Bordeaux Want Lyon’s Scalp

By: Inara | October 6th, 2007

Remember the days when Lyon was invincible and the bête noire of every team in France? Well, as we’ve seen in the past two seasons, the number of teams able to hit at Lyon’s weak spots have increased to include Lille, Toulouse, and Bordeaux. Not that these are bad teams - they are regulars in the top five and tend to have Champions League qualification in their sights.

October 06, 2007
Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
12:00 PM Eastern Time (18:00 in France)

Match Details:

Out of all the annoying teams out there, for me, Bordeaux is the worst. They always seem to have Lyon’s number. Last season, they inflicted two defeats on OL within the space of a month, not just in the league but in the French Coupe de la Ligue final. If any of you care to remember, that was the game where Bordeaux played horrendous, defensive football for 90 minutes, and then in stoppage time, scored off a corner kick (and who else would be in Lyon’s goal except Remy Vercoutre?).

So yeah, you can see that I bear particularly unfriendly feelings towards Bordeaux.

Ricardo, Bordeaux’s coach from last year, took his ugly footballing tactics to Monaco, and he was replaced by Laurent Blanc, Les Bleus hero. No one had any idea how Blanc would do because he’s never coached before, but so far, he’s proven to be one of L1’s best revelations. For the first time in a long time, Bordeaux are playing smart and attractive football at the same time (who would have thought that possible?).

Unlike most other clubs in France, Bordeaux weren’t hit too hard by the summer mercato. Sure, they lost players, but they gained in almost equal quality, which is probably why they’ve had one of the best starts in L1. Rio Antonio Mavuba, Jean-Claude Darcheville, and Julien Faubert were the three high profile exits, but they lured in Alou Diarra, David Bellion, and Matthew Chalme.

Bordeaux are currently a point adrift of Lyon, in 3rd place, with 5 wins, 3 draws, and 1 loss. Though they’ve scored fewer goals, they’ve only conceded six, and their defense is tied for first (along with Nancy). Bordeaux want to defeat Lyon, which would allow them to go second, and because it’s a home game, and given Lyon’s loss against Rangers midweek, this is probably the best time for them to play Lyon.

Lyon on the other hand NEED to win. Or “Passe Pas l’Hiver” will become “Passe Pas la Semaine.” For sure. I don’t care what Aulas said, dropping points in the CL and in France is terrible.

Lyon info:

Not much to report, except that Fred has been listed on the list of players traveling to Bordeaux. He’s been working at coming back to fitness, but Perrin said he would integrate Fred slowly to prevent re-injury. Most likely Fred will come in during the last ten or fifteen minutes of the game.

Le groupe lyonnais: Vercoutre, F.Roux - Squillaci, Belhadj, Réveillère, Cleber Anderson, Grosso, Clerc - Fabio Santos, Bodmer, Källström, Ben Arfa, Juninho - Fred, A.Keita, Benzema, Baros, Govou

Jeremy Toulalan is suspended thanks to his amazing ability to earn yellow cards, so once again, we’ll have to watch a Lyon team play against a strong, physical side without a DM mainstay. Perrin may opt to use Kim Kallstrom and Mathieu Bodmer as defensive players, or he might field Fabio Santos. In any case, Bordeaux have the advantage in midfield with ex-Lyonnais Alou “The New Vieira and World Cup Finalist” Diarra, who will be eager to prove himself against the team that shafted him last season.

Damn I wish Toulalan wasn’t suspended.

Expected lineup:

Who the hell knows? It’s probably too much to ask for something normal. After seeing him align a team filled with defenders and then two weeks later, align a team filled with attackers, I honestly have no idea what’s going on in Perrin’s head.

Expected Result:

A win. Please. Any kind of win. I’ll even settle for a win with a dubious referring error. Now is not the time for high standards.

Viewing Options:

Setanta will be broadcasting the match. Streaming options here.