Lyon vs. Nice

By: Inara | December 14th, 2007

This is going to have to be an abbreviated match preview because I’ve been mad busy at lab. Tomorrow, Lyon will be facing Nice, a side that’s been punching above their weight since the start of the season. Normally, Nice hangs out near the relegation zone, but right now, they are in 7th place and look to continue their run of good performances.

December 15, 2007
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
11:00 AM Eastern Time (17:10 in France)

Match background:

When Nice came to the Gerland last year, Lyon were going through their crap streak, and after the match was over, you could tell Lyon was close to hitting rock bottom. In the space of one month, they had lost to Toulouse, Bordeaux, Marseille, Troyes, drew against Nice and Roma, and barely managed to eck out small wins against giants such as Lorient and Laon.

During that Nice match, the highlights were Fred missing a penalty, and Jeremy Toulalan providing the assist for Nice’s goal. It was just bad, bad, bad. In fact, it was so bad that Toulalan was subbed out (you can count on one hand how many bad games Toulalan has had since coming to Lyon). Nice on the other hand were ecstatic because they never expected to leave the Gerland with a point.

Tomorrow, Nice will be extra determined and will be gunning for the full three points. They possess some very talented players, including Bakari Kone, Hugo Lloris, and Ederson (the last two are players I would love to see at Lyon). Also, Nice has conceded less goals than Lyon, so they won’t make it easy for us.

Lyon on the other hand are exhausted from the Rangers match. The club is rather upset at the LFP because they are forced to play Nice two and a half days after their gruesome trip to Glasgow. They were so upset that they released an official statement about it.

Regardless, Lyon do need to win if they want to hold onto their lead. Last week their loss at Caen was forgiven because of the Champions League, and it was further helped because Nancy only managed a draw, which kept the gap at four points. But tomorrow, Nancy are away at Strasbourg, and I don’t see them losing. The plus side of a Lyon victory is the the rather pretty (yet totally meaningless) title of “Champion d’Automne,” which basically means Lyon are champions of the first half of the season.

So umm…yeah…Lyon need those three points.

Lyon info:

Surprisingly, Fred and Fabio Santos are still out. What is up with that? When they first got injured, it didn’t seem like a big deal. But it’s alright because I would rather they come back 100% healthy so that they don’t face re-injury. Last year, I got the impression that some of the players (ahem…Karim Benzema) were rushed back to fitness too early. Better that the club allow the players to return only when they’re fully fit.

Le groupe lyonnais: Vercoutre, Roux - Réveillère, Clerc, Grosso, Cleber Anderson, Squillaci - Toulalan, Juninho, Källström, Bodmer, Keita, Mounier, Ben Arfa - Baros, Govou, Benzema, Remy.

Nadir Belhadj is also out because of the stomach flu. I was surprised not to see Sandy Paillot on the list because there are only two central defenders listed, but I guess there is Mathieu Bodmer just in case.

Expected Lineup:

Vercoutre
Clerc - Squillaci - Anderson - Reveillere
Bodmer - Toulalan - Kallstrom
Keita - Baros - Ben Arfa

Undoubtedly, Perrin will be rotating his squad. Given that Fabio Grosso seemed to have a more intensive match on Wednesday than Francois Clerc, I would expect that Grosso be dropped. Despite Belhadj’s absence, Anthony Reveillere is capable of playing on the left side. I wish Perrin could drop Jeremy Toulalan, but until Fabio Santos returns, he’s our sole defensive midfielder. Juninho will probably start from the bench, with Bodmer taking his place. Up front, Sidney Govou and Karim Benzema can take a breather while Kader Keita and Milan Baros get some much needed time. If the match is going in Lyon’s favor, Loic Remy can come on for Hatem Ben Arfa.

Viewing options:

You can try to find streams here. Unfortunately, I won’t be around while this match is taking place, so I won’t be able to post streams in the comments tomorrow. So if any of you guys find a good stream, I’d appreciate it if you could post it for the others.

Expected Result:

It’s important that the squad not push themselves. A much more important match awaits Lyon next week, where they will travel to Nancy, Lyon’s closest challengers. It’s also an important match because Lyon have never won the last match before winter break since they won their first title. I’m sure Perrin & Co. are anxious to break the hoodoo.

I’m hoping for a nice, comfortable, and most importantly, an injury-free 1-0.