Le Mans vs. Lyon (Champions League Warm Up)

By: Inara | February 15th, 2008

Time to get back to business.

Lyon will have one eye (actually, both eyes) firmly fixed on next Wednesday’s clash with Manchester United when they travel to Le Mans tomorrow. The LFP kindly pushed this fixture up to an earlier time frame, which will make recovery easier over the weekend.

I’m sure all of you remember when a depleted and weakened Le Mans team kicked Lyon us out of the Coupe de la League a few weeks ago. Not cool. Le Mans also came to the Gerland last August and were two goals up before Lyon decided to score three within a seven minute span. So while I won’t add Le Mans to Lyon’s black sheep list (currently featuring Toulouse and Nice), they still know how to annoy us.

February 16th, 2008
Stade Léon-Bollée, Le Mans
11:10 AM Eastern Time (17:10 CET, 16:10 GMT)

Match background:

Lyon have played Le Mans seven times before in the league (Le Mans have only been in the top flight for a few years), and all seven times, Lyon came away with the victory. But as we’ve seen this year, past history is meaningless, and this could be the year when the trend changes.

Le Mans will have nearly a full squad at their disposal. Tulio De Melo, Romaric, Gervinho, and Ibrahima Camara make their return to first team action after two weeks off (injuries, African Cup of Nations, etc). Only Gregory Cerdan is suspended though he has appealed that decision.

Given that they defeated Lyon two weeks ago in the CdL, Le Mans will have high expectations during this match, especially with Lyon distracted by their upcoming Champions League match. So they will use this opportunity to add another victory over the champions to their tally.

As for Lyon, this match will be taken seriously, especially since Lyon have a slim four point lead over Bordeaux, and a loss at Le Mans coupled with a Bordeaux victory this weekend could really hurt Lyon’s title prospects. It also doesn’t help that this game is the last chance Lyon have to get their act together.

Judging from the comments coming out of the Lyon camp in the past few days, the biggest problem the team is having is managing good collective play. Right now, they are depending on individual talents to sneak their way through, but Lyon’s usual team play has been pretty much nonexistent in the last couple of weeks, something that is absolutely necessary when taking on opponents of Manchester United’s caliber.

Let’s hope Perrin gets it right this weekend.

Lyon info:

Fred, who’s been looking oh so good in the last few weeks, is out with a sore throat. But at least it’s a minor affliction - he’ll be okay before Wednesday. Juninho is still “not at 100%” but will be making the trip anyway. He knows he needs to play this weekend to be in shape for the CL game though he won’t play for more than an hour at best. It’s critical that he not injure himself further.

Le groupe lyonnais: Coupet, Vercoutre - Clerc, Reveillère, Squillaci, Boumsong, Bodmer, Grosso - Källström, Toulalan, Crosas, Mounier, Juninho, Delgado - Ben Arfa, Govou, Benzema, Keita.

Good news is that Kader Keita is back after a long African Cup of Nations tournament. He’s been saying how he’s eager to continue his good form and how he wants to earn a starting spot on the team. Hey, Kader? If you play at Lyon like you did at Lille, you can start here eight days a week.

Oh, and the BEST news? Cris will be playing his first game since his injury last August this weekend. Along with Romain Beynie, Cris will be playing with the CFAs against Raon. If he continues his rate of progression, we just might see Cris in the CL return leg.

Expected lineup:

Coupet
Reveillere - Squillaci - Boumsong - Grosso
Juninho - Toulalan - Kallstrom
Keita - Benzema - Ben Arfa

Perrin knows he has to rest players, and I think if Fred had been available, Karim Benzema would be starting this match on the bench. Still, Benzema will probably be brought off in the second half, either for Sidney Govou, Kader Keita, or Cesar Delgado, depending on who starts the match.

It’s also a toss up as to whether it will be Kim Kallstrom or Mathieu Bodmer getting the nod in the third midfield spot - I would guess Kallstrom though I would prefer Bodmer. I also would like to see Marc Crosas get some more minutes. As for right back, Francois Clerc has been getting the nod over Anthony Reveillere in the past few weeks, and his performances have been backing up that decision. So Perrin just might save Clerc for the United match.

Viewing options:

You can check here for links. If any of you find a good stream, I’d be grateful if you posted the link in the comments for those wanting to watch the match.

Expected Result:

I’m going to go with a 1-1 draw. Something tells me that Lyon won’t fight too hard tomorrow while Le Mans will keep coming at us with their talented and speedy attackers.