Lyon vs Marseille : Le Choc des Olympiques

Name them “Clash of the two Olympiques”, or “Olympico”, or “les sardines débarquent chez les quenelles” (can’t wait to see you guys running that one on Google Translation !), these games have become milestones of the Ligue 1 season, so football lovers – and broadcasters alike- love them.

But these popular encounters haven’t always been so eagerly expected, much less so than an OM-PSG, for instance. The reason is that Marseille’s golden era didn’t quite coincide with that of Lyon, and nobody knows that better than Rémi Garde, who keeps painful memories of his matches against Marseille. For his debut in D1 (the former Ligue 1) on July 21, 1989, Papin and Waddle had no mercy for the rookie’s first game at Gerland, inflicting a 4-1. “There was also a 7-0 at the stade Velodrome in 1991. I have a poor memory in general but this I remember very well.” You bet.

Then Lyon started to climb to the top, pushing the balance their way. As a result, since year 2000 these clashes have resulted in 11 draws -the most famous remains the historical (and hysterical) 5-5 on November 6, 2009-, 13 Lyon wins (including one 4-0 and two 4-1), and 6 Marseille wins. In the 12 times these games were played at Gerland, Lyon won 6 times, drew 4 times and lost twice.

Similar dynamics… one year apart
So, if the stats are with us, the start of the season showed the two teams on quite different trajectories.
Lyon, who started with a low profile after an unusually cheap recruitment, promoting a rookie as a coach, saw the wonders of unleashing the true potential of a team and as a result are yet to lose a game. If they win tonight they’ll get the top spot.

Marseille, on the contrary, is yet to win a game. They painfully managed to get 3 draws and 2 losses, and, as a consequence, are second from the bottom and therefore in the relegation zone. But fortunately they managed to get a win in C1 against Olympiakos. This painful start in Championship, salvaged by the C1, bears some similarity to the Lyon start of last season.

So it is obvious that the stakes are quite different tonight. OL has the opportunity to send OM 11 points away and probably push a direct competitor for the title into crisis. “This changes nothing for us, says Kim Kallstrom. Neither our approach nor what our content must be: we are here to win. We will do the calculations after the game, we all know do a little math … ”

Important players unavailable on both sides
In both cases team formation is somewhat of a gamble as key players are not available, and the coaches have no choice but to play experienced players sometimes out of position, and to tap into young players who are not yet the finished product.

The OM group
For Marseille, Andre-Pierre Gignac has not been included among the 18 players named by Didier Deschamps for the match in Lyon on Sunday. The former Toulouse is striker still suffering from the groin. Nicolas NKoulou is also suspended. As for Stéphane M’Bia, he hasn’t yet recovered from a foot injury. Result: the young Gadi and Sabo are given a chance to travel to the Stade Gerland.

Didier Deschamps did not want to reveal his intentions on how he would compose his team. Despite the victory in Greece, it is not clear whether he will want to stick to the team fielded against Olympiakos and not even stick to his tactical configuration, whatever it was ( Amalfitano speaks of a 4-3-3. Other observers analyze this scheme as a 4-1-4-1, with Remy lone striker. Deschamps guarantees that he has retained his 4-2-3-1… In a typical Puel style, he said that the most important is not the system : “What matters most is animation”
Anyway, with the return of Andre Ayew and Mathieu Valbuena, the Marseille coach may be tempted to give a chance to a more offensive team, but he surely won’t ignore the lessons of this Champions League match.

The OM group : Mandanda, Bracigliano – Azpilicueta, Fanni, Diawara, Traoré, Morel, Sabo – Diarra, Kaboré, Lucho, Cheyrou, Valbuena, Amalfitano, A. Ayew – Rémy, J. Ayew, Gadi

The OL group :
On the Lyon side, with captain Lisandro made unavailable due to injury, both the offensive balance of the team and its winning spirit took a blow. The subsequent trials to field Pied, then Grenier, in the absence of Licha were not really satisfying, although the latter looked better and is likely to be reconducted. The Ajax game also allowed Belfodil to get some playing time, whereas many observers were rather expecting always-expected-but-never-seen Lacazette. For once, Rémi Garde explained that he made this choice based on tactical aspects, and that there was no defined hierarchy in attack.
“The entry of Ishak in Amsterdam corresponded to the need to keep the ball in the feet so our block can go up. Alexandre is more of a box player and he may be a little less likely to keep the ball even though he is capable to do it. The hierarchy for me is the form! What the players show me from the beginning. There is no hierarchy to confine me in a predefined pecking order. The profiles of my offensive players are different ”

On the way to recovery, Yoann Gourcuff is finally not in the group selected by Remi Garde. (This week, the Olympique Lyonnais coach had maintained the suspense on the presence or absence of the playmaker). As expected, Cris and Ederson are also absent.
So the group is as follows : Lloris, Vercoutre – Réveillère, Dabo, Lovren, Mensah, B. Koné, Cissokho, Fofana, Källström, Gonalons, Pied, Briand, Gomis, Belfodil, Bastos, Lacazette, Grenier

The probable teams
MARSEILLE : Mandanda (cap) – Azpilicueta, Fanni, Diawara, Traoré – Diarra, Cheyrou – Valbuena, Lucho, Morel – Rémy
LYON : Lloris – Réveillère (cap), Koné, Lovren, Cissokho – Briand, Gonalons, Källström, Bastos – Grenier – Gomis

Allez l’OL !

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Category: Team News and Rumors