Lyon vs Montpellier

By: Megame | April 27th, 2011

A complete paradox. Rarely have we seen such a situation in which, despite the tight race in which the top 5 teams are engaged and for which every point can make a huge difference in the final ranking, one particular game is completely useless. In other terms, whether the Lyonnais decide to play at their best and win, or choose to just sit down on the pitch and have a little picnic between friends, is completely insignificant : they will still hold the third spot after the game.
But, paradoxically, in the meantime, by letting go they would have jeopardised their presence in CL next season. Why? Because a loss would leave them with the same points difference (7) with Lille, despite the Lillois losing ground against Lorient (1-1); and, more importantly, a loss would leave them with the same number of points as PSG (53), who are in a much better shape at the moment. A better goal difference than les Parisiens allows Lyon to remain on the third spot, but Nene, Hoarau, Giuly are all back firing on all cylinders, and OL players can feel their breath in their neck.

Lyon-vs-Montpellier

On the current form, the task of pocketing the three points seems within reach of an OL more or less at its level. Currently 10th and down from last week, Montpellier are targetting the 6th spot (currently held by Bordeaux) hoping for a European spot. Problem is, that means overtaking St Etienne, Lorient and Bordeaux, neither of which seems too keen to oblige. But, like their president (Loulou Nicollin, born in Lyon), the Montpellierains do not lack self confidence, and might well play the troublemakers if Lyon drops pressure at the end of the game, a pattern they seem to have adopted way too often lately.

So, despite the quality Montpellier is capable of displaying, Lyon are -again- likely to be their own worst enemy. Puel maintained it throughout the week, the title is still possible if we keep rock solid spirits, concentration and focus. So we’ll see how deep this went into the players brains (I’m told they do have one), and how it translates into sheer, faultless determination and efficacy.

The teams:

Montpellier:Jourdren – Bocaly, Stambouli, Yanga Mbiwa, Jeunechamps – Marveaux, Estrada – Belhanda, Dernis, Kabze – Giroud

Lyon: Gourcuff is dropped in favor of Ederson for a 4-4-2 Puel’s been thinking of since a few days in order to pair Gomis and Lisandro, Cris is benched so la Toule returns to DM:
Lloris-Réveillère, Toulalan, Lovren, Cissokho-Briand, Gonalons, Kallström, Ederson – Lisandro, Gomis

Allez l’OL!

Some Related Lyon Posts:

Category: Team News and Rumors

« From Nikhil, our new blogger: PSG vs. Lyon: All Hopes Lead To Paris! | Home | Toulouse vs. Lyon – Week 33: Now Or Nev.. well, maybe next week. »

Megame

That was too much to ask for : Lille, who kindly left a few points here and there in the previous games, refused to do so this weekend (well, it was against Arles Avignon, so I guess it must have been a pride thing) and inflicted a 5-0 drubbing to the poor club already relegated !

Rennes continues to struggle, they drew with Bordeaux. Let's now all cross our fingers to jinx the PSG's game!
Nikhil Apte

Didn't work out well. :P

By the way, Earth to Megame! 4 hours to the match, put it up please! :P
Megame

Unrelated to the game, but so much related to the club : Juninho just committed to his former club of Vasco de Gama for next season, for the incredible monthly salary of 330 dollars, ie 260 euros. He'll get bonuses depending of how well the club does in the championship and the various competitions such as Copa Libertadores, and moreover he'll get half of the advertising revenues of the club.
Nikhil Apte

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

This is an earlier one, though he hit another from about 25 yards yesterday night.
Megame

The keeper did well, but... it was unstoppable.
Megame

Good ol' Juni still has an awful lot of juice in him... What a player!
Nikhil Apte

:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

I'm hoping to catch the final tomorrow!

