Lyon-Lens : taking our chance … at last ?

By: Megame | April 10th, 2011

Pressure cooker ready to burst, or bowl of overboiled noodles?
Difficult to anticipate the spirits in which the players will face Lens today. A week after the draw against Nice (2-2), much has been leaked, distorted, or exaggerated, about the atmosphere within the squad. Yes, Hugo Lloris exploded after the match, on his way back to the locker rooms. Yes, the polite and soft spoken French NT keeper said words I couldn’t find in a French dictionary. Then Cris made an unapologised for hard tackle on Grenier at training look like a revenge; and Cissokho had a heated exchange with a spectator at training, who had kindly advised him to transfer to Arles – Avignon… Despite all this, Claude Puel maintained there’s a big gap between the outside perception of tensions withing the team, and the good atmosphere he seems to witness at training. But maybe that’s part of the problem, OL players being sometimes in a cocoon, disconnected from the real consequences of their lack of determination and concentration at the end of the games (especially in set pieces), during which the energy and pressure on the opponents drop, which just made them draw two games in the last minutes, whereas these games were already won…

lyon-lens

Lens, a threat?
Even in a championship whose motto could be “everyone can beat everyone”, the stats suggest that a victory of the Lensois would be quite an achievement. This season, Lens (19th) did win only twice outside their stadium, while OL (4th) only conceded one home game in Ligue 1 this season, facing Saint-Etienne (0-1, September 25). The Lens squad have scored one goal in their four trips against the other four from the five big guns in the Championship (Lille, Marseille, Rennes and PSG). Finally, out of their last ten matches at the Stade Gerland, Lens scored one point out of thirty, and scored only twice … So why would Laszlo Boloni players be any threatening this Sunday? Maybe because they’ve shown great spirits in the last two games (Montpellier (4-1) and Marseille (0-1)); and maybe because Lyon, with the defeats of Lille and Rennes this matchday, will be under huge pressure, having the opportunity to overtake Rennes and go back to third place; that would allow them to overtake Rennes and be back just behind OM who for sure will want to regain ground on Lille. So Lyon will play under huge pressure, whereas Lens team will, paradoxically, play liberated. Despite the five points that separate them from Auxerre, the first team above the relegation zone, Lens president Gervais Martel revealed that their roadmap includes a defeat in Lyon. (They expect to win their survival in L1 against direct competitors (Brest, Auxerre, Caen, Monaco and Nancy)). So the Blood and Gold have everything to win and nothing to lose in this visit to Gerland. That pressure imbalance may play a big role, and we can only hope that Lyon players will learn from the past matches and keep their control of the game from start to finish.

The teams:
Claude Puel seems to have decided to reshape its defense for the visit of Lens on Sunday. Faced with the matchban of Diakhaté, Jeremy Toulalan will go back a notch, to recover his (temporary) former place in central defense alongside Lovren. Cris will therefore see the start from the bench. In the midfield, Maxime Gonalons will start for the second straight game.

While Claude Puel had convened him in the group, Bafétimbi Gomis is not on the matchsheet. This is due to a left thigh strain. Lisandro will play at the peak, with Jimmy Briand to his right and Jeremy Pied to his left.

The probable starting lineups:
Lens : Lens: Runje – Aurier, Yahia, Queudrue, Bédimo – Varane, Hermach – Akalé, Roudet, Eduardo – Jemaâ.
Lyon: Lloris – Réveillère, Toulalan, Lovren, A. Cissokho – Gourcuff, Gonalons, Källström – Briand, Lisandro, Pied.

