From Nikhil, our new blogger: PSG vs. Lyon: All Hopes Lead To Paris!

Gomis couldn't have had a better chance. Terrible miss.

The new post is online. For some reason I persuaded myself that the Montpellier game was 2 hours later than its actual start...

doesnt take much to collapse our shit back four

fuck

ederson gol gol gol gol gol gol gol!!!!!!!!

EDERSON! Scorcher of a goal! :D

Cris comes on for Toulalan, who walks back with a limp, after just 9 minutes.

Lloris. Wow.

Any links where we can watch Lyon not Marseille???????????????????

http://www.magedtv.net/ch1.htm...

Here we go!

If this is true, again it highlights our dropping the ball once again. This talent for 3mill?
http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/...

Could be a good find,but surely wouldnt wouldnt be a starter for at least two years,which is something Puel doesnt have,Mangane,Garay etc look better deals for next season,though for that price you may as well take Varane anyway. I think if Rami would have accepted OL last year,we had to get him-missed chance.

Could be a good find,but surely wouldnt wouldnt be a starter for at least two years,which is something Puel doesnt have,Mangane,Garay etc look better deals for next season,though for that price you may as well take Varane anyway. I think if Rami would have accepted OL last year,we had to get him-missed chance.

Yes, maybe a year or two to develop, but by that time Lovren may be ready to move on. We need to get back to grabbing these talents early.

http://www.footballshirtcultur...

enjoy

Erm, does everyone like this one?

Why does the band across look too high to me?

I think without the "Everest Poker" it will look nicer

Yesss! Massive size 100 font.

Seems like the more we spend, the worse we get: http://www.goal.com/en/news/90...

I really don't understand what is wrong with the transfer policy. Aulas should stop bidding for Ligue 1 players now. Has to shell out a lot of money for players probably because teams don't like them to perform against themselves for cheap.

Get nobody priced more than 10 million Euros, and get a lot of players, and things should be fine. And please get a coach that gets Pjanic to start.

Yes, but... sometimes money can buy quality, and solve a problem: imagine we buy Mamadou Sakho for 15 M€, with Lovren and him our defensive worries are basically over...

Perhaps it is time to look for more numbers than quality. We almost never have back up. Getting two or three back up CB of 1st division quality of any major football playing country would be a treat!
Plus, if Puel stays, get ready for another 8-10 hamstring injuries in the next year. And if the back-bone of the team is staying, then quantity will get Lyon through the season, probably won't need more quality.
In any case, one can always have quality for cheap, and that is what bigger clubs manage to do!
Puel had a chance missed with not getting anyone in January transfer window this time.

I was thinking about "money and quality" lately and we've spent all this money and we seem to be getting worse. I think getting a quality coach and quality young players- who don't necesserily cost alot- is more important than continuing to spend our way into the wrong side of the balance sheet and ending up with a mediocre squad at the same time.
Maybe a new coach and a couple of new pieces will fix evertyhing, but I just get this feeling their is something deeper. Maybe getting rid of some of these high-priced merceneries who have little desire to be at OL, if just to use it as a stepping stone- will do the club some good.

I'd love both those players too, but we have to be realistic and realize that Sakho probably won't leave for another L1 club, but M'Villa is def quiet do-able and would cost about 15mill which would be worth every penny.

I will say, get Sakho and M'Villa and our problems are solved.

I'm also wondering if we get a cmf to replace Kim, how that will bode for Pjanic. I was hoping to see a Gourcuff-Toulalan-Pjanic pairing in the midfield, but their may too much friction with those two AMFs. Remember, that if we do have Kallstrom or another box-to-box type on the pitch, it will be at the expense of Pjanic. Gourcuff will not be benched; not after what we payed for him. What do you guys think?

Why not let Pjanic play on the wing? He was pretty good in Metz there.

But that could only happen if Puel leaves.

I never thought he had the pace to play there, but then we already have Lisandro, Briand, and Lacazette.

