Lyon vs. Nancy, Or: Pretending not to care about Bayern

By: Inara | September 26th, 2008

Claude Puel says that the only game he’s thinking about is tomorrow’s game against Nancy, but we all know he’s lying because next Tuesday is Lyon’s crucial match against Bayern Munich, a game that Lyon need to get at least a draw in if they want to keep their hopes of qualifying for the round of 16. So the question is, which Lyon will show up against Nancy? The seven times French champions or the pod people masquerading as the seven times French champions?

September 27, 2008
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
1 PM ET (19:00 CMT, 18:00 GMT)

Match Background:

It’s perhaps safe to say that Nancy aren’t the team they used to be two seasons ago – or even last season, for that matter. Pablo Correa built up a great side using old fashioned ingredients like team work, good coaching, and smart recruiting, but like all French clubs, Nancy saw their best players leave once they gained enough attention to merit a move.

In their 19 previous visits to Lyon, Nancy have walked away with a win only three times, and the last was in 1990. Lyon won 16 of those encounters, and there was a single draw back in the seventies. However, it’s also notable that despite losing at the Gerland for their last several encounters with Lyon, Nancy manage to keep the scoreline 1-0 (raise your hand if you’re surprised).

Currently, Nancy are in 13th place, with one win, one loss, and four draws. They’ve scored as many goals as they have conceded (four). This is obviously not the bright start that Nancy were hoping for, though that’s due in part to the departure of their two best players last season, Sebastien Puygrenier (who decided to jump ship for Russia) and Kim (who bizarrely chose to go to Qatar). But they did manage to keep hold of Michael Chretien and Gennaro Bracigliano, a terrific goalkeeper that doesn’t get noticed as much as he should.

Read more from Nate, who has a preview up on the Nancy Offside.

Lyon are currently in first, and with a four point gap over second placed Marseille, the club knows they have some space in which to operate. With the Bayern game coming up hard on the heels of the Nancy match, Puel is going to have to find a way to sort his priorities. Luckily, while the rest of the league was involved in the early round of matches for the Coupe de la Ligue, Lyon could take a breather because they have a bye until the next round.

Lyon info:

John already wrote up a detailed injury update, so I won’t repeat it here, except to say: WHY CAN’T LYON BE HEALTHY FOR FIVE SECONDS????

Le groupe lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre – Mensah, Réveillère, Gassama, Cris, Boumsong, Bodmer – Källström, Makoun, Toulalan, Pied – Mounier, Pjanic, Ederson, Piquionne, Fred, Benzema

Cesar Delgado, Kader Keita, and Fabio Santos will be playing with the reserves this weekend, as will Timothee Kolodziejczak. Sidney Govou is suspended because of the stupid red card he picked up last weekend against Le Havre. Though I suppose in hindsight this is a good thing because at least Govou will get some rest. Hmm, maybe Karim Benzema should pick up a couple red cards himself, in that case.

Expected Lineup:

Lloris
Gassama – Cris – Bodmer – Mensah
Ederson – Makoun – Kallstrom
Pjanic – Benzema – Mounier

The above lineup was totally random. I would like to see Anthony Reveillere take a breather because he hasn’t had a minute off since Francois Clerc was injured, but is Lamine Gassama ready? I’d be tempted to throw him out against Nancy, but he might not be ready. It’s also likely that we’ll be seeing more of the Cris and Mathieu Bodmer pairing in central defense because we need John Mensah to play as an LB. So Puel has to get his defense sorted in this match to be ready for Bayern.

Since Jean II Makoun was taken off early last week, I’m hoping that he’ll be the one who starts this match in order to give Jeremy Toulalan some more rest. It’s also possible that both will play against Nancy, but I think that’s overkill. Then again, Puel had both start against Le Havre, so…But if one of them is benched, that will give Kim Kallstrom some much needed time. Ederson also deserves a start after such solid performances over the last couple of weeks.

Up front, I think it’s likely that Puel will start Karim Benzema and then take him off early – that or bring Benzema on towards the end of the match and start Frederic Piquionne or Fred instead. Miralem Pjanic and Anthony Mounier should also be starting UNLESS Puel decides to put Benzema on the wing again. Which would be retarded, but for some reason, all coaches have a fixation with that tactic.

Viewing Options:

Good luck in finding this broadcast on television anywhere. You can check this site for links, and as always, if you find a good stream, please share with the rest of us.

Expected Result:

I’m going to go with a 0-0. Not to be a party pooper, but Lyon haven’t exactly been lighting up their attacking skills, and with Juninho injured and Karim Benzema thinking about the upcoming match, I don’t see much danger being created against Nancy, who are already really stingy when it comes to conceding goals.

Also, I’m going to be away from a computer all day tomorrow, so I’ll have no idea what the score is until late at night, unless someone wants to text me the match result…

But have no fear! I will have my fingers crossed all day for a Lyon win, even if I don’t think it very likely.