Lyon vs. Manchester United Preview

By: Inara | February 19th, 2008

I don’t know about you guys, but I personally am not ready to face those Mancs. And neither, I think, are the players. I’m being optimistic when I say that things aren’t quite so good over at the Gerland, and it’s obvious that Lyon are nowhere near the form they should be for the Champions League.

But then again, Lyon almost didn’t even make it into the knockout rounds and only managed to qualify on the last day (thanks for choking, Rangers!). And as France’s sole representative in this stage of the competition, maybe that elusive luck will smile once more on the French.

February 20, 2008
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
2:45 PM Eastern Time (20:45 CET, 19:45 GMT)

Match Background:

L’Equipe published a study today showing the most successful teams in the Champions League in recent years in terms of advancing from the group stages. Lyon comes in at #4, having made it to the round of 16 for five consecutive years (out of nine consecutive years of participating in the tournament). But what the statistics are secretly telling us is that Lyon is the best team out there that doesn’t actually win anything.

Erm.

Lyon always know how to handle the group stages, easily nabbing the top spot despite having clubs like Real Madrid, Bayern, and MU in their groups. It’s only later when Lyon fall apart. But this year, Lyon struggled in the group stages and barely qualified. So maybe the opposite is also true about the knockout rounds.

It’s time that French football regained some of its pride, and what better way than sending that greaseball and his red cohorts home with their tails between their legs? Lyon are the underdogs for the first time in a long time, and they definitely have it in them to be giant killers.

The Teams:

I wish I could be more positive about this match, but Lyon haven’t been very positive lately, have they? In the nine games since winter break, Lyon lost three of them (twice to Le Mans!) while also drawing with St. Etienne. Five wins, you say? Hardly. Three wins were rather laborious (Croix-de-Savoie, Sochaux, Toulouse, Lorient), and the two “easy” victories were against Lorient and fourth division side Creteil. Oh yay.

This year, Lyon have lost NINE (and drawn five) games in all competitions, which is very poor when you look at how Lyon performed in the last few years. In the league, Lyon have scored 48 goals but have conceded 24, which is how many Lyon conceded all of last year. In the Champions League, Lyon scored only 11 goals and conceded 10. Oh, and we picked up 12 yellow cards. So that’s pretty damn bad.

The Glasgow euphoria is wearing off to reveal more fragility.

On the English side of things, Manchester United have had a pretty good year, garnering only five defeats in all competitions (none of which occurred in the Champions League). They’ve scored 50 goals and have conceded only 14 - currently the best defensive record in the EPL. In the CL, they scored 13 and allowed in just four. All with only five yellow cards accumulated. And let’s not forget their 4-0 walloping of Arsenal over the weekend. (Also, I don’t get the comments coming out of the Lyon camp about how MU don’t like to defend – Bodmer, Perrin, Ben Arfa, Kallstrom. MU seem to have a pretty good handle on defending if you ask me.)

Lyon and MU have faced each other only once before, during the 2004-2005 season in the CL group stages. Lyon and MU tied 2-2 at the Gerland, and MU won 2-1 at Old Trafford, though Lyon ended up topping the group anyway. As English sides go, MU has a poor away record in the Champions League though their overall head to head record against the French is in their favor.

Only the most daring of OL fans would bet against Manchester tomorrow.

It’s true that this year’s Lyon team isn’t as efficient or as impressive as the one of the past few years. It’s also true that Lyon have never looked as unlikely to win the Champions League as they do now (well, since they became a sort of big club). But you know what? This year’s Lyon team, for all its flightiness and unreliability, is also more savage than it used to be. I still stand by my statement that the current team is the strongest Lyon have ever been, and the only thing they need is a respite from injuries and some time to get used to playing each other. But the potential of the squad is undeniable.

Player News:

On the Manchester United front, it turns out that Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence during their game against Arsenal was due to a stomach bug, a problem that has unfortunately been resolved. And guess who else is making his return to France? Well, Patrice Evra, who’s played at the Stade de Gerland several times during his L1 career, will be coming up against former Monaco teammate Sebastien Squillaci. And of course there is Louis Saha will also be among the English group. Geez, I can’t remember the last time I saw Saha in action.

Le groupe mancuniens: Van der Sar, Kuszczak – Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, O’Shea, Simpson, Park, Pique – Hargreaves, Carrick, Scholes, Anderson, Nani, Eagles – Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Giggs, Saha

On the Lyon side of things, our favorite bald headed defender Cris makes his return to the first team. He probably won’t play, but his presence on the bench is all kinds of reassuring. Just looking at pictures from today’s practice, it’s obvious that the players are happy to see Cris again.