I think thats something lacking in attack,when you look at all the good teams,they all have players with pace in attack,where as other than Bastos,whos probably leaving,only the kids and Briand have a few gears in them,when you have a slow attack,and a slow midfield,it takes abig wait off the opposition

I think 10mill is way too much for the type of players we need. The only player I'd spend that type of money on is an experienced CB. We should get players who are out of contract, have low release clauses/have very few serious suitors. First, Cabaye with that 5mill release clause is a steal and the perfect replacement for Kallstrom- probably earns half is salary. I also like Almalfitano who is out of contract and leaving on a free this summer. I don't know if Tabanou is out of contract, but I'd like him to replace Cissokho and he can play on the wing which is a nice extra. I always wanted Moussa Sissokho to replace Kim and the mania surrounding him after last season has died down, but he'd be more expensive than Cabaye, for sure. CB is the real priority, but don't know of anyone who could be had cheap. Mangane would surely run just under 10mill, as would either of those Lens youngsters who are still too raw. Any suggestions?

We need to dump alot of salary and cutting Cris, Kallstrom, and Ederson are priorities.

do u know anything about congre and capoue becuase they seem to perform extremly good on my soccer manager team i just dont know how they play in real life i bought them from toulouse and btw i think all thos players u mentioned are good buys but i dont think its a good idea to sell kallstorm he has to much expreince and he seems okay with being benched and trust hes to good to warm the bench for Lyon plus he can play in like 4 postions and takes good corners and free kicks

Congre's a solid cb and side back. I don't know that he is OL quality, whatever the hell that means now-a-days, but I think he'd be more of a third option. Capoue is def a top notch DMF, but not much going foward. I like Sissoko more bec he's a box-to-box MF and has scoring and passing skills going foward. He's a hell of a good DMF, but has enough pace and skill to play on the sides and at a #10 as well. I think Sissokho is a much better all around player than Kallstrom, just minus the experience obviously and the freekick ability.
The problem with Kallstrom is his salary. He makes a ridiculous 308, 333 pr/mnth. That's fourth highest on the club. He makes more than Bastos, Toulalan, Lloris, Bafe, and bunch of other players who warrant that type of salary more. If he takes a massive pay-cut- I'm talking maybe half of what he makes now, then it would worth keeping him, but do you really expect that to happen? Look for Kim to be on his way out. JMA will make cutting salary a big priority this summer. OL is 36mill in the red. The most in L1.
http://www.sportune.fr/sport-b...

Capoue is also not a bad CB, ala Toulalan; can play there when necessary.

seems like Trezeguet wants to join Lyon what do u guys think?

No Trezeguet! he is too old, slow ect ect. And we have good players in attack; Bafe, Licha; and our wing attackers; Pied, Lacazette, Delgado, Briand .... We have very good offensive guns; but we need comander

He's not a player for big clubs anymore. Should go to Monaco, Rennes or Lorient. ;)

Our players were playing indoors football. Nice photos on olweb.

I dont mean disrespect or anything but french players only care about money and glory its like they dont care about their country just imagin if they were all like Toulalan teams like Lyon Marseille PSG Monaco could be a real threat in the champions league but they always loose their players just look at German Italian Spanish or british players they always stay in thier own league imagin if the league still had players like Malouda Ribery Henry Terzeguet Nasri Abidal Benzema Evra Frey Cisse Menez Mexes and many more even though im not french i was extremly happy to see Lyon and Bordeaux in the last eight with the big boys but if players like Lloris Gourcuff and Mvila wanna leave thier own country i dont think any french club will ever lay eyes on that trophy what disgusts me is some players will leave top french clubs who play in the CL for teams like sunderland and brimingham and shit

I agree, that's a typical attitude in France, a player will insist to be transfered to a tier 3 or 4 club in Premier League instead of just waiting for his opportunity in a tier 1 or 2 of Ligue 1. Only when Laurent Blanc came have the national values been emphasized, with testimonies from several icons of French Football.

Older generations just can't understand this, like Bernard Lacombe admits he just doesn't get it.

Agree. Just look at the German league. Their clubs also have to sell some players but can hold much more of them. And what really makes me angry is that the players from big clubs in France leave for some mediocre clubs in England or Spain. Ben Arfa wanted to go to Newcastle from Marseille.

Ben Arfa is an a-hole who would have gone to the Uzbek league to run away from the environment he laid waste to, but I agree with everything else you said.

I hope that rumor linking us with Mangane is true. Lovren and Mangane in the middle should be a really nice pairing.

