squad’s quality. No team can be great 100% of the time, and Lyon are just as prone to off days as any one else. Plus, ask anyone, and they’d gladly admit that they’d prefer to lose the six points surrounding the Liverpool match rather than the Liverpool match itself. I’m sure by next week, after the players have gotten some much needed rest, healing, and impromptu video game tournaments, they’ll be back to their usual kick ass selves.

Proof that life is possible outside of Lyon.

However, I do have one concern. Puel has to find a way to more effectively manage squad rotation. I’ve noticed that he’s done this before – he likes to use the same starting XI from a midweek European match in the game the following weekend. I know that works some of the time, especially when the players have built up winning momentum, but sometimes that tactic backfires. Today, all players looked dried up. They had no juice left. Not even a drop. Granted, right now there are a lot of injuries to contend with, but he could have started Cesar Delgado, Michel Bastos, or even Francois Clerc. Even Ederson would have been a good option. It’s not like these guys are from the CFA squad – they all have tons of experience.

Last season, Lyon dropped 25 points in the matches that immediately preceded or followed a Champions League game. And while I’d sacrifice the league title for significant progress in the CL, if Lyon aren’t careful, they might end up in another shit streak and start dropping points left and right in these kind of games. So this is something for Puel to be wary of.

Video Highlights:

Pure Joy.

People might say, “Oh but Liverpool didn’t have their two star players,” but then Lyon didn’t have any central defenders. So I’d call that an even handicap. Liverpool are one of the biggest teams in the world, so I don’t buy their weak bench as an excuse when theoretically, ours ought to be weaker than theirs (though that is arguably not the case). At any rate, what it boiled down to was this: Lyon played for the full 93 minutes, and Liverpool didn’t.

The match itself was fairly even. I don’t think one side outplayed the other, as both Liverpool and Lyon went through phases of domination. There could have been a lot more goals for the two teams, but both goalkeepers were on top of things. Both squads also lost an important player to injury in the first half – Steven Gerrard and Cris. For those of you who don’t know, Cris decided to tackle Dirk Kuyt’s knee with his head and had to be taken out because they feared he had had a concussion.

Puel replaced Cris with youth player Maxime Gonalons. With Jeremy Toulalan already playing as a CB, Gonalons, a DM by trade, was forced into playing a strange position for his CL debut. But he responded well to the pressure and scored the first goal.

I might not have agreed with Puel’s starting XI (Ederson, really?), but his choice of subs was inspired. Bafetimbi Gomis might not have scored, but he and Lisandro wore down a tired Liverpool defense and made Cesar Delgado’s last gasp goal possible.

WTF were you thinking, Cris?

Other positives: Hugo Lloris was awesome! I’ll be remembering that save from Fabio Aurelio’s header for a long time. Sidney Govou had Emiliano Insúa in his back pocket for the entire match, and it was his cross that led to Delgado’s goal. Kim Kallstrom once again put in a steady performance, as did Toulalan and Lisandro. The fullbacks were decent though I’ve definitely seen them do better. Jean II Makoun looked a bit lost at times, and did Ederson.

But the biggest shout out has to go to the fans who traveled all the way to England. It was amazing to hear their chants drown out those of the Liverpool supporters, especially those after the first OL goal. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought that the game was taking place at the Stade de Gerland!

All in all, it was a solid game and a fully deserved victory. Right now, Lyon top their group with nine points out of a possible nine. There are still three games remaining, two of which are at home. Lyon have 90% qualified for the knockout rounds and are favorites to top their group.

Some highlights:

The biggest news is the medical update on Bafetimbi Gomis. Two days ago at Guingamp, Gomis collapsed during practice with the France squad. He was out for a minute or two but revived enough to walk out of the field. He apparently felt fine afterward, and though the team doctor insisted he stay off his feet for the rest of the day – and though his fellow players were scared shitless – he’s been cleared to go back to full training today.

Gomis periodically suffers from Vasogoval episodes, which is a malaise of the vagus nerve. Certain situations can trigger attacks, which is stress, in Gomis’s case. Jean-Michel Aulas raised the red flag stating how alarmed he is over Gomis’s health – this is his third attack since joining Lyon – but Emmanuel Ohrant, OL’s club doctor, says that Gomis is just fine. His health is carefully monitored, and he does not have any heart problems, which is the number one worry in these situations. He undergoes frequent medical checkups, and so far, the club is satisfied with the state of his health. Ohrant even points out that not only were Lyon aware of this issue before they signed Gomis, but that St. Etienne knew about it before they offered him a pro contract, so it is clearly not that much cause for concern.