Some Related Lyon Posts:

Category: Team News and Rumors

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Nikhil Apte

Juninho is still making pin-point passes to wingers, lobbed balls to strikers, getting back into defence, forcing a save from the keeper for free-kicks at any distance and running into the box. It may not be the same kind of opposition (not bad though), but other than the yellow-blue No. 5 jersey, I don't really see much difference from his last few seasons' performances at Lyon. :-/

Time to approach Al Gharafa for a Juninho - Gourcuff swap. :D
john

Someone at management reads this blog and listens to my comments: http://www.lensois.com/breve-r...
pierrot

hate to be something of a 'vulture,' but does anyone think rami's accusation that lille "lacked heart" last weekend indicate he might be looking to move on, and if so, would we be able to snap him up?
and what do you think of rumors that jean fernandez is being targeted to replace puel. love his style of play - he'd bring lyon back to the style of play the glory years, a few years ago, but does he have the experience necessary to excel at the CL level?
john

Like Muffin said, Rami is going to Valencia for 6mill. Funny how when we were linked to him during the same period, the fee was rumored at 15mill. The Seydoux brothers' relationship isn't doing JMA's pocket book any favors. It's just funny how other teams, even smaller ones, come into L1 and snap up bargains like Rami at 6mill, while we're still being extorted. JMA needs to put the cap on the big spending for local talent and foreign for that matter, except if they are proven players who you know will produce.
We need to surround our core players: Lisandro, Toulalan, Gourcuff, Lloris and maybe Lovren- with young, hungry, and cheaper players. I think the youth academy is doing a pretty good job of supplying talent, and keeping us out of the market in the seasons to come e.g., Lacazette, Tafer, Belfodil, Reale, Grenier, etc.
I think Fernandez would be the best option in terms of L1 coaches who would be willing to leave their squads for OL this summer. As far as CL experience, he has pretty much the same amount as Puel did before he came to Lyon right? Though Puel's record blows JF's out of the wather, having reached the knock-out stages; though Puel probably had a little more to work with than JF in terms of talent and continuity.
Anyway, I think it's time to get a big time coach. That's even more important than players. I'm conivinced the right coach could do wonders with the players we have now.
pierrot

oh crap - valencia, of course. totally forgot about that, obviously.

i certainly agree the talent is there to get back to the european stature the club had 4, 5, 6 years ago.
muffin

Nope, Rami is already Valencia's player. He's on loan in Lille until the end of this season.
Nikhil Apte

That would be super!
A few big names would be good too. We need teams to respect Lyon more.
sideny govou

Puel to Monaco???????????? Well Monaco maybe is in 2nd league, they are disaster! With Puel maybe 3rd league for Monaco
Luke99

i think we should use this defense in our remaining 9 games lovren is gonna become one of the top 10 CB in the world in 5 years if he keeps this up he might even become the next vidic. And toulalan is just way to fast compared to cris and dikhate which is what we been lacking in so many games im 100% sure if cris and dikhate were playing we would loose or tie this game because lens were very dangerous in the 1st half they didnt give lyon any space and were fast on the counter anyways i hope Bordeaux can do us a big favor next week
muffin

Toulalan at CB didn't convince me at all this game. He had his mistakes...and not to mention how much is he needed marauding in front of the defense. Whenever Toulalan played in his natural position our defense had much less work to do and therefore did better with less panicking...I doubt Lens would create even half of those 1st half chances if Toulalan was the DM, not Gonalons. And Diakhate and Lovren had several very good games paired up in central defense, I think they have good understanding between them and Diakhate is better playing on the right than playing on the left paired up with Cris. Remember that Diakhate and Lovren weren't bad at all against Rennes, it's just that another stupid set piece goal cost us the 3 points (we're the worst team in L1 in defending the set pieces, about 50% goals we've conceded from set pieces).
Megame

I think Toulalan there in the Lens game is rather the result of the circumstances (Diakhaté being suspended, Puel not willing to field Cris) and to test a possible alternative, than a deliberate intention to switch him to DM from now on.
Nikhil Apte

I guess an alternative would be to get another CDM along with a CB, just in case Toulalan or the new guy has to drop back to defence. That should work I think!

By the way, I have been noticing, almost none of the players other than Lovren, and say Cris, Lloris and perhaps Kallstrom seem to be able to jump high enough to try and get the ball in 50-50 scuffles. A lot of possession seems to be lost that way in the midfield, and often results in defence lapses & badly handled set-piece situations, whether while attacking or defending.

