Lyon vs. Le Mans: Or, They Score More Goals Than Us

By: Inara | November 2nd, 2008

It’s a strange, strange day when a team not named Lyon not only scores more goals but has a better away record (gone are the days when Lyon were the best at everything). But what is even stranger is that it’s Le Mans flipping their skirt tails at us.

Yeah, I know, I can hardly believe it myself.

November 2, 2008
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
3 PM Eastern Time (21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT)

Match background:

Things have been awfully interesting in Ligue 1 lately. Bordeaux and Marseille are actually playing with some sort of regularity and are doing their best to keep up (though who knows how long it will last). Lyon on the other hand are so undecided on where they want to expend their energies – the league or in Europe – that they are in danger of losing control of both. Lyon also have an upcoming gauntlet run of games coming up in November, with two CL games, a Coupe de la Ligue knockout match, and league matches against Monaco, PSG, Bordeaux, and Valenciennes.

Le Mans are fortunate in the sense that they only have to worry about the league – they aren’t in Europe and they were knocked out by Rennes in the last round of the Coupe de la Ligue. So they can afford to concentrate 100% on this match.

Currently, Le Mans are in 8th place, but a win tomorrow would give them the chance to jump to 4th. They have five wins, three draws, and three losses, and they are the only team to be undefeated in their away games. They’ve scored 18 goals and conceded 13, and they have the third best attack in the league, after Marseille and Bordeaux (Lyon, incidentally, are in sixth place in that ranking).

They have several talented players, though the most well known are Gervinho, Anthony Le Tallec (he of Liverpool fame), Mathieu Coutadeur, and Yohann Pele. They’ve also got Fredrik Stromstad and Thorstein Helstad, both of whom are turning out to be very handy additions to their squad.

Lyon are in 1st place, and even if they lose tomorrow, they will still retain a one point lead over second placed Marseille. They’ve scored 16 goals and have conceded 8, so while their attack this season is decidedly midtable, they have the best defense in the league, which is all the more remarkable considering the absolute shambles that is their back line.

Problem is, Lyon have a very crucial encounter against Steaua Bucharest in three days, so the concern is not only keeping key players fresh but also keeping them uninjured. Puel will have a tough time balancing things out – both games are important, though one could argue that the CL is far more crucial.

Lyon info:

Miralem Pjanic is the latest in Lyon’s collection of players with long term injuries. Francois Clerc is still rehabilitating, and Mathieu Bodmer is at least three weeks away before he can even think about returning. The good news is that Sidney Govou is training once again, though it’ll still be awhile before we see him on the pitch. John Mensah’s muscle pull isn’t as severe as Bodmer’s, but he also will be out for at least a week.

Le groupe lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre – Grosso, Boumsong, Cris, Faure, Réveillère, Gassama – Toulalan, Fabio Santos, Källström, Makoun – Juninho, Ederson, Delgado, Mounier, Keita, Benzéma, Fred, Piquionne

Fabio Grosso has been deemed fit enough for tomorrow’s match, and Ederson, Juninho, and Hugo Lloris make their way back into the team after being out with various ailments.

Expected lineup:

Logically, one would expect Claude Puel to bench key players in order to rest them for the Steaua game, but he doesn’t always follow logic. It also doesn’t help that tomorrow’s opponents are dangerous and need to be taken seriously. Still, the following formation is what I would like to see for tomorrow:

Lloris
Reveillere – Cris – Boumsong – Grosso
Juninho – Makoun – Kallstrom
Keita – Fred – Delgado

I suppose Puel could give Lamine Gassama more playing time, but Anthony Reveillere has already been putting in back to back matches since the beginning of August, and I don’t see Puel changing that now, not when confronted by a goal-happy Le Mans side. I don’t see how else that defense can be organized, unless Puel chooses to bench Fabio Grosso (to give him more time to recuperate from his sore ribs), which means Gassama would play, with Reveillere switching to the right.

In midfield, Juninho needs to play at least part of the game because he hasn’t played in the last two weeks, so he’ll be rusty. But hopefully he’ll either be subbed out early or put into the game in the second half. Kim Kallstrom also needs some minutes. Like desperately. I also think only one DM would be sufficient, either Jeremy Toulalan or Jean II Makoun. Playing both three days before Steaua is overkill.

Up front, I think Puel will give Kader Keita another opportunity to show us what he’s capable of. In the middle, it could be any of the three strikers, though again, Karim Benzema ought to be rested. He can come on later if things are dire. I personally would like to see Frederic Piquionne play, but Puel seems to prefer Fred. On the left, it could be any of Ederson, Anthony Mounier, or Cesar Delgado. My guess would either be Ederson, who hasn’t played in two weeks and could use some playing time, or Delgado, who played well enough last week to deserve another chance.

Viewing options:

YES, this game will be on Setanta and Setanta Broadband. There should also be links here. And in case you didn’t know, Lyon has made live audio broadcasts available for free on their website, so you can follow along that was as well.

Expected results:

I’m going with a 2-1 win for Lyon. Le Mans have the quality to put at least one goal away, but Lyon should be able to do enough for the win.