All the same, it’s still scary to think about, especially when footballer deaths seem to be occurring on an almost yearly basis. While I do trust both OL and Le Bleus when they say that Gomis is fine, it’ll take a long time before this picture is wiped from my memory.

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Here is a quick run down of all the international action involving OL players.

France (vs. Faroe Islands – 10/10/09, vs. Austia – 10/14/09): Jeremy Toulalan, Hugo Lloris, Sidney Govou, Bafetimbi Gomis.

France U21 (vs. Netherlands – 10/09/09, vs. Belgium(h) – 10/12/09, vs. Belgium (a) – 10/14/09): Clement Grenier, Yannis Tafer, Thimothée Kolodziecziak, Alexandre Lacazette

Cameroon (vs. Togo – 10/10/09, vs. Angola – 10/14/09): Jean II Makoun

Sweden (vs. Denmark – 10/10/09, vs. Albania – 10/14/09): Kim Kallstrom

Bosnia (vs. Estonia – 10/10/09, vs. Spain – 10/14/09): Miralem Pjanic

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On to the good news. OL Féminines, who are participating in Europe for the third year in a row, defeated Serbian club Masinac to reach the Round of 16 in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. The ladies defeated Masinac 1-0 at home and then beat them 5-0 away (check out this link on the main webpage for lots of pictures). They’ll be facing Danish side Fortuna Hjørring in the next round. For those of you who keep track of women’s football, UEFA overhauled this tournament, renaming it from the previous moniker, the Women’s Cup, and also changing around the format so that it was closer to the men’s format.

I’m also pleased to report that Aulas continues to take OL Féminines seriously – not only is he still continuing to let them use the Stade de Gerland for their European and major domestic matches, but he’s continuing his policy of aggressive recruiting and extensive financial support. Many of the women are now on pro-contract, and he’s trying to lure in more players from abroad. The latest target is Kolbotn’s goalkeeper and Norweigian international Christine Colombo Nilsen, who is being considered to replace Sarah Bouhaddi, France’s #1 gk. Bouhaddi herself was brought on this past summer (ironically to replace Bente Nordby, Norway’s previous #1), but due to an injury she picked up, she’ll be out for six months.

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The FFF had a great article on its website about the long standing friendship between Yannis Tafer and Clement Grenier, two of the youth players Puel is integrating into the senior squad. The article provides a nice look into their experiences and insights of growing up together in Lyon’s training center. Reading it, I got the feeling that these two are being groomed as the next Karim Benzema/Hatem Ben Arfa duo, which would be great on one hand, but on the other hand (all that ~dramah~), maybe it’d be better to let the boys grow up without the shadows of their currently troubled predecessors looming over them.

*Bonus question: Who is the next Samir Nasri to complete the latest golden trio?

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And since we’re on the subject of young prodigies, I’m sure you’ve all heard by now of Karim Benzema’s now famous interview in which he admitted to not trying very hard for both France and Lyon. He also blamed Claude Puel as the reason for his leaving (yeah right). Raymond Domenech is pissed while Jean-mimi is patting himself on the back for getting rid of Benzema before his megalomania began taking serious effect – and for 35 million euros, no less.

I’m rather sad about Benzema’s words because until last season, he was such a hard working and humble kid. He loved OL, and we loved him. But the press and stardom got to him, and pretty soon he was thinking that he was bigger than the club. Regardless of that, I was still upset to see him leave this past summer, but it looks like Lyon’s strategy of cutting loose players has once again worked out. Because for all of Benzema’s talents, his attitude would have further poisoned the atmosphere among the players, and no amount of goals would make that worthwhile (plus, it’s not like Benzema was all that great last season anyway). It was time for him to leave and time for OL to lose their dependence on him.

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Hugo Lloris has been voted September’s Player of the Month by the L’Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels (UNFP). Lloris beat out team mate Bafetimbi Gomis and Bordeaux’s Alou Diarra. I don’t think there’s anyone out there who can say that Lloris doesn’t deserve it – he’s been the best player in L1 this past month, and his performances in the Champions League have been equally impressive. Despite picking up a harsh red card against Serbia during France’s WC qualifiers this past month, he still remains an integral part of Domenech’s plans, and most expect him to continue being the first gk choice over Steve Mandanda.

