Lyon vs. PSG, Or: Paul Le Guen Returns Home

By: Inara | March 22nd, 2008

Tomorrow, Lyon welcome PSG in what surely will be one of the most intense matches of the year. I don’t know about you guys, but I love with it when these two clubs play against each other, and along with Marseille, they form the three giants of French football. Table standings mean nothing when these teams clash.

Sunday 22, 2008
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
3:55 PM Eastern Time (21:55 CET, 20:55 GMT)

In recent years, when was the last time a match up between these two clubs was boring? Fact is, no matter how crap their playing might be at times, they always raise their game against each other. I’d go so far as to say that PSG comes closet to having Lyon’s number. They always almost beat us, but in the last second, Lyon find a way to either equalize or score the winning goal.

So let’s talk numbers. PSG are in 17th place, just one spot away from the relegation zone. They are above Sochaux due to goal differential, though the rankings might change after today’s games are played. They’ve scored 25 goals and conceded 30, and have managed 7 wins, 11 draws, and 11 losses. Their away record is rather good - they’re ranked fourth. It’s their home record that’s bad, with only 2 wins out of possible 15.

PSG has a talented roster. Their goalkeeper, Mickael Landreau, is #2 keeper on the France NT. Though old, Pauleta still has a deadly scoring touch (and always scores against Lyon). There is a whole host of experienced players such as Jerome Rothen, Sylvain Armand, Jeremy Clement, Mario Yepes, and Amara Diane. There is also a good deal of youth talent, including Mamadou Sakho, David Ngog, Granddi Ngoyi, Loris Arnaud, and Younousse Sankhare. Expect to see them play for Les Bleus one day.

Playing against PSG has special significance for Lyon fans. First of all, it’s littered with former OL players. Jeremy Clement is a graduate of Lyon’s academy and was a classmate of Francois Clerc. Additionally, Pierre-Alain Frau and Peguy Luyindula, Sidney Govou’s BFF, are also former players. On the Lyon side of things, we don’t have any former PSG players in our ranks, though it’s not from a lack of trying. Over the years, we tried to sign several of them, and all without success. In order to keep them, PSG had to increase their salaries. By a lot.

Two other people are familiar faces to the Gerland faithful. The assistant coach of PSG, Yves Colleu, who was at Lyon from 2002 to 2005, who served and continues to serve…Paul Le Guen. He was at Lyon for three years and led them to unprecedented success. He not only won three titles with Lyon but also led them to two consecutive quarterfinal appearances in the Champions League. He’s the man who purchased Cris, Anthony Reveillere, and Sylvain Wiltord to name a few, and he was behind the promotions of not just Clement and Clerc, but also Karim Benzema, and Hatem Ben Arfa.

A very popular manager among the players, to this day, he’s preferred to the men who replaced him. It’s his tactics and attacking philosophy that Lyon maintain to this day. No one wanted him to leave (except maybe Bernard Lacombe), so Le Guen stepping down in 2005 was a shock to everyone.

And though his stint at Rangers failed (I have my theories on that), and his time at PSG is difficult (it’s Parisian poison…even someone like Wenger would struggle there), I still think he’s one of the great hopes of French coaching.

Sometimes I think that it’d be great to have him back at Lyon. His leaving was like a bad divorce - neither party can get on with their lives without each other. At Lyon, the circumstances were right for him. With the burden of recruitment lifted off his shoulders (something he’s poor at), all he had to do was lead his players and plan his tactics, which he excelled at.

But Le Guen never really loved Lyon, and Aulas can’t trust a manager who walked out on him. Still, dreams are free.

Tomorrow is the first time that Le Guen is returning to the Stade de Gerland (in an official capacity) since he stepped down in May 2005. The last time PSG played at Lyon, Guy Lacombe (now at Rennes) was their coach.

Anwyay, I’m not quite sure why PSG is doing so poorly this year. They have a talented squad, lots of money, an exceptional manager, and a supportive president (who puts up with a lot of shit). So what’s going on? Part of me wants to blame their fans, who have to be among the most unreasonable in all of Europe. PSG players regularly get death threats/attacked/robbed. There is also the stigma of hooliganism at the Parc de Princes (remember the shooting last year?). Honestly, can you blame PSG for being afraid of their own fans?

PSG will come out fighting for the three points, and I think they will be extra motivated to prove to everyone that they can hold their own against the champions. However, they will have to do so without two of their strikers - both Pauleta and Luyindula are out injured. As for Lyon, well, the three points would be nice, though part of me wouldn’t be too upset to see PSG take them. They need them more than we do.

Edit: Wow. I can’t believe I wrote that. Of course I don’t want Lyon to lose…but I don’t want PSG to lose either! They have to stay in the top flight! But as a write this, Valenciennes are beating Bordeaux 3-1, and Marseille are losing to Sochaux 0-1. So now PSG is in the relegation zone. I just want to cry.

Lyon info:

Yay! Everyone one is healthy and accounted for (except for Patrick Muller and Cleber Anderson of course). Juninho has shaken off his thigh niggles while Fred has served his suspension.

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

Both Hatem Ben Arfa and Sebastien Squillaci are including in the group, so we know that they haven’t been booted out of the squad despite their shenanigans of last Monday. It’s also important to note that if Jeremy Toulalan picks up a yellow card tomorrow, he’ll miss the game against Marseille in two weeks. So no enthusiastic tackling, Jeremy!

Expected lineup:

I don’t know why I bother with this section. It’s not like Perrin changes stuff around. It’s going to be the same regurgitated, risk free lineup that he always likes to play.

Coupet
Reveillere - Cris - Boumsong - Grosso
Juninho - Toulalan - Kallstrom
Keita - Fred - Benzema

Francois Clerc has been playing a lot recently, and since he’ll be on international duty, I imagine Perrin will give him a rest. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sebastien Squillaci riding the pine if Perrin isn’t done punishing him. Good thing that Cris and Jean-Alain Boumsong play well together. And of course Fabio Grosso will play. It’s not like we have amazing depth at left back.

Juninho hasn’t played for a while, but I think Perrin will start him. Kim Kallstrom had a great game against Sochaux last Tuesday while Mathieu Bodmer looked tired, so we might see Bodmer be benched this time around. Up front, Kader Keita is continuing his good run while Sidney Govou has been so-so. With Govou sure to play a role in the upcoming France-England game, Perrin might decide to rest him. I hope he’ll do the same for Karim Benzema, who looks almost sure to start since Nicolas Anelka isn’t fully fit at the moment. Fred should also start given his good form in the past few weeks.

I doubt Hatem Ben Arfa will even get subbed in, though I hope otherwise. I also expect to see Cesar Delgado get more minutes.

Viewing options:

Setanta and Setanta Broadband will be broadcasting this match. Also, streaming links can be found here. As always, if you find a good one, I’d appreciate it if you post it in the comments. I’ll do the same.

Expected result:

Maybe 1-1? PSG definitely have what it takes to hold back Lyon, even at the Gerland.

Bonus: