Do Lyon Have Goal Scoring Woes?

By: Inara | September 24th, 2008

According to L’Equipe, this is Lyon’s best league start to a season since 2001/2002. Unbeaten in all their games, with five wins and a draw, they are already four points ahead of second placed Marseille. And despite having a defense that would make even the bravest of people whimper with fear, Lyon conceded only two goals so far, giving them the best defense in the league.

However, Lyon have only netted 10 goals in that same amount of time. Marseille and even Le Mans (!!!) have scored more. But what’s troubling is not the amount Lyon are scoring but where the goals are coming from. All 10 of Lyon’s goals came from four people - five from Karim Benzema, two apiece from Juninho and Jean II Makoun, and one penalty from Ederson (who got to take it only because Juninho, Benzema, and Kim Kallstrom weren’t on the pitch).

And Eight of those goals were the result of some sort of set piece.

Normally, I wouldn’t think this was a big deal, but it’s been six games into the season - seven if you count the Champions League - and Lyon haven’t shown any sign of lessening their dependence on set pieces. Lyon’s difficulty in scoring from open play is troubling, and it’s something that needs to be addressed right away.

It would also be nice if more players chipped in offensively. Despite having such a great attack force, Puel still hasn’t found a way to utilize them to their best abilities. And that’s something else he needs to get moving on. This weekend is a tough match against Nancy, followed by an even tougher match at Bayern. And as we all know, they certainly don’t have problems scoring.

Other newsies:

John Mensah is absolutely traumatized from his run in with the police. That explains why he didn’t play against Fiorentina - he was in the middle of a mental breakdown.

Setbacks are continuing on Project OL Land. The Decines community has put up such a ferocious opposition that estimates have been pushed from June 2010 to June 2012. Though the Decines community promises to boycott even that.

Okay, not to be a quitter or anything, but if there are so many issues with the Decines site, isn’t there somewhere else that Aulas can build the new stadium? Last time I checked, Lyon wasn’t Beijing. Surely there is space to be found somewhere.

Aulas in typical fashion announced that Karim Benzema’s release clause is €100m. As we all know, release clauses are almost always pointless and are rarely paid to their full amount, but I’m guessing Aulas wants everyone to know exactly how difficult it will be for people to sign Lyon’s star player. Especially Manchester City, who think that all they need to do is offer Benzema €125,000 per week to land his signature. As if!

Cris says that he does not need another knee operation, so just leave him alone. He only needs a couple of days and some more playing time to get back to normal.