Lyon vs. Nice
By: Inara | September 13th, 2008Sorry that this match preview is so late, but I’ve been on vacation for the last two weeks, and John, who has kindly been covering in my absence, is traveling as well. So this is going to be a little shorter than normal.
This is the fifth game of the season, and Lyon and Marseille are still tied for first place, with Marseille ahead due to more goals scored. So not only does every point matter, but every goal as well.
Match Background:
Nice have an absurdly good record against Lyon in recent years. Last season, they were the only team, both domestically and in Europe, not to concede a single goal to Lyon. Unfortunately for Nice, they lost their three best players in the offseason, with Bakary Kone heading to Marseille and with Hugo Lloris and his BFF Ederson signing for Lyon. Nice are also only one point off of Lyon, and if things go well for them, they could see themselves in first place.
Still, they’ve got a good array of players. Cyril Rool is still bossing things in the back, Olivier Echouafni in midfield, and Chaoki Ben Saada (who is Nice’s new #10). And of course, the very familiar Loic Remy is spearheading things up front. Remy has been having a great season so far, with two goals in the last four matches. He’ll be wanting to show Lyon what a mistake they made in letting him leave. Martha has more over at the Nice Offside.
As for Lyon, goals have been rather scare, and of the six goals scored so far this season, they came from only two players - Karim Benzema with four and Jean II Makoun with two. That means that the team still isn’t comfortable attacking together, though that is partially due to the number of injuries in the backline, which has everyone playing cautiously.
All in all, this will be a special match for several people. Both Lloris and Ederson will be facing the team they just left three months ago while Remy will be coming back to the club where he started from. I expect fireworks!
Lyon info:
Guh. More injuries to report. Not only is Francois Clerc out with a torn ligament, Kader Keita out with his arm problem, and Fabio Santos out because of a broken cheekbone, but Fabio Grosso has joined them in the hospital as well with two cracked ribs.
Good news is that John Mensah, Fred, and Cris have been deemed healthy enough to be included in the list of players.
Le groupe lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre - Réveillère, Cris, Bodmer, Boumsong, Mensah, Kolo, Toulalan, Juninho, Källström, Makoun, Delgado, Mounier, Benzema, Fred, Piquionne, Ederson, Govou, Pjanic
Besides Thimothée Kolodziecziak, none of the other kids were included (since Anthony Mounier is no longer a kid). Also, am I the only one who finds it amusing that even Lyon’s website staff have gotten tired of writing out Kolodziecziak and now just refer to him as Kolo?
Expected Actual Lineup:
Lloris
Reveillere - Cris - Mensah - Kallstrom
Bodmer - Makoun - Juninho
Ederson - Fred - Mounier
Besides Anthony Reveillere, the rest of the back four isn’t reassuring at all. Both Cris and John Mensah have been out for several weeks - in fact, this is Mensah’s debut. Kim Kallstrom is deputizing for LB, though I had been expecting Jean-Alain Boumsong there instead.
In midfield, it looks like Puel is giving Jeremy Toulalan a much needed rest after his hard work during international week. It’s rest he’ll need because a very tough game against Fiorentina is around the corner. Instead, we see the return of Mathieu Bodmer to midfield. Wow. Juninho also gets the start.
Up front is also different. Ederson has been switched to the right in order to accommodate Anthony Mounier, his first start ever in an official OL match. And Fred, everyone’s favorite lazy Brazilian, who’s been out for several weeks as well, will be starting in place of Karim Benzema, who is also being rested for the CL match.
Viewing options:
None really. If you are one of the lucky few that have TV5, they’ll be broadcasting the game. The only link I could find was one for TVants. If you guys come across any, please post in the comments!
Expected Result:
I’ll be cautious - another 1-0 win.
Category: Team News and Rumors
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Comments | Add your comment
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Fred did horrible today , the only thing he did well today was go down injured, as it helped increase Injury Time. Sad but true, and also funny.
as for Mournier, you can see he’s getting his feet wet, he has the pace to be an exceptional winger for us, just needs to lose the ball less and have his eyes up to see where people are, he could be used BEST as a second half sub or later, where his stamina and speed could be lethal.
Posted from
United States
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Yea i know what u mean. I was just more angry with him at the time because we were down by 2 and he missed some good chances.
