Not Again! Manchester United 1 - 0 Lyon

By: Inara | March 5th, 2008

I really don’t want to write a post match review (notice how I tend to avoid doing those for games that Lyon lose?), but I have to be brave and face up the fact that last night, Lyon once again fell short of their - and our - expectations.

Side note: do you guys believe that if you say something enough times, it eventually becomes true? If that’s the case, people need to stop talking about the curse on Lyon’s knock out round games.

A Kallstrom and Toulalan sandwich only whetted Ronaldo’s appetite.

Goals: Manchester United (Ronaldo 40)
Sanctions: Manchester United (Evra 3, Nani 43, Fletcher 73), Lyon (Grosso 36, Squillaci 54)

Highlights and pictures at end of post.

Tactics: What else except the 4-3-3?

Coupet
Clerc - Squillaci - Cris - Grosso
Juninho - Toulalan - Kallstrom
Govou - Benzema - Ben Arfa

Some people felt that Perrin should have used the lineup he utilized for the Metz and Lyon games, which feature Fred in the center and Karim Benzema on the right. I, along with many others, wasn’t one of them, as I hoped that going back to this familiar formation, with a Hatem Ben Arfa who would be ready to silence his critics, would be what Lyon needed to push them through.

Obviously this plan didn’t work, but it’s hard to say what formation could have been better. Perrin’s decision to use Cris instead of Jean-Alain Boumsong turned out to be the right one because Cris was great back there, especially when you consider that this was only his second competitive match since last August.

As for the other players…well, you can’t blame Perrin for that either. We had no other available full backs (Anthony Reveillere was suspended), so it was always going to be Francois Clerc and Fabio Grosso. Perhaps it might have been better to start Mathieu Bodmer over Kim Kallstrom, but Kallstrom has started all the big games for us this year and has seldom let us down.

Player Performances:

I think Gregory Coupet had a fairly good game. He wasn’t tested very much (in fact, only once if I recall correctly), and the goal Lyon conceded wasn’t his fault. Cris was great, Sebastien Squillaci was okay but looked very agitated, while the two full backs didn’t really stay back much. Fabio Grosso had a pretty poor game, one of his worst ones in recent months, but thankfully Cris was around pick up the slack. As for Francois Clerc - well, being harsh, the goal conceded was his fault since he failed to clear the line properly. But he showed some good moments, and all in all, I don’t really blame him.

Not a match to remember for Clerc.

For me, Jeremy Toulalan was man of the match - on both sides. It was because of him that United didn’t score three goals in the first half. He was constantly breaking down their plays, intercepting important balls, and basically playing as a fifth defender (call him Franz Beckenbauer). Juninho didn’t have a good game at all - it was obvious his toe was still hurting him. Kim Kallstrom didn’t have a good game either, though I didn’t think he played particularly badly - one of the best chances of the night came from him. I know reader Ronald pointed out in the comments that it was frustrating that he didn’t go further up the pitch, but I’m fairly certain it was because Perrin told him - in fact told all the players - to prioritize defense.

For 95% of everyone else, Karim Benzema was the best OL player. Despite being isolated most of the night, he was using every one of his few opportunities to create things in the spaces left by the United defenders. He was certainly our most dangerous player, and as always, he played a very selfless game, knowing when to take the shot and when to release the ball to his teammates. However, this was not the case for his non-friend, Hatem Ben Arfa. He did have some selfish moments (that failed pass to Benzema comes to mind), but I thought he pitched in defensively really well (remember his duel with Cristiano Ronaldo?), kept the United defenders really busy during large stretches of the game, and passed the ball more than he usually does.

Could he have done better? Yes. But there were far worse OL players on the pitch, and I’m not convinced that we had anyone better to take Ben Arfa’s place. As for Sidney Govou…well, his inclusion turned out to be a bad decision because the guy was clearly out of fuel. Still, it’s not like Perrin could have predicted that. He’s been phenomenal this season and deserved his start.

One thing’s for sure - when the time comes, Benzema won’t be moving to United.

About the subs, Fred came on too late into the match, with only ten minutes to make a difference. Which he didn’t - instead he lost his temper. Kader Keita looked good, and perhaps he should have started over Govou, but it’s easy to say things in hindsight. His shot hit the post in the second half and was oh so close to being the goal we needed.

Match Analysis:

This part breaks my heart. Lyon were so close, and qualification was within our grasp. Manchester United, no matter what Alex Ferguson likes to say, did not walk all over us. In fact, I would say that for the most part, the teams were matched evenly. The fact that United’s two goals came not from any brilliance on their part but on Lyon’s own defensive confusion makes it clear that while United deserved their qualification, Lyon would have as well.