Buttttttttt…

I happened to watch Lloris’s latest interview on the FFF website, and wow, that was cringe-worthy. Somehow, he’s managed to pick up Jeremy Toulalan’s bad camera habits. The poor boy can’t stop touching his face (nor can he look into the camera) during his less than three minute interview. The entire time I was watching it, I was having nightmare flashbacks to this video. You all know how much I adore both Lloris and Toulalan, but really, someone needs to tie their hands down and keep their eyes up any time they give an interview.

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Lyon’s new stadium, which still hasn’t left the drawing board yet, has been officially selected by France’s Euro 2016 committee as one of the 12 sites for the games. While France hasn’t officially been named as hosts, their competitors are Sweden/Norway, Turkey, and Italy. The first two have never hosted the Euros while Italy’s financial situation is rather dire at the moment, which makes France the favorites.

Aulas is hoping to get the final plans approved, though the stadium being selected as part of the tournament will no doubt speed the process along. The costs have jumped up another one hundred million, raising the estimated costs to 350 million euros. In addition, Aulas is working with the city to address the issue of accessibility to the new stadium site, which is the biggest concern among those opposed to the project.

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And to cap off this massive post, here are the latest transfer fallacies blurbs.

*Inter Milan is keeping tabs on Jeremy Toulalan and may make a move for him either this January or the next summer. They need to replace their aging DMs, and France has proved to be the best source of those. While I’m tempted to brush this off, I worry over how long we’ll be able to keep Toulalan, who said that he has no plans to leave any time soon and definitely not until after the World Cup. Personally, he’s one of the players I want to keep at OL for life, and so hopefully Aulas will do whatever it takes to keep Toulalan at Lyon.

*At least Ederson has denied that he’s tempted by the cow eyes that Inter has also been making at him, though unlike Toulalan, I don’t anticipate Ederson to stay at OL for more than another two years or so. For now, Ederson is happy at OL (though he is chafing at losing his starting place), but Inter have been following him for over a season, and Jose Mourinho is no stranger when it comes to buying expensive players from OL.

*Manchester City’s interest in Miralem Pjanic gave me a good laugh. If Pjanic leaves, it won’t be for a while and not for Manchester City. And DEFINITELY not for 5 million pounds.

*Marouane Chamakh has finally put an end to rumors of a potential move to Lyon. In all honesty, this hasn’t been a serious option for the past few years, but Aulas really likes him and has wanted him at OL for a long time. But Chamakh says that while a transfer to OL was enticing a a few seasons back, he can’t imagine playing for another French club anymore, so when he does leave Bordeaux, it’ll be for a club abroad.

*While this isn’t exactly a transfer rumor, Mathieu Bodmer said recently that he doesn’t regret changing positions from midfield to central defense. It’s a fairly lengthy interview full of details, but the salient points are that he gets more playing time as a CB and that his bust up with Puel (which occurred before he left Lille, a full year before Puel followed him to Lyon) is old history, and that the two have a completely professional relationship. Which basically means that Puel is on the bottom of his Christmas card list. But at least Bodmer isn’t trying to move to another club, which is often the case when players are forced to play in positions they don’t really like.

THE GOOD:

Definitely the man of the match…on both sides.

Hugo Lloris.

He’s definitely shaken off the jitters that afflicted him in the Fiorentina match. Confident and not afraid to take risks, he was the main reason that Lyon walked away with any points at all. In particular, he made two really good saves – the first from a powerful shot by Phillip Lahm and the second from a Luca Toni torpedo. Beyond that, he was the only calm person in the Lyon defense. He’s really good in the air and isn’t afraid of getting body checked by six foot tall Germans. Fortunately for him, Raymond Domenech was in the audience, so who knows, maybe we’ll see him in blue one of these days.

Jeremy Toulalan is back to being Mr. Fantastic.

When I first watched the game, I didn’t think he was doing that well, but having skimmed through the match again, I guess I was so focused on the other players that I didn’t notice what a good job he was doing in midfield. For the most part, he kept Franck Ribery on a tight muzzle and gave Miroslav Klose a really hard time. Bayern’s midfield couldn’t really get it together with the disruptions he and Jean II Makoun were causing, which forced Bayern to attack through their wings.

The players were absurdly happy with their one point.

Lyon got a point from arguably their toughest away fixture.