Thought we should have jumped on this guy in the summer, but we had too many CMF/DMF's. If Kallstrom leaves this summer then we should def snap him up at this price:
http://www.footmercato.net/lig...

what Lyon are after a player from Lille?

hahahahaa. Forgot about the Lille thing. We'll at least Bastos payed off. We're 1 for 5: Bastos 1; Keita, Bodmer, Makoun, Puel, and Espie, 5- all flops.

Looks like Lyon wants Luiz Adriano. Watched him just one or two times so don't know what to think. :S

yea, read the same thing you probably did, and I feel the exact same way. Only 2 times I've really been able to watch him was over the 2 legs vs barca recently, and the first leg vs roma in which they won 3-2. Have to say his finishing skills are extremely sketchy, even the goal he took vs roma was with a slice of luck. Plus we have licha(granted he stays) Gomis and Lacazette for next year why are we being linked with more forwards??? I don't get our clubs transfer policy at all sometimes

Probably a contingency if we don't qualify for the CL. Lisandro would probably leave.

Still wouldnt make sense,seeing as Luiz Adriano has just played in the cl quarter finals-hes not going to want to lower himself either-plus hes proabaly earning a mint at Shakhtar. Thing is we have enough strikers,but im actually not satisfied with either lead strikers-lisandro or Gomis,neither have the pace to get beyond defences,and Lisandro isnt tall enough to the lead the line effectively by him self,Luiz Adriano,quick,6ft-thats probably what they are thinking of,an effective player to lead the line in a 4-3-3

Yes you're right Ronan, but I was implying that if Lisandro leaves then they will surely try to snap Adriano up and he will start. But if Lisandro stays then forget it; won't happen. And if Lisandro did leave, then we wouldn't have enough strikers, just Gomis. Briand isn't a striker and Lacazette is too short, both are better on the wings.

Are you sure that Lisandro will go if there's no CL next season. He doesn't look like that type of player for me. And as much as a like Licha he is not some world class forward. I would rather try not to let Lloris go because he is one of the 3 best GK's in the world at the moment and would be hard to replace.

Not sure. I don't think he's that type of player either and that's one of the things I love most about him, but I'm just dreaming up the worst case scenario. Besides, I think Lisandro would like to play on an OL squad with no Puel at the helm, and see how it goes.
As for Lloris, you can pretty much write him off- probably after next season- and we need to focus on getting either Ruffier or Carasso, and getting a solid partner for Lovren so that we won't have to rely on Lloris' super-human reflexes to save our ass four to five times a match.

I don't want to write him off yet. :(
Maybe a good season with a different coach will change his mind.

*3 times

on the criticism on Gourcuff:

note how Gourcuff thrives under the wing of Blanc while at Bordeaux and now as he plays for L'equipe de France.

Under Blanc Gourcuff has 3 goals and 1 assists in 6 appearances.
Under Puel Gourcuff has 3 goals and 3 assists in 26! appearances.

clearly there is a problem in how he is being utilized.

I completely agree with you on how he is being utilized. Gourcuff always seems more confident under Blanc. LoLo seems to allow him more rein to come forward. I've watched the angles that Gourcuff takes when he is around the area. Always spot on, into open space, available, poaching, up and back, up and back. When he's on the field for Lyon, he seems to stay back more. I don't get to see every Lyon game, though, so I don't have the full picture.
As for his performances against Real Madrid, is there any doubt that any MF in the world would have a hard time getting through those guys?! Xabi Alonso stated that his sole assignment from The Special One was to 'follow Yoann wherever he went'. Ya know, Xabi Alonso isn't exactly a day old baguette, mes amies.
The freeze out from the WC definitely affected that young man. One can figure that there is some lingering resentment on his part and that he may have a hard time trusting that his teammates are 'with' him. That was a pretty huge blow to an apparently fragile ego. He knows that people (read: the fans) aren't going to be willing to give him some time to fix things, so that probably affects his confidence even more.
So, he needs to repair his recent accuracy issues on the set pieces. Then, he needs to butch up and find his inner man. Lastly, he needs to shut out Clod Puel's voice. (intentional misspelling alert!)

