Lyon vs. Caen

By: Inara | April 25th, 2008

It’s been a few weeks since I busted out with a match preview. Sorry about that. Blame it on a combination of laziness, work, and a random bout of the flu. I know that I’ve done a fair bit of ranting on this blog in lieu of constructive posts, so here’s me trying to get back to a somewhat normal routine.

April 26th, 2008
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
2 PM Eastern Time (20:00 CET, 19:00 GMT)

Match background:

Caen is one of those teams that can pose a lot of problems. First of all, they play attacking football, which is gonna suck for us because we don’t have anyone on our squad resembling a healthy defensive midfielder. Caen started out the season really well and were hanging out near the top five for long stretches of the fall, but reality has struck, and they are in their expected position of 11th place. Which isn’t bad for a promoted side, especially when you consider that the other two promoted clubs this season, Strasbourg and Metz, will probably be relegated again.

Despite them being midtable, Caen are capable of some crazy upsets. They beat Bordeaux 5-0 in the first part of the season, and they beat PSG twice this year (last weekend they walked away with a 3-0 win). So confidence is running high.

Yoan Gouffran is one of the talents that Caen possess, having scored nine goals this season so far. They also have in their ranks Benoit Costil, one of France’s young goalkeeping talents (at least he was…not sure what happened to him this year). However, Caen sold Eliot Grandin to Marseille last summer, and his departure hasn’t been adequately compensated for.

They’ve scored a total of 39 goals and have conceded 45, which isn’t too bad. However, they are atrocious at away games, having won only two of them so far (but have drawn six). Lyon also knocked out Caen from the Coupe de la Ligue back in October. But don’t get too relaxed – Caen beat us on their home turf back in December (granted that was three days before that penultimate Rangers game…).

For Caen, this match doesn’t really matter. They can’t make it to a European spot for next season, and they are safe from relegation. So nothing to play for except pride, which is a big motivator in itself. Lyon on the other hand really should win this game. They have a four point lead on Bordeaux that could dissipate at any time. It’s also important for the players to get a winning mentality before the Coupe de France semifinal against Sedan next Wednesday.

Lyon info:

Jeremy Toulalan is still out with an injured knee, though word on the street is that he’ll be ready in two weeks for Lyon’s last three games of the season. Patrick Muller has returned to training but is still not ready to play while Anderson is still in the midst of physical therapy.

Le groupe lyonnais: Coupet, Vercoutre – Réveillère, Clerc, Squillaci, Boumsong, Cris, Grosso – Källström, Bodmer, Crosas, Juninho – Govou, Delgado, Keita, Ben Arfa, Benzema, Fred

The good news is that Fred’s angina is gone, and Karim Benzema is also ready to return. It’s nice to have strikers again, isn’t it? I also thought that Anthony Reveillere was going to be suspended for this match for the yellow card he picked up last weekend against Strasbourg (his third in less than ten games), but it’s actually the game against Sedan that he’ll miss.

Expected lineup:

If I see Karim Benzema and Fred lining up together in a 4-3-3, I’ll scream. So if you hear shrieking coming through your computer speakers tomorrow afternoon , don’t worry. It’s just me venting my frustration. But I suppose I shouldn’t bother. Of course Perrin will use a 4-3-3 using inappropriate players. It’s his hobby.

Coupet
Clerc – Cris – Boumsong – Grosso
Bodmer – Kallstrom – Juninho
Keita – Fred – Benzema

That’s not what I want to see, but what I expect based on past history. I’m guessing that Anthony Reveillere will be playing today since he’ll be suspended for next Wednesday. What makes me wonder is what CB will pair with Cris? Sebastien Squillaci has been the starter for like ever, but Perrin has been using Jean-Alain Boumsong quite a bit in the past couple of weeks. Weird.

In midfield…yeah. Not much you can do with it, other than taking out Kim Kallstrom and putting in Marc Crosas. It depends on what Perrin has in mind for next Wednesday. So perhaps Crosas might get a start. Up front, I don’t see Sidney Govou starting over Kader Keita, especially since Keita assisted both goals last week. It would be great to see Hatem Ben Arfa start, but I’ve been burned too many times and don’t have any hope. I’d also like to see Karim Benzema get some rest, but yeah right. Like Perrin has the guts to do that. Ultimately, it’ll be the same regurgitated lineup we’ve seen all season.

Viewing options:

Find streams here. I’ll see what I can do about posting a working stream in the comments tomorrow.

Expected result:

I see Caen pressing Lyon and walking away with a draw. My guess is 1-1.