Lyon vs. Lille

By: Inara | September 22nd, 2007

Julien at the Lille Offside wrote up a pre-match summary, so check it out here (he also has a cool picture of the Lyon conquerers - love that!). This is the first time that the OL blog will be going head to head against another L1 blog in a battle to the death. So get your swords ready.

September 22, 2007
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
3:00 PM Eastern Time (21:00 in France)

Match Details:

Determined to put the memory of Barcelona behind him, Alain Perrin has shifted his focus to tomorrow’s match against Lille. It’s a home match, which is a good thing, as the team needs confidence more than anything right now.

But it won’t be an easy match. Lille, like Toulouse, have proven to be a bogey team for OL and are difficult to play against. Not because they play ultra defensive football but because they play technical football, which is a rare find in Ligue 1. Their coach, Claude Puel, has the best tactical mind in France.

Lille’s squad on paper is not threatening, but Puel tends to practice disciplined football. So they shouldn’t be underestimated despite losing a lot of key players this summer. As we all know, Mathieu Bodmer and Kader Keita came to Lyon, but they also lost Mathieu Chalme to Bordeaux, Johan Audel to Valenciennes, Efstathios Tavlaridis to St. Etienne, and Peter Odemwingie to Lokomotiv Moscow.

Their incoming players are mostly graduates from the youth academy, though the three signings of note are Luis Yanes from Independiente Santa Fé and Marko Maric from Egaleo. Naturally, no one except Puel knows who they are, but given the fact that Puel is Wenger-like in his ability to spot talent in obscure places, I don’t doubt for a second that Yanes and Maric will prove to be good buys for Lille. Puel’s third signing was Patrick Kluivert, who doesn’t need an introduction. He may be in his twilight years, but he’s still younger than Juninho, and not only that, he has lots of experience at playing in the bigger leagues and being a champion. No doubt Puel wanted him for his experience because Lille’s squad is otherwise rather green.

Oh, and Lille still possess the midfield beast otherwise known as Jean II Makoun, one of my favorite non-OL players. He’s such a badass and has a cool name to boot.

Two years go, Lille humiliated Lyon twice, beating them 3-1 at the Gerland and then 4-0 at Lille. How embarrassing. Last year Lyon won both games, though in the second one, Lyon were down 1-0 until the last ten minutes, in which they scored two goals. This year, Lille has won only one game out of eight, losing one and drawing six. Still, it only takes one game for a team to get out of their funk.

Lyon on the other hand will want to do well after the loss to Barcelona. It also doesn’t help that L1 leaders Nancy won their game against Lorient today, so if Lyon want to keep up (with Nancy!) they need to win. New boys Keita and Bodmer will especially be eager to play well against their old team.

Lyon info:

No new injuries to report, thank god. Perrin is still without Patrick Muller, as well as Fred, Gregory Coupet, and Cris. Also left out were the four promoted youth players, which is too bad, because I still am waiting for Anthony Mounier to make his L1 debut. But at least that means no Loic Remy!

Le groupe lyonnais: Vercoutre, Roux - Clerc, Réveillère, Squillaci, Anderson, Bodmer, Grosso, Belhadj, Fabio Santos, Toulalan, Källström, Juninho, Govou, Ben Arfa, Benzema, Baros, Keita.

Perrin said in his press conference that Cleber Anderson will play start and play a full ninety minutes, either against Lille or in the CFAs. Since Anderson has been named on the senior squad, it looks like Perrin will finally be making use of our newest CB, which will allow Bodmer to give up his defensive duties (yay!) and move back up to midfield.

Expected lineup:

Vercoutre
Reveillere - Squillaci - Anderson - Grosso
Juninho - Toulalan - Bodmer
Keita - Baros - Ben Arfa

I’m totally guessing this because after the Barcelona match, I’ve realized that I don’t know where Perrin gets his tactics from. I do know that Anderson will be starting. Given that it’s Lille, Bodmer and Keita will probably start as well. Additionally, Fabio Grosso, Hatem Ben Arfa, and Milan Baros hardly played against Barcelona and will probably get the nod. I personally would prefer Kim Kallstrom over Juninho, but Perrin seems eager to soothe Juni’s ruffled feathers. It could either be Francois Clerc or Anthony Reveillere.

I would like to see the 4-4-2 a la Metz with Ben Arfa as a striker behind Karim Benzema, but after all the fallout from his tactical changes, Perrin might opt for something a little more familiar.

Expected Results:

It’s hard to say, but given Lille’s form at the moment, perhaps 3-1 for Lyon. Lille has some quick and sneaky players who could probably get off a shot or two.

Viewing Options:

Oh yay!!! Setanta will be broadcasting this match. For those of you in NYC, Nevada Smiths will be showing it as well. And of course check here tomorrow for some streaming options.