To be fair Gourcuff didn't play better for the NT then for Lyon. He was just in the right position at the right time and I think that the goals he scored were against bad teams.
I did not watched many games when he was at Bordeaux. Was he so good there? I know he had some good games but was he consistant? He does not look like the player I hoped he is. Too slow and too many mistakes.

Not sure what happened to him. He looked ready to take off until a the second leg of Madrid matches. First match he had a lot of incisive passes beyond the Madrid back four!

Would like to see more of that. I don't think Puel will last beyond this season though.

If Lloris leaves lets get Carasso

Yes, Ruffier was always the natural replacement for Lloris in my mind. I just thought he was going to be snaped-up before the time came. Carasso has grown on me. Watching him play lately, I don't know which one I'd go with. Don't know if Carasso's experience outways Ruffier's potential.

If Lloris leaves we should let Toulalan be our new GK ;)

or if Monaco gets relegated we should swoop in on Ruffier for the cheap

i like that idea too

I admit, this is a very sad time to be a Lyonnais supporter, and it hurts to see how everyone is being affected by all the on-field and off-field difficulties the club is facing. I couldn't agree more with what MrCham says about the lack of leadership in the team, it is proving detrimental to our season. I don't know if Juni is the answer, but certainly it seems as though we do lack a true leader in the side, with Lloris as the exception. On the topic of Puel, I think that everyone will agree that he needs to go, but I can't solely put the blame on him. Gourcuff is nowhere to be found in the big matches, the backline has been shocking the past couple of months(with the exception of Lovren who's been brilliant imo) and this is where we have the most experience in our otherwise relatively young side. I have to put a majority of the blame on the players. We need footballers who truly want to play for the crest on the shirt, so I feel that it is time to start selling some of our "star"(aka I signed for Lyon as a stepping stone for bigger things) performers and give our youth a chance. Gourcuff, Ederson, Cissohko and Bastos can all leave, we have no use for players who don't love the shirt. As far as leadership goes, keeping the likes of Lloris Toule and Licha and breeding in young talents like Gonalons Pied Lacazette Pjanic etc makes perfect sense to me. We still have players who have leadership qualities in our side, it's just that the big egos in our squad have disrupted everything through their selfishness and lack of desire. As far as coaching goes, I would love to bring Gerets back to France. What do you think guys? I wouldn't mind one bit of we sold our big players over the summer, with the exception of Licha and Lloris, who are vital to the future success of our side.

You say we need players who want to play for our club and then say that Lloris should say although he repeated several times he will want to move to a bigger clubeventually?! And you say that Gourcuff should leave although he had options to sign for several big European clubs but he himself wanted a move to Lyon?! So who of these two showed bigger desire to play for our shirt? I know Gourcuff hasn't been stellar at all, but give the man a break! If it wasn't for so much criticism and pressure coming from everywhere maybe he would've shown much more...He's been giving really solid peformances early in the season and in couple of games in 2nd part of the season too. And which one of our midfielders has so much better stats than him? NONE. They've all been mediocre this season. So show more patience, cos selling him wouldn't bring us much money and I'm sure his talent didn't just magically disappeared.

Yes, Lloris was always going to move on. I don't think Gourcuff really had the oppotunity to move to bigger clubs, bec once Lyon became involved, I think Bordeaux held on to that ridiculous 26mill valuation, with the knowledge that only Lyon, and no other sane club, was going to pay that price. At that point, Gourcuff seemed to jump ship for his best and only option in OL, where he could play in the CL and be around his new buddies, Lloris and Toulalan.
I feel like Gourcuff could end his career at OL- unless Blanc leaves the NT for club football- and next season, with a new coach and finally settling down, he'll be the player we've seen in the past. What really has bothered me about Gourcuff, is that Pjanic has been benched at his expense. MP has obviously been more deserving of starting berth, through his hunger, performance, and his apparent loyalty to the club; very unfair for him.

