Monaco-Lyon : the end of a cycle. Or several, actually.

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Guys it seems Rémi Garde finally accepted to be the new Lyon coach... once Puel has left, of course, which may take some time to find a settlement.

I wish I'd read this sooner, because I would have had at least 5 hours of happiness! 
Olweb has issued a statement against this news. Damn!

There can't be anything but denial as for the time being Puel has a valid contract and is still in charge. Aulas is away on business and it will have to wait for his return as these matters have to be settled face to face.

So wait and see... 

Just watched France v Ukraine. I want Martin to come pair Gourcuff in midfield.

he looked really good - should be a regular in the mix for the NT. but i'd rather have pjanic and gourcuff start and play together.  pjanic deserves the chance to really show what he can do as one of the first XI, playing alongside another AM.  he's not really had that opportunity yet, and the club should show him some loyalty, rather than jump on a replacement for a player they did not give a real chance to.

Lets not believe what we read until we know more, would seem a strange transfer. Probably the most fucked up in my time as a Lyon supporter if it happens.

This article says Toulalan stays in OL 

http://translate.google.com/tr...

 However, Jeremy Toulalan is obviously likely to leave the OL if an offer came from Malaga for example, satisfy everyone.  But just see last words of that article

http://translate.google.com/tr...

Sorry for double post

Are we gonna bring new manager or what?! :(

I wouldn't be surprised if Puel stays because Aulas lost his mind in the last 5 years. I hope he sells the club to someone who has ambitions and it's hard to say this after he did great things with Lyon before he has gone crazy.

Don't exaggerate, my friend. Running a big football club isn't an easy job. Sure there's gonna be some mistakes, and some sacrifices have to be made. There's so much things going on right now. After 7 consecutive titles the fans have become impatient and spoiled all the while not realizing it's a bit thing staying a CL club for 12 straight seasons. And our new stadium is being slowly built, there has to be a lot of financial planning involved here.
But Puel staying? I think there's no way this happens. This season was a confirmation that with Puel we can't be sure we're gonna play CL next season too, and we need that money badly. I think the decisions being made to rebuild the team for the next season so far sound promising, except for that Toulalan transfer which sounds like a nightmare unless they have a plan to bring in M'vila.

Something is wrong with the JMA in the last few years,he won't admit that Puel was mistake.He desperately hope to Puel win something so he can prove he was right choice.I don't think selling would be good idea,this richs guys don't stay to long in the same club.I would like Bernard Lacombe to take charge :)

OL become stupid club!! From smart, strong club who have vision of success; now we are club without nothing! We sold aour player in Real, Barca for 20-30mil now we sold them to Malaga for 10mil; it's sad to OL fan in this days

If we continue this way,we will be average french club very soon...

Sad but true my friend.

is this really suppose to be some kind of joke jermey toulalon for 10mill and above all that MALAGA!!! I live in a city called Toronto where people always ask me why i support Lyon out of all teams when they see my car or my room and i always tell them Lyon is one of the best teams in the Champions league but if there gonna make stupid moves like this i think 5 years from now nobody will even know what the hell Lyon is

Do you remember the years 2005,06,07 where we were one of the favourites to win the CL and if the team stayed together along with one or two good investments we would have celbrated a CL victory till today. And I don't believe that all those players wanted so bad to leave. It looks more that Aulas wanted some money.

i remeber very well it was a mistake to get knocked out by Porto and than Roma and than bayern we had 3 good chances to win the champions league but they were all wasted

My favorite player retires. We payed 1mill for him!
http://www.leprogres.fr/multim...

Maybe we have financial problems....

Just more like wanting to trim down the salary and get out of the red.  It's a smart move: we have a plethora of "free" talent coming out of the CFA and we've gotten nowhere quick by spending big.  The payroll is ubsurd.  Gourcuff's slary is a big chunk of change.  We have like 8 of the twenty highest payed players in the league- only three Lilo, Toulalan, and Bastos are worth it- and the highest payed coach in L1 and look at our team. Couldn't we get similar results spending half the amount we have? But in Toulalan's case, it's that he wants to leave on his own; OL's not pushing him to leave.