Edit: Couldn't. Tickets sold out. :-S
john

Did Toulalan get hurt? No one mentions this? Big problem: We only have one CB now! We should play with a 3-5-2 from now on.
Megame

Yes, Toulalan got hurt after 10 mins and was subbed by Cris. He has a knee ligament problem. It's too early to say how bad this is precisely, but according to an OL TV reporter who spoke to the club's doctor, he will miss from 2 weeks to the end of the season.
In any case, no Toulalan for the all important game against Marseille.
john

Didn't see the game. What did you guys thing about the 4-4-2? How did Gomis and Lilo look?
Megame

Actually, it looked more like a 4-3-3, as Eder kept attacking and Briand defending... ;)
john

What do you guys think about Planus? I've never seen him play. I read he's disgruntled at his lack of PT. Would he be a good fit for OL? Has anyone been following Ciani?
mrCham

I'm really happy for Ederson & Gourcuff, and the fact that we won, underservedly.
Megame

Yes, that's very comforting for both players, and both mentioned how much the support of their teammates running towards them to celebrate the goal touched them, especially Gourcuff. That's his most important goal of the season: He came onto the pitch with about 8 mins to go, and scored this goal which directly offered Lyon 2 crucial points.
Megame

Regarding the fact that we won undeservedly, I'd say it makes a balance with all the games that we lost or drew undeservedly, starting from the St Etienne derby which prompted a huge crisis inside the club.
Let's say it was a win a la Marseille, whose football is an insult to the likes of Lille for most of the season, but whose never say die attitude make them get the results, often at the last minute. Marseille may well become the weakest L1 champion I can remember, but history will not remember that.
As for OL, the hopes to see them win in style from start to finish are long gone, so let's just keep the hopes to see them win...
Aditya

It's not our fault that Lille cannot grind out results. They are always good in mid season. Their start & end of the season are usually poor. And we have scored only 4 goals less than Lille.
muffin

Actually we have 1 goal more than Lille, which means we're currently the best attacking team in Ligue 1! It sounds pretty unbelievable after a season like this...I guess that just goes to show you how much talent we have, but also how much clumsy, inconsistent and mentally fragile we are.
This game also showed it. Infact, it was one of the worst I've seen from us this season, but we grinded out a very positive result. But away to Tolouse we're gonna have to show a lot more, just like against Marseille. Unfortunately this amazing plan of putting Toulalan back to CB again backfired and we're gonna have to do with Gonalons in the middle who didn't impress me not even once in these last couple of games...
Stanley

did anyone else see kenny danglish at the game....=(
Megame

Yes, Sir Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool's manager, possibly scouting for Lloris or Cissokho...
Nikhil Apte

Time for the Clasico!
Megame

So here's the picture of the top 5 of Ligue 1 tonight:

1 Marseille 61 points, +21 goals difference
2 Lille 60 points, +23 goals difference
3 Lyon 56 points, +24 goals difference
4 Paris-SG 53 points, +14 goals difference
5 Rennes 51 points, +7 goals difference
Theo

We are in a good position to play CL next year.
sdzsdz

i hope so. we absolutely need to beat toulouse next week because we're playing marseille the week after and given the shape of our defense (could've lost or easily tied this game had it not been for montpelier's inability to finish) we can't take any chances and allow psg to gain any ground this late in the season.
Nikhil Apte

Too much excitement.
In the other game, Ayew hit all four Marseille goals!
AlexT

the Ayews* Jordan and Andre
Nikhil Apte

Hah! Thank you, looked at only the surname there. :P
sdzsdz

god, how many times our defense got exposed. even at the last second of the game...
Megame

I think this will torment us time and time again until the end of the season...
Megame

Final whistle. 3-2, pulsating game, and fortunately Lyon pockets the 3 points in the end.
Megame

Camara missed a 3-3 chance
Nikhil Apte

:O WHAT IS GOING ON!
AlexT

WHAT DID I FUCKING TELL YOU! GOURCUFF!!!!!
Megame

This may well be the most important goal he scored this season...
Megame

Yay! Gourcuff! 3-2!
Megame

Gourcuff on for Gomis
Megame

To add salt to the wound, it's an own goal from Cissokho...
Nikhil Apte

Tch.
Megame

F*ck. I knew this was coming. 2.2
Megame

Cris stretchered out
AlexT

if gourcuff doesnt get a run im gonna be mad
Megame

Delgado on for Ederson
Megame

1-1 at the break. Intense and lively first half, fairly pleasing to watch. Lyon had several opportunities, Montpellier missed a clear goal scoring chance. Shake up expected from Puel in the locker rooms...
Nikhil Apte

Gomis needs boots two sizes larger! We should recruit CLOWNS! :D

Oh, wait..
Nikhil Apte

New post, same old story! 1-1 at half-time.
So what else is new?

Al Jazeera +1 showing up as 'Warning - Searching for Signal' pretty much tells Lyon's tale. >.<