The Attackers Curse

By: Inara | May 7th, 2007

I was never one to believe in curses, but after watching the injuries pile up by the day, I’m convinced that someone has a voodoo doll collection of the entire Lyon team, and during each match, pokes the hell out of them.

So far this season, Lyon have had significantly injured: Fred (three times), Benzema (three times), Coupet (twice), Carew, Wiltord, Juninho, Tiago, Kallstrom, Diarra, and Malouda. And other than Coupet and Diarra, those are all either forwards or offensive midfielders.

It’s like a really bad horror movie: The Attackers Curse.

Lyon’s latest two injuries came during the match against PSG. Kim Kallstrom pulled his hamstring while Fred twisted his ankle. Great.

Fred, you need to stop being so clumsy.

I don’t have much to say about the match itself. Lyon, as usual, dominated the possession, but as usual, failed to do anything with it. PSG’s Edouard Cisse scored at the beginning of the second half, and Lyon had to wait until the last ten seconds of stoppage time (at the 94th minute) for Sidney Govou to send a cross to Juninho, who headed the ball into the net. And once again, Lyon comes from behind to score against PSG at the last minute.

When will people learn that when they play against Lyon, they have to remain vigilant for 95 minutes, not just 90?

PSG were really disappointed in not getting the full three points, but they were lucky to get a point since they never looked that threatening. They worked hard and got rewarded with a draw, which is a lot more than what they got in previous matches against Lyon.

All in all, it was a good game. It would have been embarrassing for either side to lose, since the game was basically Paul Le Guen versus Gerard Houllier, both men who led Lyon to multiple titles. (Side note: before the match started, Raymond Domenech was down on the pitch talking with both Houllier and Le Guen, and it was like a Lyon manager reunion. Cute).

The saddest part of the match was that Milan Baros was booed the entire time he was on the pitch, only to be rewarded with a yellow card for a rough tackle. I’ve never seen Baros look so miserable while playing before, and I think he was relieved to be substituted by Govou midway through the second half. Granted, he’s been booed at Aston Villa a few times, but Saturday was a lot worse. It’s obvious that this racism thing is bothering him even more than he cares to admit.

Junigol wakes up from winter hibernation…finally!

Tactically, the game had a different feel to it. Most teams don’t utilize 4-3-3, but Le Guen has been modifying PSG to adopt it (makes sense - he was the one who introduced it to Lyon), so it’s odd when Coupet & Co. come against their own formation.

Strangely, this time it was Lyon with a 4-4-2, which looked like this:

Coupet

Reveillere - Squillaci - Muller - Abidal

Clerc - Toulalan - Kallstrom - Malouda

Fred - Baros

Cris was suspended, Tiago was busy having a baby, and Juninho was benched in favor of a stronger Kallstrom who would be able to help Toulalan defensively.

I’ll be honest here. I think that Lyon has a long way to go before they’ll be comfortable in a 4-4-2.

First of all, I’m not exactly sure why Clerc was put in as a right winger/midfielder instead of Govou or Benzema, who were both on the bench. Clerc is probably better defensively but not as good offensively, and while he has done alright in a more advanced position, the other two would have been better choices.

Houllier apparently agreed because after 45 minutes of watching Clerc’s unconvincing impression of a right winger, Benzema was put into the game into Clerc’s place.

By this point, Kallstrom had also been subbed out and was replaced by Juninho.

Houllier could not have asked for a most offensive alignment, with three strikers plus Malouda and Juninho on the pitch at the same time, and yet Lyon’s attack had as much teeth as a grandmother wearing dentures. Fred and Baros looked liked they were speaking different languages, both literally and figuratively. They have no chemistry together whatsoever, which is exactly what I thought when I saw them on the field together against Marseille in the CdF. It’s kind of like Henry and Trezeguet on the French NT - both good players, but sometimes, it just doesn’t work.

What was sad was that for the entire match, the most offensive intent came from Kallstrom, who had only been on the field for 16 minutes.

Not that the 4-4-2 was a failure, exactly. Toulalan, Malouda, Juninho (and Kallstrom) were shown to be rather complimentary. Clerc wasn’t that comfortable in the setup, though Govou did better. As for the attacking duo, I think Benzema would be a better striker partner for both Fred and Baros.

Unfortunately, there won’t be time to test that theory out because Baros is suspended and Fred is out injured for the end of the season. So Benzema will finally get his wish to play as a true centre forward and not as a winger.

Game highlights:

PSG VS LYON

For the rest of Ligue 1’s weekend results, Sam will have the recaps on The France Offside when he gets back.