This point still keeps the club in the hunt, especially with Fiorentina only managing a home draw with Steaua. Lyon’s next confrontation with Bayern will be at the Gerland, and that game will be one that Lyon can win. If anything, it’s Bayern who are mourning their two dropped points. Fortunately for Lyon, their next two games is a double header with Steaua. Those won’t be easy games by any means, but they should be easier than Bayern and Fiorentina.

THE BAD:

Fred makes Sidney Govou seem as consistent as taxes.

A bad match here, a good match there…Should Lyon be starting such an unreliable player in arguably their toughest match so far? Sure, Fred had a good game against Nancy. But he was crap before then, and he was crap today. While I appreciate that Puel has faith in Fred, sometimes it’s better to go with a more safer alternative. How much better would it have been if Ederson had started? Because in that case, Karim Benzema could have started up front, and that would have made him far more dangerous. At any rate, that surely would have been better than what actually happened: which was nothing. Did Fred accomplish anything besides that one missed chance?

The only person looking at the ball is Luca Toni. Hmm.

Lyon lose their concentration far too easily.

Maybe it’s because so players were out of position (John Mensah, Karim Benzema, Ederson, Mathieu Bodmer), but it seems to me that Lyon can’t stay focused for an entire match. There were definite moments in the game where the players would start an attack but get confused thirty seconds later, as if they were struck with amnesia. Lyon would have scored four or five goals if the players hadn’t lost their focus and flubbed their chances in the last ten meters of the pitch. It also didn’t help that Puel had the players play for a draw, which is something they haven’t done all season. Even when they were two goals down against Nice and Fiorentina, Lyon went for the win. So perhaps today’s newest directive didn’t settle so well with the players.

Cris is still struggling to find form.

While he was better than against Nice, Cris still made more mistakes than usual and allowed too many Bayern players to pass him by. He should have done a better job on keeping tabs on Ze Roberto as well. I don’t know if he’s more hesitant to make tackles or if his knee is slowing him down, but it’s a sad day when Mathieu Bodmer is a better defender. And speaking of Bodmer, he had a fairly good match. If only he could improve his instincts as a defender (he still thinks like a midfielder), he’d be really good.

The police officer has been replaced by a kindergarten teacher.

Lyon relied on too many set pieces.

At one point, Juninho kept collecting fouls in order to get good free kicks. While he wasn’t diving, you could tell he wasn’t getting out of the way either. While I don’t mind when players pick up smart fouls, the fact that Juninho felt it was Lyon’s only chance was troubling (though it turned out to be true, since Lyon’s only goal was the result of his free kick). Normally, Lyon can count themselves blessed to have a freekick master like Juni on their team – any other club manager would sell his right eye to have a player like that on his roster. But while it’s good that Lyon take advantage of Juninho’s talent, relying on it as their sole source of salvation is dangerous.

THE UGLY:

Juninho’s hair.

WTF is going on with his hair? I’m convinced that it’s a bird nest. How is he supposed to see anything if his hair is all over his face. And what’s the point of wearing a headband if it’s not actually keep his hair back? Geez, can someone tell him to get a haircut? He wouldn’t even need to pay for it since Lyon own their own hair salons.

That’s not hair, that’s a nest!

Another Juninho picture, just because.

Karim Benzema was once again put on the left.

Someone explain this to me. If your team possesses one of the most amazing strikers, not just of his generation but in the entire tournament, a man who is at his most dangerous when he plays up front when he can focus on striking and not on ball winning – why in the world would you play him anywhere else?!?!?!?!? It’s not as if Lyon were having a massive injury crisis up front, in fact, they are overflowing with attacking talent. I know, I know, Karim Benzema can play well in the LW position. But he’s like 50% efficient, and when you need goals, you have to put him where he plays best as opposed to supporting the no good Fred. For nearly the duration of the entire game, Benzema was forced to drop deep to retrieve balls, to spend his time defending, and was often isolated from the rest of Lyon’s nonexistent attack.

WHY CLAUDE, WHY?????

John Mensah is not a good replacement left back.

Just ugh. I thought it couldn’t get any worse than having Kim Kallstrom back there, but John Mensah proved equally adept at being useless. He barely contributed to the attack, and his defending was nonexistent. Time and time again, Massimo Oddo easily bypassed him and sent in tons of crosses to his teammates. Mensah spent most of his time fouling the Germans and kicking the ball out of play. Thank GOD Fabio Grosso is due to return for the next Champions League game. I’m tired of seeing Lyon’s left flank raped on a biweekly basis.

