LE PETIT DERBY: GRENOBLE FOOT 38 vs. LYON

By: John | November 21st, 2009

stadedesalpes
Saturday, November 21
Le Stade des Alpes, Grenoble
1PM ET (19:00 CET, 18:00 GMT)

Saturday, OL head to the foot of the French Alps and look to kick their season back into gear after the international break, and an exhausting battle vs. Marseille, that just barely kept those marauding bandits from stealing three points at Gerland. Aside from all the “match-of-the-season/ all-time-classics of L1″ talk, I only take only a few postitives from the last match: one, at least we didn’t lose and lose even more ground in the race for first. Two, that inspite of allowing five goals, our goal differential stayed the same. And three, that our offensive output showed what it’s really capable of and that we again, showed that gritty, fighting spirit that has allowed us to claw our way back into, and indeed win games, something that was so painfully absent last season. So now Lyon, after recieving a reprieve in their draw with L’OM- luckily Bordeaux went down against Lille in week 13- and failing to fully capitalize by gaining just one point instead of three, look to try to close the one point gap between themselves and the league leaders in Blanc’s boys.

On the face of it, this game looks- for all intensive purposes- to be a potential whopper of a snoozer. To call this a derby is an insult to derbies. Not only because of the fact that Grenoble are winless this season, but also due to the fact that OL have been stinking-up the league with their domestic form lately- five goals against Marseille aside. But Lyon have looked anemic this season when they come off a CL match or the international break, and also seem to be having trouble as of late with these sorry teams that they should be dispatching with ease. I think all this creates a recipe for a very boring match indeed. We shall see.

Grenoble’s Form: What really can be said about the poor guys? The league should really have mercy on them and think about cancelling the rest of their matches because they are bleeding, down to their last drops really, and someone should really have the heart to euthanise them.

They sit at the bottom of the table with a 0-1-11 record. They were on an eleven game losing streak, before they managed to sneak a 0-0 draw against Monaco right before the break, and pick-up their first point of the season.

They are a shambles in every sense of the word: their offense is the worst in the league with (5) scored- that’s Bafetimbi Gomis’s season total alone. Their defense is also the worst in the league with a whopping (23) allowed. And needless to say, worst home and away record also goes to them; they are winless at home.

History: The two teams have only met four times, and OL has won all but one match in 1960 which ended in a draw. Last season, when Grenoble was obviously a much better squad and OL a worse one, Lyon took both matches, with a 2-0 final score in both.

Injuries: Cleber, Reveillere, Gonalons,and Toulalan who still hasn’t recovered from his groin injury he picked-up vs. Marseille, so look to Boumsong to be slipping back into his old slot- Thank God this first game back after his nearly season-long layoff will be against Grenoble! Kallstrom had a touch of the flu midweek, but looks ready to go. Aly Cissokho is suspended.

Le groupe lyonnais : Lloris, Vercoutre- Cris, Boumsong, Clerc, Gassama, Kolodziejczak, Seguin; Makoun, Källström, Pjanic, Grenier, Bastos, Delgado, Ederson, Govou, Gomis, Lisandro.

Formation:

Lloris
Clerc-Cris-Boumsong-Bastos
Pjanic-Makoun-Kallstrom
Govou-Gomis-Lisandro

Prediction: As I said in the opening paragraph, Lyon are generally lethargic after layoffs, and I don’t expect this to be any different, and especially with an probable eye trained towards the Fiorentina match. Although Grenoble are a team worthy of genuine pity, this is exactly the type of team that has given OL headaches as of late: those that seemingly should be put away easily. That coupled with the possibility that Grenoble may have been inspired to build on their momentum, post-Monaco, and who knows. The long lay-off and distraction of Fiorentina are a potential recipe for disaster. I expect a phlematic OL offense to struggle to get into gear, but the weakness of the opposing side’s defense and the utter impotence of their offense- they only have two players who have scored all season- make it difficult to see Lyon not pulling-off the victory in the end; A 1-0 Lyon win. Let’s pray.

P.S. I should be in Lyon for the Rennes match next Sunday. If any of you readers are in Lyon and/or going to be at the match, let me know. I would appreciate some info on buying tickets and other stuff, as well a meeting-up with you.