It’s Back to Business: Bordeaux vs. Lyon

By: Inara | August 1st, 2008

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ve actually missed writing up match previews. It’s been over two months since Lyon’s last competitive match, which was the Coupe de France final against PSG. Tomorrow, Lyon will be facing off against Bordeaux in the Trophée des Champions, otherwise known as the French Supercup.

August 2, 2008
Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
12 PM Eastern Time (18:00 CET, 17:00 GMT)

Normally, the Trophée des Champions is held between the winners of the league and the Coupe de France, but since Lyon won both, the LFP decided that instead of not holding the competition this year, they would make the game between Lyon and Bordeaux, who were runners up in the league.

While this match is technically a friendly that gets you a pointless trophy, the Trophée des Champions has been a good luck charm for the club. Lyon have won the last six supercups, and each of those wins capped off a title winning season, so they will be hoping for a retreat. Bordeaux on the other hand have never won the Trophée des Champions, though they were runners up back in 1999.

I personally don’t think that playing Bordeaux right before the season starts is a very good idea. Friendly or not, both teams will be hoping for a win. With Bordeaux posing the biggest title threat, a win here would be a nice self-confidence boost.

Bordeaux were a dangerous team last season, and this summer, they’ve added more quality to their roster, with Yoan Gouffran and Yoann Gourcuff the most notable additions. They’ve got a whole host of other talents, especially that Argentine guy you might have heard of – Fernando Cavenaghi, anyone? Their goalkeeper, Ulrich Rame, is one of the better ones in the league. Check out what Jennifer over at the Bordeaux Offside has to say about this match.

Since the match will be held in Bordeaux this year, Lyon are at a disadvantage – their head to head record isn’t the most inspiring. Still, I’d like to hope that Lyon will be going to Bordeaux with all guns blazing. While Juninho doesn’t think this match is a big deal, losing is always annoying, especially to a rival.

Allez Lyon!

Lyon info:

The season hasn’t even started, and I already have a whole host of injuries to report. Fabio Santos will be out long term with a broken cheekbone. Kader Keita’s arm still needs another two weeks or so to heal while Ederson is nursing muscle pain in his thigh, but he should be ready for the game against Toulouse. John Mensah is out with problems to his calf. Fred is still recovering from the tendinitis in his knee, so he can’t play either. The bastard.

Anthony Mounier, who is otherwise physically fit, can’t take part in this match because he’s still being sanctioned for being rude to the referee during a CFA game against Croix-de-Savoie last season. Apparently, his punishment is that he can’t play until Croix-de-Savoie’s season starts, and since they haven’t started yet, Mounier has to miss out on a game where he probably would have gotten some much needed minutes. As for Frederic Piquionne, he can’t play yet since his registration to Lyon wasn’t approved in time for this match.

Le groupe lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre – Boumsong, Clerc, Cris, Reveillere, Grosso, Faure – Bodmer, Kallstrom, Juninho, Makoun, Toulalan, Pjanic – Baros, Benzema, Delgado, Govou, Pied, Tafer

To compensate for the absences, Puel has called up a bunch of youth players. Yannis Tafer’s inclusion is no surprise – he’s been one of the best Lyonnais in the pre-season. I’m a little more puzzled by Jeremy Pied’s presence since I’m not sure exactly what he’s doing on the list. But the weirdest of all is Sebastien Faure over Sandy Paillot. At least Paillot has some experience – Faure hasn’t even played for the CFAs yet. But what do I know, right?

Expected Lineup:

Umm. I’m not sure what to say about this. Puel’s been using all sorts of players for the friendlies so far, and since he used eleven subs per game, it’s also hard to tell what starting XI he’s thinking of. But we do know two things. First, Hugo Lloris will be in goal. Second, Fabio Grosso will be LB (duh, he’s the only one we have). So that’s two players out of eleven. Not bad.

Lloris
Clerc – Cris – Boumsong – Grosso
Toulalan – Makoun
Govou – Juninho – Delgado
Benzema

As always, it’s a tossup between Francois Clerc and Anthony Reveillere. Due to the messy situation regarding the friendlies, with internationals arriving at a later date, it’s also hard to tell which RB Puel prefers, but I’m going to pick Clerc. In the middle, Cris should be one of the CBs, and the other should logically be Jean-Alain Boumsong. But I’m hesitating because against Monaco, Puel chose to start Mathieu Bodmer next to Cris instead of Boumsong (though later Boumsong replaced Bodmer…). At any rate, I hope it’s Boumsong. He’s a good player who has proved me wrong since coming to Lyon.

In midfield, I’m pretty sure we’ll be seeing the Jeremy Toulalan – Jean II Makoun partnership. Normally, I disapprove of anything involving two DMs, but Makoun plays a more offensive role, and against Monaco, I was very pleased at how the two distributed midfield duties. Also going by what Puel has been doing in the pre-season, we’ll probably see a player play in the hole behind the striker. At the moment, Juninho seems to be the player of choice though I personally think Miralem Pjanic is a better option in that position. But I doubt Puel will bench his captain in the first game of the season.

With Kader Keita out, it looks like Sidney Govou will be starting on the right wing. Govou is actually a good luck charm – with four goals, he’s the all time highest leading goalscorer for OL in the Trophée des Champions. On the left, we should be seeing Cesar Delgado. It’s interesting because last season, he hardly played at all, and now he may nab a starting spot. Up front, Karim Benzema will most likely start unless Puel wants to be nice to Milan Baros (unlikely).

Viewing options:

Unfortunately, soccers.fr has been asked by the LFP to stop providing links to games, so we will have to almost exclusively rely on this website for streams. Hopefully a good one will appear for tomorrow. Or else I will cry.

Edit: Jennifer may liveblog this game. Check here in the morning for a link.

Expected result:

I’m rather nervous about this game. Bordeaux have the advantage because they’ve been training together as a team a lot longer while Lyon are still disorganized from their recruitment and their pre-season preparations. I’d predict a draw, but in the Trophée des Champions, that would lead to penalties. I think Bordeaux might actually win this one, though of course I hope that’s not the case. I’ll guess Bordeaux 1- 0 Lyon.