Posted from
Canada -
So can you guys clear something up for me? What exactly was the back line? OLTV had it looking like: Reveillere-Cris-Mensah-Kallstrom, with Bodmer in midfield. But from the comments, it sounded like it was really: Reveillere-Cris-Bodmer-Mensah, with Kallstrom in midfield.
How did Mensah do, by the way? Clearly he and Cris have a ways to go before they develop understanding, but do they look ready for the Champions League? Or would it be better to stick Bodmer and Boumsong back there?
Posted from
United States -
to be completely honest, i barely even noticed Mensah, then again my sopcast link was shaky, but i never even noticed he was on the field. Cris looks like the cris the played against Man U, effective but a ways off from being his normal self
Posted from
United States -
the first half Mensah was one of our better players, disappeared a bit on the second, a better option than Kallstrom as LB if you ask me.
Posted from
United States -
Oh, and just for the record
9 goals
7(!) from set piecesPosted from
United States -
so dror, do those stats prove juni is awesome ? im confused lol
Posted from
United States -
they prove Juni is more than just a god, and OL without Juni is in trouble ^^
Posted from
United States -
Does anyone know if the games show up on EMule for download?
Posted from
Costa Rica -
Oddly I just came back from Gerland and I thought Fred had quite a good game, and the people on OL TV seem to share that opinion. I guess it’s a matter of perspective.
Inara > Kallstrom was in midfield, Bodmer with Cris.Posted from
United States -
Just seems like mostly everyone on this board likes to shit on Fred…he took the CBs out of the game and created space for Benz.
Posted from
United States -
Yeah Inara, Kallstrom was in midfield with Juni.
Posted from
United States -
not true Ray lol
I love fred, whens he’s playing for Lyon. But you have to remember that Fred has had issues in the past ( contracts, not coming to practice, fake or not fake injuries, arguemnt over playing time ) so we’re cautious of him, greatful ! but cautious.
As far as the game goes, he has little flashes of good play, but mostly i viewed him as a diversion today, whenever he had the ball defense would smother him, which is a good thing - as defenders lose track of benzema. But there were moments when he had the ball and he lost it very easily, had me scratching my head, maybe he was tired, i dunno :).
Posted from
United States -
Can anyone explain how the goals were scored. Were there any break-downs in the defense?
Posted from
Costa Rica -
I really don’t understand some of the comments here.
I was at the Gerland yesterday behind the net where 4 goals had been scored. And I watched Canal + highlights when back home. Here is my thoughts.Lyon ABSOLUTELY deserved to win. Nice shot 3 times to goal, Lyon did 28 times !
Nice : 2 goals because of 2 mistakes of Cris (and the defense in general) and one shot besides the goal.
And… that’s it !
All Lyon team played almost all the time in the Nice part of the pitch, especially in the 2nd half.
About the Juninho’s free kicks, nothing to say. Canal + showed that Piquionne wasn’t offside for the second goals.
About the penalty, I agree he’s really kind, the ref made a mistake.
BUT. There WAS an incredible penalty on Ederson not whistled in the first half. So that’s just justice.Lloris touched 3 or 4 balls. Maybe he has his fault on the Remy’s goal. I’m not sure. He dived. But the ball was really next to the post.
Mounier did a REALLY good game. He was a kind of Ribery, passing great, running everywhere and provoking all the time. He just missed some easy actions in front of the goal, but that was often with his right foot. We know he has to work that. Imagine that’s his first starting spot.
You all know how I love him for a long time. I was so happy for him.Fred was good, not so great. Just need time to adjust.
Ederson was fantastic. I really live this guy.
Physical and technical. Can be a great winger. A sort of mix between Malouda and Ben Arfa
Juni… you know what I think. So precious.
Makoun did the job, and was really great in the construction. This guy is the son of Juninho and Toulalan.
Bodmer was, as usual, our best defender yesterday. He really is our Laurent Blanc. As time goes, he seems to feel better and better.
Mensah was kind of lost sometimes. First game, in a position which is not his specialty, i can understand.
He tried to be really offensive, but he never really helped.Reveillere did the job, except maybe on the first goal.
We begin the game in a 4-3-3.