The goals:

Match pictures:

1. When picking Brazilians, it’s Ederson you want. Leave Fred behind with the rest of the garbage.

I don’t mean to come off as a Fred hater, but did he accomplish ANYTHING in today’s match – besides the countless times he squandered easy shots on goal? Yeah, yeah, I know, Fred creates space for Karim Benzema. But if that’s all he does, I’d rather see Frederic Piquionne play up front in that case. While Fred may have been hot shit three years ago, his career has been on a steady decline, and he can’t even muster up a decent shot on goal. Forget actually scoring. Any more displays like this, and Piquionne will be owning that #2 striker spot.

Fred was a waste of air.

2. Lyon need to find a working CB pair ASAP.

Alright, so I understand why Puel chose the back four he put out today. Cris has been utter crap these past couple of weeks (he was the one responsible for both of Nice’s goals), so I get why Puel didn’t want him on the pitch tonight. Mathieu Bodmer, on the other hand, has been stellar in every single instance that he’s played as a defender this season. Ditto for Jean-Alain Boumsong, who hasn’t put a foot wrong since arriving from Juventus eight months ago (remember him against Manchester United?).

Logically, it all made sense. In fact, I was one of the people clamoring for this pairing because they’ve looked really well in previous outings (whereas Cris has only looked rusty). It’s just too bad that it was going to be this night of all nights when things finally exploded. I don’t know who Puel will select for the Bayern game, but here’s hoping that Cris will return to form immediately.

3. Speaking of the defense, how about that left back spot?

As horrible as the noveau Chuckle Brothers were, the person at fault for both of Fiorentina’s goals was Kim Kallstrom, who failed to make any contribution tonight, both offensively and defensively. He played in this position against St. Etienne a few weeks ago, but there’s a huge gap between Les Verts and La Viola. Kallstrom was confused all evening, and coupled with the incompetence of Bodmer and Boumsong, he ran around like a headless chicken and failed to mark his man.

If you’re wondering why John Mensah didn’t get the nod, since he played in this position much more effectively over the weekend, it’s because he was unjustly arrested and brutalized by French police Sunday night, and there were concerns over his mental and physical fitness. But in hindsight, an emotionally disturbed Mensah would have been better than a useless Kallstrom.

OL defense was incredibly slapdash.

4. Lyon were far and away the best team tonight. But that’s not good enough.

Besides the two goals, gifts to Fiorentina courtesy of our Three Stooges in the back, Lyon dominated the match, were dangerous from the first minute to the last, created tons of chances, and played the sort of fluid attacking football that everyone likes to see. However, though Lyon were the best team, they weren’t the most realistic. It’s not enough to be better than the other team. You have to be able to put away your chances, and that’s something Lyon didn’t do time and again. Whereas Fiorentina took the few chances they had and created two goals out of them. It took Lyon twice as many chances to do the same, despite the fact that they had home court advantage and the bulk of the possession.

5. Lyon are starting to become a second half team.

On one hand, it’s nice to know that Lyon have the mental fortitude to come back from a two goal deficit. That, and Puel has a damn good half time talk. Last year, this wouldn’t have been the case. But chasing isn’t as hard as killing, and Lyon’s biggest weakness remains their inability to hold onto a lead (something that Fiorentina also ought to learn). It would also be reassuring if Lyon could begin a match as strongly as they end it, as opposed to the wishy washy way they spend the first 45 minutes of the game.

6. Karim Benzema won’t be around the save Lyon forever.

Today I saw something truly frightening. Karim Benzema, the truly phenomenal striker that saves Lyon from utter ruin every other minute, was the brightest spot on both sides of the the pitch tonight. He was shining so brightly that it’s obvious the rest of Lyon can no longer keep up with him. Right now, most of Lyon’s attacks go through Benzema. But what if he’s injured, and in the long run, what will we do if he leaves? We’re going to lose Benzema sooner or later (though I hope it’s later), and games like these serve to remind us that he really does deserve to be playing for the best team in the world.

Benzegoal to the rescue…again.

7. Every point – and every goal – counts in this group.

Even though Lyon and Fiorentina drew today, it’s Fiorentina who have the advantage because the return match will be taking place on their home ground. Does anyone remember the last time Lyon came away with a win in Italy? But on the flip side, we’ll at least have Fabio Grosso back, and our defense should be sorted out by then.

