Lyon vs. Strasbourg

By: Inara | December 1st, 2007

Lyon have a point to prove after they failed to win their last two home matches, which were against Marseille and Barcelona. Coupled with Nancy’s loss to Le Mans today, Lyon have the chance to widen the gap between first and second place.

December 2nd, 2007
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
2:55 PM Eastern Time (20:55 in France)

Match background:

Strasbourg is one of those clubs that can’t decide if they want to stay in L1 or L2. They go back and forth every nearly every other year, faced with the fact that they are too good for the second division but not good enough for the first. Still, as promoted sides go, they’ve been doing really well this year, the best out of the three promoted clubs. Strasbourg are smack dab in the middle of the table in 10th place.

In 15 games, they have won 5, drawn 5, and lost 5. They’ve scored only 15 goals but have conceded 13 (which is sadly a better defense than Lyon). Their best striker with 5 goals so far in the season is Wason Renteria, currently on loan from FC Porto. They are coached by Jean-Marc Furlan, who was sacked after helping get Troyes relegated last season. Most expected Furlan wouldn’t last a month, but to his credit, he’s done a good job so far. If he can keep Strasbourg in L1 this year, it will be most impressive.

Otherwise, I don’t have much to say about Strasbourg. You can read Sam’s pre-season review of Strasbourg, but there isn’t much that makes this club special.

Lyon are sitting in their customary 1st place, albeit not so comfortably. Normally the club is used to having 15 point gaps between them and their nearest challengers at this time of the year, so the feeling of having another club breathe down their necks (in this case, Nancy) is unnerving. A win at home against Strasbourg will allow to club to get back to their customary pattern of winning.

Lyon info:

There is obviously something wrong with the water at the Gerland. Players just can’t seem to stay healthy! Today, I woke up to the cheerful news that not only is Fabio Santos out with an Achilles injury, but Fred has strained a thigh muscle and worse, Patrick Muller has again hurt his knee!

The injuries to Fred and Fabio Santos aren’t serious and probably won’t keep them out very long, but Muller’s re-injury is very worrying. He’s been out since the Peace Cup, was supposed to be back in early August, but then relapsed and has been out all these months. He’s been nearing a return to the team, playing in the reserve matches, but this is a huge blow, not just to him but to Lyon, who could really use some defensive stability.

On the bright side – if this can be considered bright – Milan Baros is available once again. Gregory Coupet is also back in full training but still not ready to make the bench.

Le groupe lyonnais: Vercoutre, Roux – Clerc, Réveillère, C.Anderson, Squillaci, Grosso, Belhadj, Bodmer – Källström, Toulalan, Juninho, Govou, Ben Arfa, Keita – Benzéma, Baros, Fred, Rémy.

Karim Benzema is also available, but Perrin said that he wouldn’t play Benzema unless he was 100% fit. Benzema will probably undergo a late fitness test tomorrow morning, but even if he is ready, I think Perrin will start Baros instead, with Benzema coming on only if Lyon are still scoreless and/or losing. Loic Remy has also made the squad, and after his promising performance against Barcelona, tomorrow he might get his first L1 minutes this season.

Expected lineup:

Vercoutre
Clerc – Squillaci – Anderson – Grosso
Bodmer – Toulalan – Kallstrom
Keita – Baros – Ben Arfa

So this lineup is a combination of what I expect and what I would like to see. I think Francois Clerc will start just because Anthony Reveillere played last Tuesday. I would prefer to see Nadir Belhadj over Fabio Grosso, but Perrin doesn’t seem to trust Belhadj. Juninho needs to rest, and Mathieu Bodmer needs to play. Also, Kim Kallstrom came in as a late sub against Barca, so he’s well rested too.

Jeremy Toulalan has no choice but to play because Fabio Santos is out. It’s worked out for the two of them because when one of them is available, the other isn’t, and when they are both available at the same time, Perrin will utilize both of them. I would also like to see Kader Keita start and either Sidney Govou or Hatem Ben Arfa given some rest, since both have been playing nonstop for the past couple of weeks, not just for Lyon but for France. Ideally, if Grosso does play, then perhaps Belhadj could play LW. And no choice about striker this time – maybe Baros could score some goals. At this point, he’s on the same page as Fred.

Viewing options:

As always, this is my favorite place to find streams. I’ll also post links in the comments of this post before the match starts. For Setanta and Setanta Broadband subscribers, this match will be aired as well. So YAY. In France, Canal+ is broadcasting this match.