The second half time was a 4-4-2.Excellent coaching by Claude Puel. Nice was suffocating when we changed.
Kallstrom was not bad but not indispensable, to the contrary of Benzema who always attracted 2 Nice’s defenders. That let spaces for Mounier, Piquionne and Ederson.
Except the 2 mistakes which cost 2 goals, I really liked what I saw yesterday.
We have to be careful with our defense (but with all this injury… we do what we can !) and we’ll be ready for Wednesday.Believe me.
Posted from
France -
Just for information, here are “l’equipe” rates :
Lloris : 5
Mensah : 4
Bodmer : 5
Cris : 4
Reveillere : 5
Makoun : 6
Kallstrom : 5
Juninho : 8
Mounier : 6
Fred : 6 (Benzema : 6)
Ederson : 6For Nice, Loic Remy has the best rate with a 7.
The game is rated 5 stars (the most is 6 stars)
Posted from
France -
Jo : as for Remy’s goal, Lloris couldn’t of done much, the shot took a deflection from Bodmer making it nearly impossible to save.
Posted from
United States -
I don’t understand why Puel put Cris and Mensah in and started Fred when they’re just back from injury. Boumsong should have been paired with Bodmer. And putting Mensah into a postion he’s not used to playing on his first game back, especially with the amount of running you have to do at that position, doesn’t make sense. Lucky he didn’t hurt himself again.
Posted from
Costa Rica -
Dror : I’m allright with you. That’s what I saw from where I was in Gerland. But some people think Lloris made a mistake on that shot. We will never know if another goalkeeper would have stop that ball.
John : I think Puel wanted to give playing time to Cris and Mensah because they will play wednesday.
Posted from
France -
Also, I think Puel wanted to give some of his internationals some rest. Govou, Toulalan, and Benzema need to be in peak shape for the Fiorentina match. Plus Fred needed to play - this was his first game all season.
Posted from
United States -
Nice (as in the adjective, not the city;)) post of Jo, I agree with almost everything apart from Ederson who is not a winger IMO. He is too slow and doesn’t really go past players. He is more a build up player.
As for the starting line-up, Puel did well as he rested some of the key players (Toulalan, Benzema) for the champions League (Tuesday). He also gave the others a much needed playing time.
The 2 first goals were completely legitimate, as for the penalty, we all agree that no referee should whistle that, but the same thing happened in Valenciennes Grenoble, and not a lot of people talk about it in France while the Lyon penalty makes a huge impact. As Joe said, we should have been given a penalty (I thought it was on Fred not Ederson… can’t remember). So it all evens out in the end.
Posted from
Japan -
You’re right, it was on Fred and not Ederson.
I was on the other side of the pitch and the box was crowded, I thought that was Eder.Posted from
France -
Actually, I didn’t even see the game, just highlights, so don’t worry Jo, you know better than me what you talk about most of the time
(Au passage, pardon d’avoir egratigne ton nom dans mon message precedent)Posted from
Japan -
here’s how it looked to me from the VN:
juni’s 2nd FK i knew he was going to hit direct, there was rain pelting down my neck from the gap between the roof and the glass behind the stands, that was a hella wind he had behind him!
the péno looks gifted on slo-mo reruns, but i swear from 120m away you could see it big as a house, so the ref can’t be faulted too much for calling it.
notes on certain players: mensah was a rock on the left. bodmer is useful in games like last nights because he can really bring his game forward when you have a gang of badgers like nice dug into their hole. cris was at fault for both goals to some extent. anto was very good, once he took a ball from hellebuyk the way i’d take it from my 4-year-old niece.
juni was magnificent, even without the FK’s. mounier’s two problems were his cleats and his underestimating the level of engagement you need in L1 to win/keep balls… OGCN isn’t malta U-23’s! fred did great work anchoring the team high, back to goal; he can save benz a lot of time that way and they could make a very sweet pairing. källström… well let’s say we didn’t even notice he had subbed out at half until govou came in.
Posted from
France -
No offense, Pol
Actually, I cannot find the torrent of the game so I can’t confirm it, but I watched the highlights too, and the penalty you are talking about is about Fred, I agree.
But I saw another incredible fault on Ederson (I think that was him), but sadly the highlights do not show that incident.Posted from
France
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