Also, you can’t compare French derbies with those in England. France is not as big into football as England, SPain, Italy…forget South American (now those are derbies!). It wasn’t until after the WC in ‘98 that the French public began to wake up to the coolness of the sport.

And, considering that there are so few teams in France, it’s no wonder cities are so far away from each other. How weird is it that Paris, France’s capital city, has only one football club? London has like four. In fact, no city in France has two clubs of even near equivalent size. If OL didn’t play St. Etienne, who else would they play? The closest to OL is Lyon la Duchere, but they are in the fourth (fifth?) division.

I’ve been to Man U vs City and Man U vs L’pool, and I consider them to be “derbies”. I also have been to ASSE-Lyon and to Lyon-ASSE last season. They are really far from what I expected. I mean, I felt like I was at Everton-Newcastle, or Aston Villa-Chelsea rather than at a “derby”.

I can imagine what it felt like to Baros : oh, a croud like Liverpool has for even boring matches.

The only slightly “derby”-esque thing was when ASSE fans had boards with animals with Lyon players’ names on them. But the game didn’t have the aura of pressure that the real derbies I’ve been to had.

Also, a “derby” between towns that are 60 odd km apart is a nice joke… Liverpool and Man U are only a derby because of the exceptional aura both sides have, and they’re barely 50 km apart… Lyon-ASSE as a derby is almost as logical as Everton-City being a derby…

The problem : Lyon didn’t turn their squad enough. Players like Diarra and Fred were annoyed at their playing time. Players like Juninho, Abidal, etc. were tired and unable to play to their correct level. Also, the 4-3-3 was too much of a dogma.

Inara : the title wasn’t won after Lyon’s 0-0 draw with Rennes, but after Lyon’s 0-0 draw with Auxerre, 6 days later. Had Lyon lost all their remaining games and Marseille won all theirs (including games in hand (2)), and had Marseille caught up on Lyon’s goal difference (odd 20, I think), then Marseille would have been champions. But Lyon got a point at Auxerre.

My overrated : Fred, or perhaps Benzema.
My underrated : Kallstrom, or perhaps Wiltord. both did their job very well, and neither was rewarded, hence tensions.

Jo : the ASSE game is hardly a derby in france. People get all worked up over it, but there’s very little to it. it’s like Man U vs Man City, Chelsea vs Fulham or Juventus vs Torino… the outcome is so predictible that it’s no longer a derby. The french match that is hyped up is OM-PSG, or perhaps OL-OM. That match is akin to Arsenal vs Man U. Come to think of it, the only real french derby is Lille vs Lens… Playing against ASSE 3 days before Roma shouldn’t have changed a thing. ASSE finished 11th, and there was almost no media pressure on the match, all the papers being focused on Lyon’s game against Roma, all of them saying that should Lyon rest players, it was for the CL, and losing wouldn’t matter much.

Believe me, French football fans know what it’s like to be underrated outside your own country. Roma is in a difficult position because they have three giants in their league that, well, win everything all the time. So no worries.

And I really agree with both Inara and Jeremy !