However, in tonight’s other Group F match, Bayern won at Steaua, though they did so by only one goal. That puts Bayern in the driving seat when Lyon go to Munich in two weeks. Lyon will still be missing Grosso, and who knows what will happen in central defense, whereas Bayern will be at full strength (assuming Franck Ribery meets his target return date). Anything can happen in the next couple of games, so this group will most likely go down to the wire. I don’t think anything will be decided until the last day, and it’s likely that it may even come down to goal differential. So the two completely unnecessary goals Lyon conceded tonight may come back to haunt them.

8. Statistics might not mean much, but boy do they sometimes make you feel good.

Lyon had almost three times as many shots, nearly twice as many shots on goals, forced Frey into twice as many saves, had over two thirds of possession, over four times as many corners, half as many offsides, half as many fouls, and only one yellow card to Fiorentina’s four. Of course, the overwhelming math still resulted in a draw, but the fact that Lyon were able to control and dominate a good team like Fiorentina does a lot for player confidence.

9. Juninho still has it. And when is Toulalan going to score?

Against Nice, it was two terrific free kicks. Today, his long distance shooting was off, but he compensated with the kind of guile that is born out of hard earned experience. When everyone was expecting Juninho to shoot that free kick like he does 99.99% of the time, instead he slotted a clever little pass to Benzema, who used the confusion of the Fiorentina players to his advantage to rescue a point for Lyon.

Jeremy Toulalan was equally decisive tonight, though in a completely different way. He obstructed Fiorentina’s midfield from working and forced them to rely on the wings, and he showed that he could do more than just defend – he was at the heart of a lot of offensive action and had some terrific shots on goal, some of which forced Sebastien Frey into tough saves. He really deserves to score a goal – he’s been wanting it for some time now, but he just has to learn how to control his shots. He has a lot of power on them and has pretty good control, but he doesn’t know where to place the ball strategically. Someone needs to tell him to aim for someplace other than directly at the goalkeeper.

Juninho has more than one trick up his sleeve.

10. Lyon are not cheaters.

In light of the shady game against Nice and now the one against Fiorentina, I feel compelled to defend my team against those who are calling Lyon cheaters, match fixers, and getting special treatment by the league.

Nice: The first two Juninho goals were legit. Watch the Canal+ highlights. The third Lyon goal, a penalty in stoppage time that gave Lyon the win, was in hindsight not deserved. But it was an honest mistake by the linesman, who thought that it was a deliberate hand ball by Vincent Hognon. Notions that the referee was favoring Lyon are ridiculous because he failed to award Lyon a penalty when Fred was brought down in the box during the first half of the game. I don’t see Maurice Cohen complaining about that in his rant Saturday night.

Of course I feel bad for Nice, but it’s hardly the first time that this sort of thing happened, and it’ll continue to happen as long as replay technology isn’t used. How many times have Lyon been forced to give up totally unfair penalties? Definitely a lot more than they are awarded, that’s for sure. Had Nice won an undeserved penalty, no one besides Aulas would care. And that is because there is a double standard amongst the fans and the media. It’s okay when smaller teams benefit from refereeing errors because they are the underdogs and could use all the help they can get. But when it’s a big team, it’s not just unfair but naturally, the league has to be behind it as well.

The reason that Lyon seem to be favored by referees is because they aren’t naive. They know how to win smart fouls, how to avoid getting carded by tackling players just so, know when to argue with the referee and when to shut up, and they are good at utilizing whatever advantage they get, unfair or not. Lyon will never, ever look a gift horse in the mouth. Now, if Lyon missed all their “free” chances, no one would care. But I bet if I looked at all the decisions that went Nice’s way in the past year or so, I’d find quite a few instances of refereeing generosity as well.

Bitch, get out of my face!

Fiorentina: Chris put up a post complaining about the way Lyon scored their first goal. You can also read how Fiorentina fans are taking it. I’m gonna say my piece here.

So what has some people’s knickers in a twist is that a Fiorentina player went gone down, but play continued, which ultimately led to a Lyon goal. Because Luciano Zauri had fallen right next to the net, that meant that Karim Benzema was onside (otherwise he would have been off), so his pass to Frederic Piquionne was valid. Some are claiming that Lyon should have followed the unwritten rule of kicking a ball out of play when a player is down. But because they didn’t, that means they are lying, cheating bastards who have no concept of fair play and who deserve bad karma. Which is hilarious because it was Fiorentina’s bad karma that led to that goal in the first place.