Or is it just me?
muffin

I would prefer if we got 2 CB's. That of course includes Diakhate being sent back to Kiev...and I don't know what's gonna happen with Cris but to me it's absurd we have one of the most highest paid players in Ligue 1 that rarely plays and when he does play he rarely plays good. And I doubt he will get any better next season.
Nikhil Apte

Yep. I forgot about our ageing Cris.
Everytime I play Fifa on manager mode, Cris seems to want to retire the very next year. :P
Megame

I didn't realise that, but it's a fair point. We're missing jumpers (come back, Squillacci!)
Luke99

that's true we definitely need him in the DM position but im just saying this because for some reason i just cant trust diakhate and cris anymore i just hope we can get another top defender like lovren for next season and i think the Russian league is a good place to look for guys like lovren maybe Zenit, Spartak, CSkA or even Shahktar and Dynamo Kiev
lefutur

I tend to agree with Muffin. Toulalan was solid at CB but he's better in his natural DM position. I thought that Cris was being punished for his behavior on the the training field against Grenier. Or is Puel really giving up on Cris?
Megame

Maybe he was punished for that, maybe as a captain he doesn't instill the winning spirit that has been lacking recently, especially in the last half hour of the games... Maybe he just isn't up to what he was and what is needed. The Diakhaté-Lovren has much better stats than Cris-Lovren...
lefutur

really because i thought i read that the Cris-Lovren backline had the best stats?
john

Trully amazing that we now have the best GD considering how shitty we've played most of the year, and that a Puel led squad can be 2nd in offense. The fact that we are third in defense- playing basically with a single CB- is trully astonishing! Thanks Hugo.
Ronald

we need juninho to come back to show how its done

http://youtu.be/TvRlcY_dO0w

he scored again today lol
Nikhil Apte

I've got to watch a match before he retires!
Carvivlie

This win was so necessary for morale...Feels good and puts us right back in the thick of things. Good play all around. Allez Lyon!
Nikhil Apte

Will surely take 3-0 as an acceptable result. Best goal difference in the league, after all. :)
Nikhil Apte

:)
sdzsdz

we're missing clinical finishing touches...it should be 5-0 by now
Nikhil Apte

Please tell me it is not too early to dig into a celebratory pastry.
Megame

Toulalan is definitely and irremediably cursed. He will NEVER score.
Nikhil Apte

The consistent player that he is, I'm sure it's in his five year plan to score another.
lefutur

i would love to know how many times he's hit the woodwork in the games that he has played for Lyon. it has to be in the double digits.
Nikhil Apte

Indeed! It is awful to see him miss out on goals. He has such a good shot on him, and takes them without hesitation like a pro!
Pro goal scorer that is. :)
But if I remember right, just 2 goals in a professional football career spanning about 10-11 years now?
john

We should buy that Aurier kid as an eventual replacement for Rev; getting Varane or Toure and loaning them out would also make me a happy boy.
Nikhil Apte

25 chances in 15 seconds!
Megame

Ederson on for Pied
Nikhil Apte

:D 2-0 Briand!
Megame

yes 2-0 briand!!
Nikhil Apte

OL staying higher up in the field, with a fraction more players per Lens player in this half.
Nikhil Apte

1-0!
Megame

Bedimo scored an own goal.
Megame

Yes!!!
Nikhil Apte

0-0 half-way through. Best chance probably being Lisandro's swing from the acute angle, with Runje's punch completely missing Toulalan who was 3 yards out. Toulalan of course continues to unwittingly bend spacetime to make the ball miss him from any distance whatsoever.
Nikhil Apte

Set-pieces used to be our thing damn it!
Nikhil Apte

Here we go!
Nikhil Apte

Wow! A win should fire Lyon up quite a bit. Lisandro should be on the field till the end of the game so that Lloris doesn't have to do the talking. ;)
sdzsdz

wow, the football gods are either smiling upon us or setting us up for the biggest disappointment of the season, marseille tied as well!!