Auxerre vs. Lyon

By: Inara | October 24th, 2008

The picture on the left has nothing to do with this post, but it makes me laugh for some reason. It just screams DORK! doesn’t it? I don’t know if it’s the alien eyes, the crooked smile, or the extremely spiky hair, but I just can’t look away from this picture, it has me in stitches. But at the same time, don’t you just want to shout with glee that Hugo Lloris is OUR keeper as opposed to Milan’s?

(click image to enlarge)

Anyway, Lyon are traveling to Auxerre (the old stomping grounds of Guy Roux…*shudder*) and will hoping that they don’t fall under the same funk they did two weeks ago, when they lost 3-0 to Rennes after a difficult Champions League match against Bayern.

Since returning from Bucharest, practically every single OL player has mentioned that Lyon’s tendency to concede goals for fun has to stop, though they are also quick to say that it’s not any one player’s fault but just a matter of concentration. Well, we’ll see if that’s true this Saturday. If Lyon continue hemorrhaging goals to Auxerre, just who can they keep a clean sheet against?

October 25, 2008
Stade l’Abbé-Deschamps, Auxerre
1 PM ET (19:00 CET, 18:00 GMT)

Match Background:

When I think of Auxerre, I think of being average. That’s really the only word to describe them. No one loves them, no one hates them. Nothing great about them, nothing terrible either. They just exist to take up space in the L1 table. Sometimes they qualify for Europe and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they win games and sometimes they don’t. Their goal every season is simply to stay in the topflight.

Auxerre are what you would call a real selling club, who develop players simply to sell them. They’ve produced some very good talents in the past, including Eric Cantona, Djibril Cisse, Momo Sissoko, Phillipe Mexes, Laurent Blanc, Bakary Sagna, Basile Boli, and Abou Diaby. Our very own Jean-Alain Boumsong also hails from the youth ranks of Auxerre.

Unfortunately for them, all this selling has left them with a rather average squad this season. Benoit Pedretti, who left Lyon a few years back, is now the captain, while Remy Riou, a Lyon youth product, has taken over for goalkeeper Olivier Sorlin. Other current notable players include Thomas Kahlenberg, Ireneusz Jelen, and Daniel Niculae, who, along with new boy Julien Quercia, is their joint top scorer with 3 league goals.

Auxerre have the rather dubious distinction of being the only topflight team never to be relegated. They are currently in 12th place, with 3 wins, 2 draws, and four losses, with 10 goals scored and 11 conceded. So their performance this season has been…average.

Lyon have a one point lead over second placed Marseille, who are facing PSG this weekend. Lyon need to win to keep their grip on the table. They also need to prove to the world that they can win games without having to fall behind first. It would also be nice if they could manage that ever elusive clean sheet. Please?

Lyon Info:

Hugo Lloris (see above picture) is out sick with a serious throat infection. The poor boy has actually been sick all week but played in Steaua anyway, which is probably why he’s suffering even more now. Mathieu Bodmer is still out, the date of his return not having been fixed yet. John Mensah will be unavailable for another few weeks, as will Fabio Santos. Sidney Govou and Francois Clerc are of course injured long term.

Le groupe lyonnais: Vercoutre, Hartock – Grosso, Boumsong, Cris, Faure, Réveillère, Gassama – Toulalan, Juninho, Källström, Makoun – Delgado, Mounier, Ederson, Pjanic, Keita, Benzéma, Fred, Piquionne.

Joan Hartock makes the senior squad for the first time all season, and he’ll be joining CFAers Sebastien Faure and Lamine Gassama.

Expected Lineup:

Vercoutre
Reveillere – Cris – Boumsong – Grosso
Juninho – Makoun – Kallstrom
Keita – Fred – Mounier

That’s just an educated guess. Remy Vercoutre will play his first game since December 2007, but I’m not worried. He’s not the greatest of keepers, but he’s rarely let us down. I don’t want Anthony Reveillere to play because the guy needs to take a breather, but I don’t see Claude Puel giving Lamine Gassama his first Lyon start in anything except an easy cup match. With Mathieu Bodmer and John Mensah out, that leaves Cris and Jean-Alain Boumsong to prove that they are capable of communicating with each other. And of course fabulous Fabio will be on the left.

In midfield, it’s all conjecture. Jeremy Toulalan could just as easily play in place of Jean II Makoun since both played the entire ninety minutes against Steaua. Kim Kallstrom should get a start since he came off the bench midweek, and it’s possible Juninho might play since he was taken off midway through the second half against Steaua. If he doesn’t, we might see Ederson - or maybe even Miralem Pjanic!

Up front, it’s a tossup of which striker. My gut says Fred, who might be given a chance to follow up on good performances from this past week. I also wouldn’t mind seeing the other Fred (Piquionne) because I feel he hasn’t been given a chance to show what he’s capable of. On the sides, it’ll most likely be Kader Keita and Anthony Mounier, both of them had good games last week, but are also rested because they didn’t play the entire match.

Viewing Options:

Don’t expect much because it’s just Auxerre. Check here for links and keep your fingers crossed. And as always, please share if you find a good stream.

Expected Result:

I’m going for a 2-1 win for Lyon. I don’t see a clean sheet happening, as much as I want it too.