Let’s take a more in depth look at the situation, shall we? If you watch the highlights, players from both teams aren’t even aware that Zauri is down until Benzema is practically on top of him. Zauri at the point starts getting up. The referee saw this but failed to whistle. Now, when you find yourself in a really good scoring position, with your team two goals down and with only 15 minutes left, with the referee continuing play, of course you’re going to keep going. You’d be retarded if you didn’t.

There is a reason the referee didn’t whistle, and that’s because most of the time, a player falls down with fake injuries. It just so happened that Zauri was genuinely hurt (though it wasn’t anything threatening). Fiorentina had already spent the latter portion of the second half committing unnecessary fouls and basically doing whatever they could to halt Lyon’s attacks. They did as much time wasting as they could, so it’s no wonder that no one, neither the referee nor the Lyon players (and even most of the Fiorentina players), took Zauri seriously. In that moment, Zauri’s fall in a rather strategic location seemed too convenient. Lyon naturally took their chance. If anything, it’s Fiorentina’s naivety that’s to blame for not keeping their concentration while the game was still in play. Their inability to hang on to a lead and their discouragement after an unfair call is what prevented them from walking away with three points.

I’m not going to go into the French vs. Italian rivalry that many people are immaturely delving into. It has nothing to do with national identity and everything to do with a murky issue that needs to be clarified. It’s a problem that stretches not only across all leagues and all teams, but in every game. The rule is that you are supposed to keep playing until the referee tells you to stop. But many times, the players will stop the play themselves when someone is down. However, this trust gets abused so easily that it’s no wonder it leads to situations like these. Referees and players need specific guidelines. It’s easy to say that downed players deserve the benefit of the doubt, but they are lying 90% of the time, and it’s so frustrating when a team has to stop good momentum for a fake injury.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

The Goals: Lyon (Piquionne 73, Benzema 86), Fiorentina (Gilardino 12, 42)

Match Pictures:

Seriously, I don’t understand why people even bother debating on who the best free kick specialist is. In the game today, there is surely no one better than our very own reincarnation of Jesus.

His goals were exactly what Lyon, down by two goals, needed to get back into the match. The first free kick was at his usual distance of about 35 meters. The second one was over 50 meters away (though it looks like Piquionne touched it, the ball actually just bounced in).

To get back into the right frame of mind, here is a great compilation recapping the previous year (download the high quality version here). France gets a lot of criticism for being boring, so it’s nice to be reminded that L1 has its fair share of dazzlers.

While you’re at it, check out the 2006/2007 compilation by the same author. Honestly, the LFP should hire this guy for overseas marketing. I bet if these clips ran on Setanta and FSC, there would be some more interest in French football.

Please watch the following video (at the 11 second mark) to see La Toule show off his moves. It’s short, so if you blink, you might miss it. But those two seconds are just so…Toulalan. And no, yellow cards are not involved.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥TOULE♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥TOULE♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

But this post is about more than Toulalan’s dance skillz. The Lyon website posted a short interview of Toulalan that gives us a slightly deeper glimpse of his character. I won’t post all of it here, but here are some of my favorite excerpts:

- Though he had a month off, he only spent a week of it relaxing. After that, he would go through the fitness regimen that he followed during the season and would run at least 40 minutes a day. Geez. No wonder he’s so much fitter than everyone else. He never stops working, not even when he’s supposed to be taking a break!

- His favorite part of playing football is pushing his limits to the maximum, to go beyond what he’s capable of and to never give up. He also mentions that for him, it gets harder with every season because of his high standards of progress.

- He prefers to lead by example rather than by words.

- He really really really wants to score a goal for Lyon, whether it’s from long distance or an embarrassingly easy tap in. His aim this season is to improve his attacking game and to help out with assists.

What’s not to love about Toulalan? He’s just so real, so down to earth and humble, and he acts like he’s not already a world class player (which he is totally is). If I were 15 years younger, I’d be scribbling our names together in my notebook.

Okay, fine. I admit it. I do scribble our names together. But don’t tell him, okay? I don’t know what I’d do if he put out a restraining order against me.

Edit: let me know if the video doesn’t work for you.

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.