Lyon Take Care of J-Pulse. Next Up: Reading

By: Inara | July 13th, 2007

Lyon’s first Peace Cup game was successful, with a final score of 2-0. It wasn’t thrilling or impressive, but it got the job done and brought home three points. Since the team was very jetlagged and tired (they got to Korea yesterday and had two practices between their arrival and their game), it wasn’t their (former?) trademark attacking performance.

S-Pulse weren’t easy opponents.

They played against Shimizu S-Pulse, who placed fourth last year in the J-League. You would think, going into the match, that Lyon would have won the game with a ridiculous scoreline of 11-0. If only! I was pleasantly surprised to discover that S-Pulse were a pretty good team and were very sharp and technical with the ball, with some really good passes and crosses. Their main striker, Yajima, was a constant threat. He reminded me of Pippo Inzaghi – a poacher who sits on the defender’s line. He was great at avoiding Lyon’s offside traps, and if it hadn’t been for Coupet, the scoreline might have been different.

Also, whoever took their free kick was just awesome. Nakamura #2?

Unfortunately, S-Pulse wasn’t able to last the full ninety minutes, with few teams out there able to match Lyon in terms of endurance. Their best players got tired after the first half and had to be replaced. Lyon, on the other hand, completely dominated the second half. The Japanese hardly ever touched the ball. It was like Lyon were finally beginning to wake up.

Their next game is against Reading FC of the EPL. Reading is one of the teams I watch out for, so I’m thrilled that these two teams meet. That game is next Monday, followed by a match against Argentine giants River Plate on Wednesday.

Match highlights (Match photos at the bottom of the post):

Tactical details:

Coupet
Clerc – Müller – Squillaci – Belhadj
Govou – Toulalan – Diarra – Ben Arfa
Remy – Benzema

As you can see, Perrin opted to try the 4-4-2 in the first half, but since he’s rotating manpower, it’s a mix of Lyon’s A and B teams (not that there’s much difference between the two).

Defense: Coupet was huge! He made a lot of really good saves, and it was easy to see why he’s France’s #1. There were a lot of chances for J-Pulse that would have been goals if it hadn’t been for Coupet. The Muller-Squillaci pair was kind of makeshift I thought, and during the first 25 minutes, Lyon’s backline looked like it was made of cheesecloth. S-Pulse kept on breaking through and had several one on one opportunities with Coupet. In the second half, they were replaced by Paillot and Cris, who did well. Nothing amazing though.

Clerc’s performance was also average. He had some good runs up the side but was sometimes outran by the opposition. Belhadj, on the other hand, was phenomenal. Man of the match, in my opinion. Technically beautiful, superb crosses, very very fast pace…if I were Fabio Grosso, I’d be worried! I can’t believe Lyon bought Belhadj for 3.5 million. If he continues playing the way he has been for the last two games (though they were friendlies, but still), I’ll consider him to be Lyon’s best deal yet.

Midfield: Diarra and Toulalan were in midfield together, but I didn’t think that was an effective combination. Neither of them are creative, though towards the second half, Toulalan abandoned his reservations and started going forward more (note: can someone please help Toulalan score a goal? He tries all the time and can never seem to manage it). Diarra was average but Toulalan was far better. It’s obvious who will be starting next season.

In the second half, Bodmer and Fabio Santos entered the picture, with Diarra and Govou going out. This caused a reversion to the 4-3-3, which looked more natural. Bodmer had a fairly good match, he’s capable of more, and I’d like to see him play with Juninho and Toulalan at the same time. I don’t remember much about Fabio Santos.

Attack: I’m not quite sure if Remy or Govou played as the second striker next to Benzema. Remy was probably Lyon’s worst player on the pitch today, completely invisible and barely able to hang onto the ball. But I’ve seen him play better, so I’m willing to chalk his performance down to jet lag. Govou was much better than usual (has been since Keita’s arrived!), and he had several clear chances. He also had some good crosses. I would love it if he played like this for the rest of the year…or is that wishful thinking? Though Govou (and Ben Arfa) wasn’t defensive at all and was constantly being robbed of possession by the J-Leaguers. Worse, I didn’t think Ben Arfa was that great. He was brilliant but wasteful in his play. So he definitely needs more work.

Ben Arfa was replaced by Mounier, who I thought did a terrific job, capping off a strong performance with a spectacular goal. Maybe Lyon don’t need to look so far for another left winger. Benzema was kind of invisible in the first half too with several missed chances, but as the match went one, he got better, and he was rewarded for his patience with a stunning goal. Baros came on for him in the second half, but he wasn’t that great. He also missed some good scoring opportunities, and a lot of his shots were off target. Worse, he missed the penalty!

Pictures: