Lyon vs. Nancy: Please Don’t Screw This Up

By: Inara | May 9th, 2008

I was hoping that the most decisive game this year wouldn’t be against Nancy, whose players are anything but “Nancy boys.” But thanks to Lyon taking their title run a little too casually this season, the only way to ensure their glory is to overcome France’s best defense - a defense that could very well be in the Champions League next year.

May 9, 2008
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
2:45 PM ET (20:45 CET, 19:45 GMT)

Match background:

Bordeaux are only TWO points away. And with two games left, Lyon have can’t afford to lose tomorrow. Assuming Bordeaux win their games against Sochaux and Lens (both are relegation candidates), Lyon have to get a win and a draw in their games against Nancy and Auxerre. That would put Lyon and Bordeaux on even points, but Lyon have the better goal differential. Of course, it would be better for Lyon to win both games. Champions are supposed to win, right?

Problem is, Nancy are a BITCH to play against. They have the art of defending down so well that they really ought to play in the SPL. They have the best defensive record in the league with the fewest number of conceded goals, the fewest number of losses all season, with six, and have yet to lose at home. Their playing style is more like a work ethic, and while I wouldn’t call it kick-and-rush, Nancy do practice the art of defending from the front.

However, though they have only conceded 27 goals, they’ve only scored 42, which while respectable, is hardly prolific. That’s nearly 30 less goals than Lyon, and 12 less than Marseille, the team fighting Nancy for that third Champions League spot. Part of the reason goes back to their policy of defending - when even the strikers are forced to track back all the time, they’re often too tired to take care of the business up front. Not that Correa minds that much. He’s famous for saying this: “I love 1-0 wins. It means we’ve attacked well and defended well …the perfect combination!”

Nancy have some talented players. Their top scorer is Youssouf Hadji, with seven league goals this year. Kim and Marc-Antoine Fortune have each scored six. Both Mickaël Chrétien and Sebastien Puygrenier are terrific defenders that would be welcome even at Lyon, and their goalkeeper, Gennaro Bracigliano, is quality as well.

I admit, I like Nancy. They’re so hardworking and plucky. They don’t have a lot of money - in fact, they have one of the smallest budgets in the league - but they’ve proven that they don’t really need it. Nancy was the only team this summer that didn’t make a single summer signing. They sold a few, but that was it. Correa had such faith in his squad (and Nancy’s reserves and academy players) that he was convinced he didn’t need anybody else. Looking at where Nancy are now and what they have accomplished this year, Correa was right.

Mind you, I think Nancy are a little too idealistic, and they aren’t my choice for the Champions League (they don’t have the bench for it), but there are lot of things Lyon could learn from their northern neighbors. Correa is well loved and respected by his players (what a novel concept!), the team is unified in their ambitions, and for them, the sky is literally the limit. Success is too new and still too infrequent that no one over there is jaded by it, and even small victories are celebrated with great cheer.

Lyon on the other hand have been blah recently. One win in the last five league games is hardly something a champion should be proud of. Their 70 league goals don’t hide the 36 they conceded. And in terms of enthusiasm, it’s been practically non-existent among Les Gones.

But the stakes are high - for both teams. Lyon need to win because they want that title, but Nancy need to win because they want to consolidate their third place spot. Just as Bordeaux are only two points off of Lyon, Marseille are two points off of Nancy, who still have to play Rennes next weekend (whereas Marseille only have to play Le Mans and Strasbourg). So it would be foolish to think that Nancy will do anything except come at Lyon with all guns blazing.

Lyon info:

There were some concerns that Juninho, who took a knock to his knee against Sedan, wouldn’t be fit to play. But the doc gave the all clear, and he’s been included on the team sheet.

Le groupe lyonnais: Coupet, Vercoutre - Grosso, Squillaci, Boumsong, Cris, Clerc, Reveillère - Toulalan, Källström, Bodmer, Crosas, Juninho - Govou, Delgado, Ben Arfa, Keita, Benzéma, Fred

Also, Patrick Muller will be playing with the CFAs against Red Star Paris, so let’s keep our fingers crossed for him, okay?

Expected lineup:

I imagine Lyon are still pretty beat from their arduous midweek game against Sedan, so hopefully Perrin will be rotating some players.

Coupet
Clerc - Squillaci - Cris - Grosso
Juninho - Toulalan - Kallstrom
Govou - Benzema - Ben Arfa

Is it a good thing or a bad thing if you’re still not sure what the starting CB pair is? Just when I think that Jean-Alain Boumsong is #3 on the depth chart, Perrin benches Sebastien Squillaci. Since Boumsong started last time, I’m going to assume it’ll be Squillaci this time. Maybe he’s going to try to do what he does with RB, which is alternate players every other week.

In midfield, Juninho is sure to start since he didn’t start against Sedan. It’s a toss up between Kim Kallstrom and Mathieu Bodmer. I personally think Bodmer had a better game than Kallstrom, but Kallstrom was subbed out while Bodmer played the entire 90 minutes.

Up front, Sidney Govou is totally refreshed while Karim Benzema came on as a sub against Sedan. Fred on the other hand had a shittastic game, so I don’t want to see him start. Which means he probably will. But I would rather Hatem Ben Arfa start. Even if he didn’t accomplish much last time, players like him will always cause a team like Nancy a lot of problems, more so than a static player like Fred.

Viewing options:

All L1 games kick off at the same time this weekend, so I’m not sure how many streams there will be. Then again, this is a crucial match, so hopefully there will be some sopcast links. Check here.

Expected results:

3-0!!! This is Lyon’s last home game of the season. We fans deserve a show!