Before the game started, I fully believed that Lyon’s starting midfield (Juninho, Toulalan, Kallstrom) was superior to United’s starting midfield (Carrick, Fletcher, Anderson). But what I didn’t expect was that it would only be Toulalan having an impact whereas all three United players showed up, and that’s where we lost the battle. Consequently, Benzema received little service, and with both wingers forced to do more than their fair share of tracking back, Lyon’s offensive actions in the first half were few and far between.

But in the second half, after United was tiring from their earlier efforts, Lyon upped their level of play, and you could feel that another goal was coming. It was obvious that United were bedraggled and were getting caught off guard time and again. They were also getting frustrated, judging by the number of fouls and tackles they gave up in the second half.

Fabio was not so fabulous.

Lyon did their best to take advantage, but unfortunately, the final touch went astray. I would go so far to say that it was our own poor finishing that ended our chances and not Manchester United’s defenses. And the fact that the difference maker for United was the guy many people are claiming is the best in the world right now…well, it’s easier to swallow a goal by Ronaldo than anyone else on the United squad.

It seemed pretty obvious to me that despite having a fairly offensive lineup, Perrin told the players to focus on their defending. Part of me is angry at that because Lyon could have been more aggressive, especially in the first half. But at the same time, had Lyon not been careful, they may have conceded other goals as well, and that would have killed off our chances even more so. Perrin must have expected United to play more daringly, given that they were at home and had the away goal advantage, or else he might have told the players something different (United’s 4-5-1 was pretty defensive I thought, and at times it seemed that their goal was simply to crowd Benzema and Ben Arfa off the pitch).

Looking Ahead:

Lyon did themselves proud over the two legs, and I don’t think anyone can say that Lyon don’t deserve to be taken seriously in Europe. Going into the tie, we knew that one of these two teams would go out and that it would be impossible to save them both. And perhaps some of you can take solace in the other giants exiting this competition - AC Milan and Real Madrid so far, and one of either Inter or Liverpool tomorrow.

But it doesn’t make bearing this any easier. At least those teams have won the Champions League before. Lyon have yet to make it past the quarterfinals, and I’m worried that we’ll become like the EPL Liverpool - always improving our squad and talking about next year, except that elusive title never comes. It’s always the same story - that next season, we’ll be genuine competitors. But the thing is, we are genuine competitors! So what’s missing?

Looking at the pitch last night, our players had the technical astuteness, tactical awareness, and physical abilities to compete with a team like United. The quality of most of our players is not in question - besides Grosso and maybe Squillaci and Clerc, just who else would you trade off? Lyon started the game with 11 international players - how many clubs can boast that?

Is it a matter of coaching? Perhaps. I personally can’t fault Perrin for last night, at least in hindsight (though I do for the losses to Barcelona and Rangers). Especially when you consider that Arsenal lost at Old Trafford by 4-0, and I don’t think anyone has forgotten Roma’s 7-1 humiliation at their hands as well. But I also think Perrin lacks the drive, leadership, and aggression needed to propel a team like Lyon, who possess half the resources of a traditional European top ten team but twice the ambition. Still, considering just how close he was, and the fact that in recent months, his tactics have mostly been right, maybe he’ll turn out okay in the long run. It’s his first year after all, not just at Lyon but at a big team. And he, just like his younger players, still have some learning to do.

There wasn’t much Perrin could have done.

In conclusion, the future looks bright for Lyon, and the players know that they have nothing to be ashamed of. After those horrible losses to Barca and Rangers, the fact that United suffered at our hands is almost like a balm to our wounded spirits. Almost. Qualification would have been better, but you can’t have everything I suppose.

Next year (I know, I said it), we’ll have Ederson and hopefully, a better left back (I like Fabio, I really do, it’s just that he needs to work on his defending). Kallstrom will probably be leaving (no offense to reader Sarah, as I like Kallstrom) for greener pastures, and either we get back Fabio Santos or we keep Marc Crosas, who looks fairly promising, at least from what little I’ve seen of him. It would be nice to have some sort of Tiago-esque player, since I doubt we’ll get the real one back.

Oh, and finally some GOOD news. Despite our loss, thanks to Real Madrid losing (and Inter looking like they’ll lose too while Sevilla probably won’t even qualify next year), Lyon will be top seeds for next season’s Champions League, for the first time in our history. Yay! That means that when the draws come around, we will avoid most of the “big” teams in the group stages.

That’s improvement, right?

Ronaldo’s goal: