Coupe de la Ligue : Lyon vs Lille – If you hear of anyone able to play CB, call 0800-SAVE-JMA

Stay cool, it may feel like deja vu but you’re not in the Matrix. It’s just this French invention of adding to the venerable Coupe de France a modern nemesis called Coupe de la Ligue, and programming them at the same period.

This cup is the least respected of the two and many presidents already said it should be abandoned, but it has at least two advantages : First, it is the shortest route to a title, meaning it’s an opportunity to salvage your season when you’ve missed the top spot of the championship (thinking of anyone?). Two, it’s a way to give playing time to the desperate hopefuls, those who start rotting on the bench and who know that, being the fourth choice in their position, they basically have no chance to play bar a pandemic of gastroenteritis decimating the squad.

Could there be a worst moment to play against Lille?

After a slow start, Lille got themselves together and after several weeks started looking like the Lille of last season, impressive collectively, widely acknoledged as ambassador of le beau jeu. Take a look at the scoreline of their last game : 6-0 last weekend… Ahum.
Let’s look at the squad: Lloris is just back following a flu that kept him away from the previous game. Réveillère missed training this week following a blow in last Sunday’s game. Koné and Mensah joined to their national teams for the African Cup of Nations. Cris is injured (thigh), Lovren is recovering from an Achilles tendon inflammation but is uncertain for today, so OL has no professional central defenders to rely on. It is temporary but it requires tinkering from Remi Garde. Last Sunday, for the Coupe de France game against La Duchère (3-1), he paired the young Samuel Umtiti (0 minute of professional football before) with Maxime Gonalons, who went down from his usual midfield position. But the defense line did not offer many guarantees, and Gonalons was badly missed in the midfield. “It’s not only the central axis, but the whole team’s defensive animation that worries me”, said Rémi Garde. There are situations that must not be seen again against teams stronger than La Duchère (CFA level).” Indeed, facing the offensive armada of Lille (Hazard, Cole, Payet, Jelen, but without Sow), we may feel the pain… . And it’s not like the offense is at their full potential either : Bastos hasn’t played a single game for over 6 weeks now, and Gomis got hurt at training 2 days ago.
So…Any volunteers to sing ” … I got a feeling… that tonight’s gonna be a good night…” ?

Hiring central defender “Tall, young, available immediately”

No need for a 3 digit IQ to understand that the burning question is : can we fix this gaping hole at CB quickly -and long- enough? A first look shows that young Samuel Umtiti may be a solution, at least in the mid-term. He seems to benefit from the trust of the club, being seen as a higher potential than his fellow OL youth mates Faure and Fontaine, for instance. Asked about how it felt to be the last wall behind this experimental back line, Hugo Lloris said “We need to find common reflexes and quickly get to know and play together. For his age (18 years), Samuel (Umtiti) exudes a certain serenity while he is still a little shy. He shows a lot of discipline and focus in training. I think he will have his chance during the absences of the regular CBs. “. That’s probable… Unless OL recruits.

Because despite the reigning austerity, Jean-Michel Aulas has decided to make an effort. “It was not planned, but we will have to overcome some economic constraints,” he said. Clearly, OL wants to build on a good pick (Baky Koné) and for the long term. As not only are the four central defenders currently unavailable, but also two (Cris and Mensah) are likely to remain injured for longer parts of the season and can’t really be counted on. So trying to make good use of the current transfer window despite financial difiiculties target profile was defined – “tall, young, available immediately, and cheap of course” – and several names have been circulating: the Parisian Sylvain Armand (but…not very young), the Emirati player Al Kamali (but… adaptation time) or the Valenciennes defender Gaëtan Bong, a mix perhaps of all three qualities. Or… Samba Diakité, already linked with OL last summer, who may well join the Rhône shores, as talks have resumed. An agreement seems reachable for a loan until the end of the season, followed by an automatic purchase option if OL reaches a certain position at the end of the championship. Should he become Lyonnais, he committed not to accept his ACN pre-selection for the Mali national team.

The teams:

Lyon
Lloris – Dabo, Gonalons, Umtiti, Cissokho – Gourcuff, Källström – Lacazette, Grenier, Bastos – Lisandro

Lille
Enyeama – Debuchy, Basa, Chedjou, Bonnart – I. Gueye, Mavuba, Balmont – Payet, Cole, Hazard

Anyway… Allez les Lyonnais!

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Category: Team News and Rumors