Comments on: Derby Time!!!

By: Inara

Inara — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 14:32:45 +0000

Juni and Cleber are both out! Geez.

But good for Mounier! I hope he plays.

By: Laurent

Laurent — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 21:15:44 +0000

Unfortunately, my prediction was right… Juninho got injured. That’s absolutely crazy!!! But I am sure such events will contribute to strengthen the team spririt.
Good news: Anthony Mounier will be ion the group.

By: Ratoune

Ratoune — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:41:37 +0000

We were alarmingly shaky in the first half, St-Etienne played very well and Feindouno and Gomis were a pain for defenders. The goal (thanks, Juni) relieved the players from the pressure they were under. After that, it was back to an encouraging performance and despite a nerve racking ending, St-Etienne didn’t have tons of opportunities. Grosso I thought was a great improvement form his past performances. Keita is not with it at the moment, but with more confidence, he could be very dangerous. And Benzema is just unbelievable…

I think it dawns on all of us that the start of this season is nothing like last year’s. Because of many factors, we have to rebuild from (almost) scratch and those difficult wins will hopefully bind the team together, but that’s the optimistic talking… Anyway, we won against les Verts and that makes my day.

By: Laurent

Laurent — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:35:19 +0000

Don’t worry, he will have an opportunity to play soon… as so many players are getting injured. Anderson is out for 2weeks!!! Who will be the next?
Bonus question: will Anderson suffer from the “Torben Frank syndrome” (for those who do not remember, OL signed this Danish striker in 92, he immediatly got injured, and did not play any game until 95!!!)

By: Inara

Inara — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:12:33 +0000

I was really impressed by Mounier at the Peace Cup. He is a very level headed guy, and decisive too, and for a kid, that’s impressive. Too bad we haven’t seen him since.

By: Laurent

Laurent — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:58:45 +0000

I was at the derby yesterday.
I quite agree with Jo’s comments.
Most of the time, this match was boring, and even alarming, but OL won and that’s what we have to remember. We’re back in business!
Great performance from Toulalan, but that’s no surprise. This guy is really ESSENTIAL.
Benzema? 4 matches, 3 goals. Nothing to add.
Grosso played well too. He also offered us some “extra dribbling” which were quite impressive. This player is more than a defender. And I strongly believe that he can recover his world Cup level.
Then, Keita…humm…Will he ever understand that he’s not alone on the pitch. I hope so.
Govou did great efforts. But I fear this player will never get the recognition he deserves (Thanks l’Equipe!!)
To finish, I was really, really disappointed when I realized that Mounier was not in the group. Difficult to understand that. as it is diffcult to understand that Hartock is still there, and that Riou is not far far away from Lyon.

By: Corey

Corey — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 13:27:08 +0000

make it 16 wins, allez lyon!

By: Jo

Jo — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 12:48:06 +0000

I’m pretty ok with theses marks, except for Keita (I’d give a 3), Govou who ran a lot and destabilized the defense, so 5,5 seems good to me.

The match was very difficult for Lyonnais, but they didn’t give up, they were strong in the bad moments, and to me that’s very encouraging.
That was not the most beautiful match of OL, but the win is here. That will go better and better.
I’m not worry.

By: Storm

Storm — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 12:03:10 +0000

Right now its just good to begin playing better than other L1 teams. CL seems like a long way away (both time and standard wise).
L’Equipe gave the following marks:
Vercoutre 6.5 (encouraging – though they mentioned the complete miss in the 81 minute)
Clerc 5
Squillaci 4.5
Bodmer 5
Grosso 5
Juni 6
Toulalan 7.5
Kallstrom 4 (ouch)
Keita 4
Benzema 6
Govou 4.5

Overall however the match itself only got 2 stars.
Jo how did you find the match?

By: Jedi2003

Jedi2003 — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 21:59:14 +0000

Keita was a little better but he’s still too personal. He’ll have too calm down.

Govou didn’t have a lot of offensive situation, and did the minimum on defense. Apparently he was still injuried.

Grosso did a great match for sure, offensively as usual BUT (good news) defensively too!

Toulalan was the man of the match even if he had replacement problems in first half(he want to do all the job so he’s sort of both everywhere and nowhere sometimes)

Juni begin to play better but he is still too slow. However, he made the decision and that’s what we want from him(and from Kallstrom who was sort of invisble this evening, except in the replacement)

Vercoutre did his job but he’s still very scary in the air.(look the 81th minute)

Benzema is for sure the attacker you need when you want to play in 4-3-3(like Drogba for Chelsea).

To conclude, I’d say that it’s better but we are still to slow, both in offense and in the replacement. It’s ok vs the crapy Verts but against United, Barca or… As Roma?