Mini Derby: Lyon vs. Grenoble

By: Inara | August 22nd, 2008

This season is unusual in that for the first time in 45 years, Lyon will have derbies with two different teams. Even more unusual is that these derbies are back to back, with Grenoble tomorrow and St. Etienne the following weekend.

Of course, tomorrow won’t be as huge a derby as against Les Verts, but it’ll still be a lot of fun, with a sold out stadium and a record number of away supporters for Grenoble. In addition, Grenoble are currently in first place as the only team in L1 who won their opening two games. So I guess you could call this a top of the table clash (though the fact that it’s against Grenoble makes me giggle).

August 23, 2008
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
3 PM Eastern Time (21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT)

Background info:

As a newly promoted club, Grenoble doesn’t have much going for them on the pitch, but they have the most modern stadium in France and a whole host of passionate supporters. They also have the distinction of being the only foreign owned club in Ligue 1 – they are owned by a Japanese telecommunications company – though they were almost denied promotion because the LFP weren’t completely satisifed by their financial guarantees (this has since been resolved).

I’ve never had the pleasure of watching a Lyon-Grenoble match because Grenoble haven’t been in the topflight since 1962. I’m not wholly familiar with the players, but they have an ambitious manager in Mehmed Bažderević, and they brought in some experienced players such as Laurent Batlles from Toulouse, Ronan Le Crom from Lens, David Jemmali from Bordeaux, and Daniel Moreira from Rennes. Grenoble also brought in two young promising defenders, Zoran Rendulić from FK Borac and our very own Sandy Paillot (but he’s on there on loan and therefore not permitted to play against us).

Grenoble might be the minnows of Ligue 1, but they aren’t coming to Lyon to lose. Even though they know the odds are against them, they will be hoping for a surprise draw or even a victory. They’ve been waiting nearly half a century to return to the top tier of French football, so they’ll be going into this with all guns blazing.

Lyon will be hoping for all three points, especially since they dropped two at Lorient last weekend. They’re tenuously in third place at the moment, but Marseille are ahead of them and Bordeaux are right on their heels, so every point counts. This game is also another opportunity for Lyon to get into the right gear and start playing like champions.

Lyon info:

Francois Clerc’s surgery yesterday was successful, but it’s a long road to recovery. Lyon’s other long term injury, Fabio Santos, is currently healing from his broken cheekbone in Brazil. Kader Keita and Fred are still out injured – neither of them have played yet this season – though they are apparently close to returning and may feature next weekend against St. Etienne.

John Mensah is still recovering from the calf injury he got while at the Divonne-les-bains training camp. He has yet to make his Lyon debut, btw. Said Mehamha is also out though it’s unclear why. Thimothée Kolodziecziak, Lyon’s latest signing, is in the process of reaching the same state of preparation and fitness as the rest of the squad, so he’ll also be missing.

Le groupe lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre – Gassama, Réveillère, Cris, Boumsong, Bodmer, Grosso – Källström, Juninho, Makoun, Toulalan – Govou, Delgado, Mounier, Pjanic, Ederson, Piquionne, Baros, Benzema

Lamine Gassama will be backing up that RB spot, and FINALLY, Anthony Mounier returns to the list of selected players called up. I am so thrilled to see him. And once again, Mathieu Bodmer is listed with the defenders.

Expected lineup:

As we discussed in this post, Lyon’s best starting XI is still unknown. Puel has been changing things around in every game, especially the attacking lineup. It’ll be interesting to see what he tries against Grenoble. I for one hope to see some more experimentation – it’s a home game against Grenoble, what better situation could there be?

Lloris
Reveillere – Cris – Boumsong – Grosso
Makoun – Kallstrom
Govou – Pjanic – Ederson
Piquionne

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I hope that Jean-Alain Boumsong starts tomorrow. I have nothing against Mathieu Bodmer, but he’s a midfielder, and I strongly believe in allowing players to play in position. There’s no choice for the remaining three defensive positions (which is a very scary thought).

It’s probably safe to drop one of the DMs (I chose to leave off Jeremy Toulalan because he played 90 minutes against Sweden the other day). This frees up an extra space, so I’d like to see Kim Kallstrom return to the starting XI, especially after his great game against France. I would also like to spare Juninho so that he can be 100% for the big derby next weekend.

I’d like to see Miralem Pjanic in the hole behind the striker and Ederson reprise his role on the left wing. Or, I wouldn’t mind seeing Anthony Mounier start in that position (though I doubt it). I’d also like to give Karim Benzema a break since he also played an almost full game against Sweden. Frederic Piquionne should get his first start instead. If he can’t score against Grenoble, I don’t know what to say except that there is still time to sell him back.

Viewing options:

It’ll be tricky to find streams (I really miss soccers.fr), so once again, if you find a link, please please please share with the rest of us. Check myP2P and Rojadirecta for streams. I will do my best to return back to my apartment in time for the match, and if I do, I’ll try to find links. But again, please share if you happen to find one no matter what the platform.

Expected Results:

It should be a Lyon win. I’ll go with 2-0.