Lorient vs Lyon : Back down to earth?

By: Megame | December 11th, 2011

How does one go from a miracle to synthetic grass? This sums up the problem faced by the Lyon squad just a few days after an heroic and historical game that took everyone by surprise.

lorient-lyon

For that’s the big question mark tonight : in what condition will the heroes of Zagreb be in Lorient : back down to earth (or rather to the synthetic pitch with artificial grass of le Moustoir stadium), or still floating somewhere with their minds still in Zagreb, with a heavy hangover after days of partying night and day?

Still fourth but at an increasing distance from the top 3 (5 points), the Lyonnais team would be wise to pay attention to this game. Lorient are doing well at home this season : 5 wins, 3 draws, no loss. Everyone knows Christian Gourcuff is hailed as one of the best technicians in France, and his team is one of the most pleasant to watch. The ingredients are simple : a ball kept on the ground, effective passing, a team block moving well together and projecting themselves quickly forward. They did lose Gameiro to PSG and Amalfitano to OM, and it took them a bit of time to reconstruct. They’re currently 9th with 23 points; their offense is 13th with 17 goals scored, and their defense is 7th with 18 goals conceded. And they’ve caused problems to all the big teams who visited them, so… They’re a serious customer, for sure.

l1-20100829105315-5816

On the Lyon side, the squad isn’t far from complete, except one notable absence : Bastos is injured (vertebrae) and won’t play again in 2011. Chances are many players will be tired and the likes of Gomis and Cissokho may still have heavy legs; but more than individual brilliance, against a team like Lorient, known for their collective and technical moves, OL will have to combine humility and efficiency, like they did against Toulouse.

The teams

Lorient : Audard (cap.) – Baca, L. Koné, Ecuele Manga, Mareque – Jouffre, Romao, Mvuemba, Coutadeur -Sunu, Monnet-Paquet.

Olympique Lyonnais : Lloris – Réveillère, Cris (cap.), Lovren, A. Cissokho – Gonalons, Källström – Briand, Gourcuff, Lacazette – Gomis.

Allez l’OL!

Some Related Lyon Posts:

Category: Team News and Rumors

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Aleksander

Guess this years CL luck is karma from previous seasons when we've met the eventual winner every single time!
Luke99

as long as we can avoid Barcelona Real Madrid and Bayern Munchin we have every chance of making it to the Final and than were gonna need a miracle from there But i hope Lyon dont underestimate Apoel iv watched those guys play in the Group stages and they play like Lyon only problem is there good at it and more focused
Russ

how have we been so lucky this year in the CL???? So undeserving, but we'll take it!!! If we cannot get past APOEL we should be ashamed of ourselves-hopefully we take care of our business professionally(with all due respect to APOEL)
Nikhil Apte

APOEL! Yeah baby!
muadz matmu

hehehehehe! please don't screw this up
Ronan

Its quite ridiculous if you get to the cl quarters having only beaten Zagreb and Apoel.
Nikola Burazer

...and poor Ajax drew Manchester United... we would all be infuriated had all of this happened to us, there's not really much justice in all of this. On the other hand, we're almost in the CL quarters without having to defeat a sigle serious opponent, so we have to be happy and hope for a similar fate in the QF :)
Aleksander

Anyone got highlights from the match? or just Lazas goal? can't seem to find anything
MattAU

And for the full match
http://www.filesonic.com/file/... - 1st half English commentary
http://www.filesonic.com/file/... - 2nd half
MattAU

Not sure if this site blocks non-australian ip's but give it a try.
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au...
Megame

Rémi Garde explained that Licha wasn't 100% fit, so he didn't want to take any chance and rested him.
Megame

It's the first home defeat of Lorient this season... Not bad.
Megame

Actually, it's the first defeat conceded by Lorient at home since May 29!
Megame

Current Ligue 1 table:
1 Montpellier 36
2 Paris-SG 36
3 Lille 34
4 Lyon 32
5 Rennes 29
6 Toulouse 29
7 Saint-Etienne 27
8 Marseille 25
9 Lorient 23
10 Bordeaux 20
11 Evian TG 19
12 Caen 19
13 Auxerre 18
14 Sochaux 18
15 Dijon 18
16 Brest 17
17 Valenciennes 17
18 Nancy 15
19 Nice 14
20 AC Ajaccio 9
Megame

Lacazette saves us tonight and brings us back in the L1 race, just 2 points less than the third, Lille.
Megame

The second half was more lively, Lyon scored one and had 4 more chances. Overall Lyon was superior, but the FC Lorient will be angry at the ref for not booking Cris and giving a penalty to the bretons at the vey beginning of the game.
Nikhil Apte

Was it a penalty? Tackle looked like it was outside the box. :-/
Megame

That's it! Game over, 0-1.
sdzsdz

a lyon game isnt complete without at least one easy chance butchered by gomis
Megame

Ederson has replaced Gourcuff, and now Fofana replaces Lacazette, the only scorer so far.
Megame

Licha and Eder about to come
Megame

Yes Lacazette! 0-1!
Megame

... And Gonalons seemed injured at the end of the first half, Fofana may have to replace him later in the second half.
Megame

... and the way the ref is making his calls is just beyond me. Gonalons got a yellow (which will rule him out from next game), I didn't even see there was a foul...In any case, it was his first, while Cris did two and got nothing... he could have caused a penalty. Lorient's president came to the 4th ref to make an official complaint about that.
Megame

0-0 half time. The teams try to play, but there's not much to be said about this game, especially offensively...
sdzsdz

..i really hope there's no ajax fans watching this game so far because it really does wonders for their match-fixing theories. unless we put 6 away in the second half :-)
Megame

We're not in the game yet. Lorient are controlling the game and pressing us high.