Gourcuff goes missing in all the big games and he hasnt shown once in his entire career that hes capable of a big match performance and the only reason he "chose: to come to Lyon was that the top top clubs still werent convinced of his ability to play in top teams sure he shined for a mediocre Bordeaux side but when a true professional and Legend like Paolo Maldini comes out in the media and bashes a players work ethic you get the idea what his true character is both Maldini and Ancelottie repeatedly criticized his mental capacity and a few 'solid performances' doesn't cut it for a 22-26 million euro player i've seen his performances with France against top opposition and especially his performance in the return leg vs Madrid was appalling youn can get solid performances from half of the players in Ligue 1 I think even Lyon is too big a club for Gourcuff hes the type who will shine for smaller clubs and we as fans have every right to get on a player for poor performances given his price tag and as for Lloris at least he gives a damn while he is here his outburst in Nice truly shows his desire to win and I wish and quite frankly his desire and his performances have kept us from being a mid-table team the team lacks heart Muffin Gourcuff doesn't care about anything but his own personal form not of the team's overall success and if I were Lloris I would want a move away too.

Actually Gourcuff's performances were one of the main reasons why Bordeaux wasn't anymore a mediocre club 2 years ago...And how do you know Gourcuff doesn't care about anything? Because he doesn't insult his team mates like Lloris? How do you know he chose Lyon to go to bigger teams? He had options to go to bigger teams, he went to Lyon cos he wanted to. Lloris on the other hand, can't stop talking about how he eventually wants to move to a bigger club. Get your facts straight, and stop being subjective. I agree we paid too much for him. But so we did for several players on our squad. But that isn't their fault.

Lloris did what every single Lyonnais fan does everytime we get on this blog site and that is call out the players who we feel aren't giving their all to the club we all love and support, so how is this wrong in any sort of way??? He has a pulse!!! God damnit I could only imagine if half of our team put in the efforts he does for our team we would have wrapped up the league in February and so what if he plans on leaving in the future he has given his all to the club and he will go down as a Lyonnais legend the day he leaves so what if he plans to leave he is a top class goalie he is professional and wants to enhance his career because his teammates don't respect the shirt and have held back the progress of the team; and its a bit over the top to say that he can't stop talking about leaving he has said once or twice that '"one day i would like to play for a top club'" what's wrong with that??? He wants to stay next season, hes said this himself, and I bet you that if his teammates constantly gave the same effort he does on a week to week basis he wouldn't want to leave here, he loves this club, and his outburst in Nice was probably my favorite moment of this entirely disappointing season. I'm sorry Muffin, I respect you as I do everyone on the site, but in my opinion for you to bash Lloris and defend Gourcuff puzzles me, but we can agree to disagree.

I'm not bashing on anyone, nor did I ever say Gourcuff should be praised for his performances or something like that. It's just that you were basically calling Lloris more "loyal" than Gourcuff but the 1st said he would like a move from Lyon not the second one ;) And now again you praised Lloris for his "professionalism" in which you included his desire to move to a bigger club?! Just cos someone is a better player doesn't mean he's actually more loyal or a bigger professional.
I'm also saying that Lloris is one hell of a GK and it would be a shame if we had to let him go, but if he doesn't want to stay then what's the use? And I can also agree that Gourcuff is a big cry baby, and he should've stepped it up...But at least his wish isn't (so far) to move from Lyon and the price we paid for him we couldn't get now selling him, but he showed SOME promise, so the best thing I think would be to wait out another season to see if he matures. Actually, he still has time to bag few more goals or assists until the end of the season. That would help out a lot.

I just always get the impression with someone like Gourcuff that let's say he has another huge year like he did in 08-09 with bordeaux hes gonna instantly desire a move to a real madrid barca man utd etc I just think hes a selfish footballer who plays for himself and not for the team it's not like he did us a favor or took a pay cut to come here either...but, I hope one day he will prove me wrong, and regardless I still do want him to succeed here

Lyon needs a leader. Bring back Juninho!

Unfortunately, Juninho (whose contract with Al Gharafa is soon to end) recently hinted that he received an offer from Vasco de Gama, his former club, and may well go back there.
As for OL, also in his plans, that would be later, once he's retired.

Can't take this anymore.

And WHY is Lacombe talking about Lloris damn it!

this is the kinda things that get me even more pissed off. The player himself didnt say anything about leaving the club why would he go out and say Lloris is gonna leave and its gonna be hard to hold on to Lisandro these kind of comments is what makes the players more intrested in leaving the club

I remember Lloris recently squashed rumours saying he would like to be at Lyon for atleast another year (till end of Euro 2012). Why would Lacombe say that!