Ok but 10 mil....This is absurd, we are robbed

No arguments here. You're preaching to the choir.  Especially since that owner has deep pockets. But this is what I don't get from Aulas at times: how he can sell so cheap at times and buy so outrageously high at others. Then again, if the player lets it be known that he wants to go, how much leverage do you have.

but 10mil cannot slove that problems; if we have problems

I remember looking at the finances a while back, and it seemed like Gourcuff's arrival- he's the highest paid player in the league now that Heinze is gone- was the tipping point. Management probably figures that, +10mill for the sale of Toul -3mill pr/yr 
in salary; +3-4mill for Kallstrom -3,7mill pr/yr in salary; +18mill for Bastos -3,4mill pr/yr salary; Throw in Ederson at 2,8mill pr/yr and you see how management's eyes must glisten at the prospects; I'm sure they're looking to throw Bafe in that pot, since he makes more than Bastos. You have a possible +35mill in player sales and a potential savings of 12.9mill in salary pr/yr. With that kind of money they could get three younger players with lower wages to fill the holes, which are really just one CB, and two DMs- if JT leaves.

Toul is worth around 15mill. That being said, it's more about cutting salaries and at least making a profit on sales to get out of the red, in management's thinking that is. I hate to see this happen, as we all do, but if it does, I really hope we can get Alou Diarra back. The two impedements there would be Diarra wanting to come back, and his salary is slightly high- on par with Ederson- but at 8mill, how do you go with M'vila or Moussa Sissoko who will probably cost just under twice as much.

Soo Toul is in Malaga or ?????' I read on many sports magazine that he is out of OL

I know but I don't understand how we can sell him so cheap

"I had a choice: it was either I prolonged my career and I was at OL, or
I was leaving. I chose to stay in Lyon and finish my career at this
club." I remember when you said this not to long ago. If this move is true then I have lost all respect for you monsieur Toulalan

IT'S ALL OVER THE PLACE: TOULALAN IS SUPPOSEDLY IN MALAGA:
http://www.footmercato.net/ol-...
All I can say is bring on M'villa or M. Sissokho if it's true, bec our midfield has just been blown open.

these fucking sheikhs...it was hard enough keeping our players from leaving to bigger clubs. now we have to keep them from joining shit teams with filthy rich owners as well 

10 million euros. what a joke.

They paid like 7mill for him. Ridiculous. If that's what they get for him, we should try for A. Diarra. I think he has a 7/8mill byt clause.

Why might Briand be leaving? Was under the impression he had a pretty good first season

It just says that OL wouldn't be opposed to selling if a good offer came in. Knowing that we have a surfeit of wingers e.g., Pied, Laca, "Lisandro," maybe Delgado- if he resigns- and Ederson if he stays, I wouldn't doubt Jimmymight be sold. The author is wrong in implying that Briand wasn't "transcendental":  such wasn't expected of Jimmy, and he performed very well, scoring several goals and had a handfull of assists. He more than filled the shoes of Govou, IMO.

Good synopsis of who's leaving/who's not: http://www.lyoncapitale.fr/lyo...

Hahah,according to this,we will sell even the CFA players :D

It says the CFAs will be incorporated into the squad.

This is stupid!! What they want to say? That OL will sell complete first 11; stupid!!

SG: it only says that Diakhate, and Bastos are the the ones that are probably out; Kallstrom maybe sold bec of his high salary. It says that Cissokho, and Ederson could leave, though no offers have come in, same with Pjanic. The author says that the re-signing of Delgado is a priority, and that OL might chose to sell Briand if the chance ever arose.  Don't know where it says 11 players will leave/be sold. Aulas said 4/5 players would be leaving, so the article is conservative by JMA''s statement.  

I'm overjoyed that Cabaye was snapped-up by Newcastle for 5mill. I hope Kallstrom decides to take a pay-cut of half his salary and stay on.

I think Remi Garde is actually quite a good choice and he does have some coaching experience.
He was an assistant coach of Le Guen and Houiller. In 2007 Arsene Wenger even tried to recruit him as the "Director of Football" for Arsenal. I can remember what a great player he was! He had an enormous tactic mastery.

I can't believe this Remi Garde business. Is this really the time, the team, or the situation to try-out someone with no coaching experience? I wish they had done it with Galtier. Anyway, that's what I get for complaining about Jean Fernandez.

is remi garde taking over puel's job? anyone know more about this?