Fred, who missed the Le Mans game the previous weekend due to a sore throat, also returns to the first team. By the way, Fred is promising Lyon fans a lot of goals tomorrow. Let’s hope he’s the one scoring them and not MU. Also, Juninho has been declared fully fit. His toe has been iffy for the past few weeks, and those who saw him play against Le Mans over the weekend must have realized that he’s not at peak form.

Le groupe lyonnais : Coupet, Vercoutre – Clerc, Reveillère, Squillaci, Boumsong, Cris, Grosso – Bodmer, Källström, Toulalan, Juninho, Delgado – Ben Arfa, Govou, Keita, Benzema, Fred.

Anthony Mounier and Romain Beynie have been dropped since as youth players, Perrin wouldn’t play them in this match anyway. Also missing is Marc Crosas, who is cuptied in the CL thanks to playing with Barca for 20 minutes last December. Still, looking at the available players, I think this is the strongest squad Lyon have taken anywhere in a long time. I’m not sure yet if things will work out, but at least I have something to hope for, right?

Tactics:

I would love to see Fred and Karim Benzema play together, but it’s unlikely that both of them will start the match. At least I hope not because that will mean that Perrin will force Benzema to play out wide. We aren’t ready for a 4-4-2 just yet.

Coupet
Reveillere – Squillaci – Boumsong – Grosso
Juninho – Toulalan – Kallstrom
Govou – Benzema – Ben Arfa

I’m not sure whether I want Anthony Reveillere or Francois Clerc at RB. I’ve always been under the impression that Reveillere is more defensive than Clerc, but assuming Ryan Giggs will be starting for United (it’s his 100th European match, don’t see Alex Ferguson benching him for an unimpressive Nani), perhaps Clerc would be a better option than Reveillere. Although to be honest, neither of them have looked that great over the weekend.

I would LOVE to see Cris start, but he’s only played in one CFA match since his return from injury, and he just isn’t ready yet. So it’ll probably be Boum Boum back there. And considering that he looked rather inept against Le Mans, who knows what will happen against MU. Sebastien Squillaci is our best healthy defender, and Fabio Grosso is our only real LB. So no alternatives there.

But I am happy about midfield and think our middle three can more than handle whomever MU have in the middle of the pitch. Jeremy Toulalan is fricking amazing and will make those Red Devils cry. It’s more of a question on whether Juninho and Kim Kallstrom will be at 100%. They weren’t that impressive over the weekend, so maybe this is the match they need to wake up. It’s also possible that Perrin will start Mathieu Bodmer instead of Kallstrom.

I think our front three have their work cut out for them tomorrow, but they are more than capable of breaching past MU’s defenses. The great thing about Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben Arfa, and Sidney Govou is that they change positions all the time. Ben Arfa likes to make runs up the right hand side despite being assigned to the left wing while Govou prefers the left though he is put on the right. Perrin tends to change them around depending on what sort of players will be opposing them. For tomorrow, Perrin might opt for Govou on the right since he’ll be better able to deal with Patrice Evra. And that will leave Ben Arfa to deal with Wes Brown. Nice.

My money is on the guy on the left.

Of course everything hinges on how Super!Karim performs. With all those crazy rumors floating around about how Ferguson is interested in him and how he isn’t interested by United, it’s up to Benzema to prove once again that he’s a grounded player and can rise above the occasion.

Viewing Options:

For some weird reason, none of the ESPNs will be showing this match live, and neither will FSC. However, ESPN Deportes will be showing the match on tape delay at 5 PM. If you are a Setanta subscriber, you can watch it live on TV in the US. Otherwise, check out streaming links here (they’ll be posted about an hour before kick off). There should be a ton of sites given the fact that it’s MU we’re playing.

Don’t forget that you can buy a clear stream in several different languages from UEFA/ESPN/Setanta for $7.95.

Expected Results:

I don’t see Lyon escaping with a clean sheet (though that’s what I desperately want). I’m too afraid to predict anything else. You can also tune into this week’s Offside Podcast to hear me discuss Lyon’s chances with Ian, Anne, and Christian. I’m not sure if I mentioned this before, but periodically I will be on the show representing French football. L1 definitely needs more exposure.

And of course….ALLEZ LYONNAIS!!!