Baby Derby: Grenoble vs. Lyon

By: Inara | January 16th, 2009

Tomorrow, Lyon have an incredibly crucial game against their other bitter rivals – Grenoble. While it’s not as intense as playing against St. Etienne, it’s still a regional rivalry. Unfortunately, this isn’t one of the games that we can all sit back and enjoy. Lyon are in pretty bad shape, both physically and emotionally, and they need a win to kick start their stalled momentum. With Bordeaux lurking one point behind them, there is no more room for error.

January 17, 2009
Stade de Alpes, Grenoble
1 PM ET (19:00 CET, 18:00 GMT)

Background info:

Given that Grenoble’s presence in the top flight has been sporadic at best (it took them 46 years to return to the top flight), Lyon have only played away at Grenoble twice in their history, winning once and drawing once. But Grenoble is known for their passionate fanbase, progressive outlook, and their ultra modern stadium, probably the most modern one in France.

Their roster isn’t too impressive, but despite that, the players have done well for themselves and have a lot to be proud of. They work with what they have, even if it isn’t much. They’ll take heart from Lyon’s recent stumbles against smaller teams.

Their top scorers are Nassim Akrour and Daniel Moreira, who each have four goals. Additionally, Grenoble will be relying on the experience of Laurent Battles, Gregory Wimbee, and David Jemmali.

The last time Lyon played Grenoble was last August in the Gerland, a game which ended in a clear OL victory. That was when Grenoble was sitting pretty on top of the table and had the only winning streak in the league. Times have changed – Grenoble are now in 11th place, with 6 wins, 7 draws, and 7 losses. They’ve scored 13 goals and conceded 18.

Lyon are barely in first place and are in a miserable streak of earning only six points in the last six matches. With 11 wins, 6 draws, and 3 losses, their record isn’t something to boast of. Furthermore, they’ve scored only 24 goals and conceded 13. While they are tied with Rennes for the best defense, Lyon are close to being the bottom half of the table in terms of goals scored. Both Marseille and Bordeaux have scored eleven more goals than Lyon so far, and Karim Benzema is no longer among the top three attackers in the league.

Like I said, pathetic. And I’m not talking about Grenoble.

Lyon info:

I know I didn’t put a post up detailing the latest injury mess that Lyon is faced with (Sidney Govou tore his ACL and will be out for the rest of the season). But I didn’t see the point since I must have written half a dozen posts just like it since the season started. Why bother? To add to that, John Mensah has been ruled out for three weeks due to his being made entirely of glass.

The mildly good news is that Anthony Reveillere doesn’t need surgery because his injury isn’t as bad as the club had originally feared. He’s apparently recuperating faster than they expected (but we still won’t see him anytime soon). Mathieu Bodmer has been eased back into training but won’t be fully operational until at least the end of the month. Francois Clerc is back in training as well, but he’s just doing the exercises, not participating in any contact activities.

Le groupe lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre – Grosso, Boumsong, Cris, Gassama – Toulalan, Källström, Makoun, Juninho, Pjanic, Delgado, Ederson, Keita, Mounier – Tafer, Lacazette, Piquionne, Benzema.

Take a close look at that list. Only four defenders. That’s it. That’s how shallow Lyon’s bench is at the moment. I’m guessing youth player Sebastien Faure is also injured for him to not make the list considering the circumstances. Lamine Gassama is back because there is no one else available. You’ll also notice two other kids on the list: Yannis Tafer and Alexandre Lacazette. Most of you are already familiar with Tafer as the kid who is the “next” Benzema. Lacazette is another good youth prospect who also played for France in the U-17 Euro championships this past spring.

And look who didn’t make that list. Fred. I hope he enjoys sitting in the stands while a 17 year old kid who probably just started shaving takes his place in the group.

Expected lineup:

Lloris
Gassama – Cris – Boumsong – Grosso
Makoun – Toulalan – Juninho
Keita – Benzema – Delgado

Nothing can even be said about that backline. In the midfield, I imagine Puel will use his favorites, though I would personally rather drop Jean II Makoun and put in the harder working and more creative Kim Kallstrom.

Up front, with Govou out, it’ll be Kader Keita on the right. Ugh. On the left, I hope it’s Cesar Delgado. Neither Anthony Mounier or Miralem Pjanic in form, though that’s mostly due to lack of playing time. Karim Benzema will no doubt start, though if I hear him talk about how Lyon need to prove their ambitions to him if they want him to stay, I just might bust his head.

Viewing options:

You can try to find streams here, though if that fails, you can follow along on liveblog either on football365.fr or lequipe.fr.

Expected result:

Any win will do. Even a just barely 1-0 win due to a lucky tap in because a Grenoble defender made a mistake. I’m not picky.