That's indeed one of the options seriously considered by the Club. It is rumoured that Bernard Lacombe is pushing for him... That's the internal option, with at least 4 advantages: 

1- he knows the club so can be operational quickly (which is important as training resumes in 1 month)

2- his personality is about the opposite of Puel's, he is accepted and liked by everyone at the club

3- he's managing the training centre, so is very well placed to promote the best young talents and help them grow in the top team, which is Aulas' new direction

4- he's the cheapest option, being already working at the club as a normal employee. "Cheapest" meaning that, bar a raise of his current salary, the club would "only" have to pay 3 million euros for Puel's sacking.

I think #4 is the most important option to the club currently. That champaign spending spree of a couple of years ago is leaving us with one hell of a hang over.

http://www.footmercato.net/lig... 
Hope this is a bad joke. But it's the third time in the last couple of months I've seen it. Why bring in a player who's started once. Just resign Delgado. We already have a bunch of wingers.
The other thing is 30mill for a DM, Fernando? I know JMA loves giving his money away to Porto, but that's ridiculous.  

Interview with Aulas saying he wants to return to a more internal organisation as there is a generation of great players not being used like Grenier and Lacazette. Can only be a good thing, Lyon are a much more spirited side when using plays they've brought through in the academy. Which players are you all looking forward to seeing more of? I've hardly seen any of the youth team play. Any of them near the calibre of Benzema, or Ben Arfa when he was at his best?

 Lacazette could be a big star from what Ive seen.

I've had enough of loosing Remy's and Mounier's so I'm all for it. I want to see Reale play. Do we have any CBs with real potential of being starters one day?

Here are the first dates of next season:

1st July : players resume training.

6th August : Start of Ligue 1

Qualifying round : 1st leg 16 or 17 August, 2d leg 23 or 24 August

Udinese
Rubin Kazan
Dynamo Kiev
Trabzonspor
Panathinaikos
Twente

these are some of the clubs we're likely to face in the qualifying round of the CL.

if these are the teams were gonna face in the Qualifying round than surly were in i was scared we might come up against Bayern or Arsenal or Villareal or Benfica Although i would love to play Arsenal in the group stages i wanna see Lyon vs Arsenal that looks like a very intresting game

I've always wanted to play Arsenal, but in the late, late stages of the CL.

Here's the final picture of Ligue 1:

Rank  Team       Points       Won      Drawn      Lost         Goal Diff.
1       Lille             76          21          13          4            +32
2       Marseille       68          18          14          6            +23
3       Lyon            64          17          13          8            +21
4       Paris-SG       60          15          15          8            +15
5       Sochaux       58          17          7           14           +17
6       Rennes         56          15          11         12            +3
7       Bordeaux      51          12          15          11            +1
8       Toulouse      50          14          8            16            +2
9       Auxerre        49          10          19           9             +4
10     Saint-Etienne 49           12          13          13           -1
11     Lorient          49          12          13          13            -2
12     Valenciennes  48          10          18          10            +4
13     Nancy           48          13          9             16           -5
14     Montpellier     47         12          11          15             -11
15     Caen             46          11          13          14            -5
16     Brest             46          11          13          14            -7
17     Nice              46          11          13          14           -15
18     Monaco          44          9             17          12          -4
19     Lens              35          7             14          17          -23
20    Arles-Avignon   20          3             11          24          -49

Game over, 2-0, we're third, Monaco are relegated.

Pied and Bastos on for Licha and Delgado

Today seems to be the festival of the most heavily criticized OL players: first Diakhaté scores, and now Cissokho sends a caviar of a cross right onto Licha, who just has to adjust and shoot...

2-0!!

Wow! Hugo stops it on the line!

And PSG trails just in time!

Things are starting to look good indeed.

We can now expect a flurry of Monaco attacks...

WHAT!

It's a good thing his cycle isn't completely over yet ;)

Yay! Diakhaté!

Crap... How could this ball not get in, Licha?

Brilliant save by Hugo. Pfeww...

Oh Toule, what was that?

So far, we're third, all the more than PSG currently draws with ASSE.

Look at Sochaux go!

Overall, Lyon dominated, showed nice things and were never really in danger; yet, one can feel that it could easily go either way.

Half time, 0-0.

Crap, almost...

I hope this is the end of Diakhate's cycle too.

Diakhaté got his yellow, we can tick the box.

Crap! That would have deserved a goal! Well played by Briand

The strength of the impacts between players shows the importance of this game to both teams...

Wow, Briand played a dangerous game here, the penalty kick wasn't far away...

Beautiful article and very very well structured, Megame! :D