First of all, Lacombe isn't very good at keeping his mouth shut. Put a microphone under his nose, and he'll start to answer bluntly to all sorts of questions.
Then, why would he do that?? Possibly to put the final nails in Puel's coffin...

What did he say?

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news...

And I was thinking this "letting the best players go" will stop. Aulas did a great job since coming to Lyon but now it looks like he's losing control. Lyon is not a small club anymore. Is money needed because of the new stadium or does Lloris really wants to go?

I think the last time Lisandro was upset with him publicly, he said Puel made them spend more time on fitness and less time with the ball.
That could be why Lyon can't seem to keep it up front.

And so the hopes of a Championship for many a thousand Lyon supportes die of the back of an under-achieving, pig-headed mis-manager called Claude....Merci beacoup Monsieur, from us all.

Jean Mimi - Now is not the time to act - wait till the end of the season and put us out of our misery, then sign someone WHO HAS A CLUE WHAT HE'S DOING.....

By the way, have you been looking at the UEFA league co-efficients? Italy has already slipped to 4th, but Portugal is fast closing in on France, having jumped 3 places, and is just 4 points behind now!

Plus, their European summer is not over. Three Portuguese teams are in Europa league semi-finals.
I fear France may slip to No.6 by end of Europa this year. It does not change the number of spots for now, but if Lyon does not stay in the top 3, just who would want to be in a team that is playing Europa league and is in the 6th best league in Europe?
Bleak future if something is not done quickly!

Can somebody please tell me what the hell is wrong with Lyon because this is just scary. Are we ever gonna win the league again? i feel like were just getting worse every season and im just hoping we can get back to winning ways like the 2006/2007 when we would have the league wrapped up by January

I hate it when someone says it's because of the rebuilding. This team is playing 2-3 years together now. How much time do they need? And you are right, this team has NOT improved under Puel.

When I look at the top squads an L1 and look at there coaches e.g., Dechamps, Garcia, Antonetti et. al, I just don't imagine them having any problems handling this club. And is it me or does it seem that our scouting has gone down hill: I see all these foreign squads trying to snag the hotest young prospects in L1/2 and somehow, we are never mentioned. That used to be out bread and butter. With the calamitous state of our central defense, we should be the first ones linked with names such as Varane, Huston, Tabanou(if Cissokho is on the way out), etc.

I hope JMA is never going to sign a four year contract with an unproven coach again.

or give him the level of control he gave Puel.

I think he realised it. A few days ago he said that signing a four year contract with Puel probably wasn't a very good idea...

Super!

Puel also said before the match that he would be happy with a draw. I mean you are playing with the best team in France, you have chances to win the league and then you say a draw would be a good result. Seriously, get him out quickly!

Funny that Diakhate is left completely off the roster and Puel is doing whatever he wants e.g., benching Cris. Guess he figures he's out of here in the summer so what the hell.
I still can't believe Lacazette doesn't even make the roster.

Lacazette was injured this time:but I'm not sure he would have made it anyway.
As for Diakhaté, he says he wants to stay, and that the club wants it, too... But I haven't heard anything about him from the club.

Missed the game. Just got home to check the score and can't say I'm suprised. I was being optimistic and hoping for a 1-1 draw.
Well, at least we didn't get trounced and at least we held on to third place by doing absolutely nothing! Another chance to make-up ground pissed away- our specialty. With OM still on the shcedule, can't say I'm optimistic about holding on to third, even though Lille and PSG do have to play each other. Lille would have to take a major flop and OM look too strong and focused to help out losers like us. Looks like we need to pray for PSG to hit a snag. As I promised a few weeks ago: Puel would make it interesting down to the wire, so hold on to your hats kids.

1-0 game over. that sucks big time.

didnt deserve any better.
this is a shit lyon team

For sometime it could have been given benefit of doubt for being in transition, but this team has no spine at all. It is terrible. Needs a complete revamp in defence, coaching, and maybe even in the formation. Without Bastos the right wing isn't doing so well either. Reveillere isn't making overlapping runs and is stopping after crossing the ball or passing to the midfield. Perhaps he rightly believes the other three can't handle defence.
I long to see this team feel they can score any time they want to!

What rubbish. No jumpers yet again.