Nantes vs. Lyon
By: John | May 12th, 2009
Week 35
Tuesday May 12, 2009
Stade Municipal de Gerland
3 P.M. (21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT)
The images of OL’s disgraceful 2-1 defeat to Nantes in their last meeting- back in week seventeen, right before the winter break- just popped-into my head and my stomach is getting queezy. Well, perhaps “disgraceful” is a bit harsh: the team played well except for two defensive mistakes by solid players- Toulalan and Gassama- that cost us the match, allowing Klasnic of all people to score twice in one match- that one game was an early Christmas gift which gave him almost half his goals for the season; Klasnic is doubtful for Tuesday.
Regardless, if it weren’t for the fact that Lyon are hanging-on by a thread to third place and the final CL bearth, this match probably wouln’t be worth tuning-in for; it’s a relegation battle: Nantes trying to stay in L1, Lyon trying to stay in the CL. I’m actually more scared of Nantes than upcoming Marseille: first, OL in their current putrid form couldn’t beat a fifth division squad, and second, Nantes is probably more hungry, needing a win to continue trying to claw their way out of the relegation zone. The worst part is that, of the three teams facing relegation- Le Havre, Nantes and St. Etienne- Lyon is tied with one of them- Le Havre- in wins in their last twelve games; have one more win than St. Etienne, and three more than Nantes. In other words, we are playing like a relegation team, just not battling like one. Indeed, I wish OL had half of the urgency which these teams are displaying now.
Hopefully, Lyon’s little “vacation” to Evian this weekend-(1-0) win- will lead to a change in attitude on the pitch.
Nantes’ Form: They are 1-4-7-that’s one win in their last twelve- their single win coming against Nice three matches ago. Funny, that both portions of Lyon’s and Nantes’ fan bases- even though the teams are at opposite ends of the table- have become proactive in voicing their dissapointment lately, due to their clubs’ horrid form: Lyon fans had a sit-in with Puel a while back to voice their concerns, but Nantes fans have gone much further: some of the fans’ displeasure at the prospects of being sent back to L2 next season- after spending last season there- saw a group of about thirty supporters organize small demonstrations that had to be broken-up by police and saw another group of about fifty supporters, accost and verbally abuse team president Waldemar Kita while he was with his family! First, they ruff-up Fabien Barthez and now this!
History: This will be the thirty-ninth meeting between the clubs. Lyon are 16-10-13 vs. Nantes. Before this last 2-1 loss in December at Nantes, Les Canaris had not beaten OL since Dec of ‘96; that’s eleven matches. Lyon have won the last four at Gerland.
Injuries/Abscences: Clerc is out,Bodmer hurt his calf during the Grenoble friendly and Keita is out; not sure if it’s due to injury or personal reasons.
Govou is back and played the last half of the Grenoble friendly, Juninho is back from the groin-pull he suffered at Valenciennes, and Makoun is back from suspension.
Also, Fabio Santos who is on his way out of Gerland after an altercation with Puel ,when he was subbed for Kallstrom after halftime of the Valenciennes match, will miss the game. Fabio picked a really bad time to have a melt-down: Aulas hasn’t been a happy boy lately with OL’s dismal form and visions of Euros slipping-through his fingers due to no CL bearth. So JMA brought his full wrath down upon Santos by stating that he will be sold, end of story. Santos recieved a ten-day suspension on Tuesday, but probably won’t set foot on OL facilties again anyway.
Le groupe : Lloris, Vercoutre – Mensah, Cris, Boumsong, Réveillère, Grosso – Toulalan, Källström, Makoun, Juninho – Govou, Delgado, Ederson, Pjanic, Mounier – Piquionne, Benzema.
Line-up:
Lloris
Revelliere-Cris-Boumsong-Kallstrom
Toulalan-Juninho
Pjanic-Ederson-Mounier
Benzema
Predictions: Hopefully OL can build on their slight victory in last week’s friendly at Grenoble where Pjanic scored the only goal. Lyon have dropped 19 points at home this season! I’m inclined to think that the drought will continue, and coupled with Nantes’ more feable form will translate to a 0-0 draw, but I’ll be more upbeat and go with a 1-0 Lyon win, now that hopefully they have a little more confidence with their win at Evian, and hopefully some winning momentum to build-on.
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Comments
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Good Article. I love this paragraph:
“Therefore the club cannot, and must not pay, €18 mil for the very over-rated turned absolute dross 26yr old record signing Kader Keita without a view to make profit or break even by selling him to Europe’s top guns. Aulas’ brilliant transfer nuance appears to be waning as he continues to spend aimlessly by crowding the midfield with players of the same abilities (Bodmer, Makoun, Ederson, Anderson, Fabio Santos), replace a young promising striker (Loic Remy) with an old “shit on a stick” (Frederic Piquionne), and fail to sign adequate defensive reinforcements to cover the injury suffered by Cris in the mold of Boumsoung, or the departure of Squillaci with the former Rennes man Mensah.”Posted from
Costa Rica
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Maybe it’s time to buy big name, Robinho from Man. City. At least try to buy him. Image squad with Robinho, Quaresma, Ederson, Gourcuff, Bruno Alves.
Lloris
Clerc Mensah Alves Grosso
Toulalan
Quaresma Gourcuff Ederson
Robinho
Benzema
Or without Robinho:Lloris
Clerc Mensah Alves Grosso
Toulalan Makoun
Quaresma Gourcuff Ederson
Benzema Gomez ( Dzeko, Gilardino)That will be good squad.
Posted from
United States -
This was the point I was getting at: we are paying way too much for L1 talent lately, and if these players do become great and catch the interest of the larger clubs, will JMA be able to make a profit- like he did on players in the past- or at least break even?
I think the author’s criticism of JMA’s recruiting is a bit off. It’s true the midfield is overpopulated, the players that he brought in at the end, were very talented impact players e.g., Ederson, Makoun, Pjanic, etc., and where must buys. I think this summer the midfield will be thinned-out. L. Remy became a striker at Nice. Before that, he was a young, right winger at OL who was competing with three veteran players for the same spot(Govou,Keita, and Delgado) and needed playing time, so he was loaned-out with a buy-out clause.
I think Piquionne was Puel’s decision, and there wasn’t alot on the market on the time from what I remember- overpaying for R. Oliveira didn’t seem smart to then use him as a third option- remember, management still had some insane idea that Fred was going to resign. Boumsong was a good purchase: he’s been very reliable, played much better than Cris, and there wasn’t much on the market at the time anyway. Bringing in Mensah for Squillaci seemed like a good move, except that his pricetag was inflated, and his injuries have negated any valuable contribution this season. We’ll have to see when he has a full season.
I love that “shit-on-a-stick” comment about Piq. LOL.Posted from
Costa Rica -
Signing Robinho simply wont happen.18mill for Keita was ridiculous,he had one good season(good-not fantastic)and prior to that he played in Lille reserves,Ivory coast,Quatar and Tunisia also UAE I think that tells its owne story,I mean for that price you could have had Quaresma,Milito,Carrick the list is endless of players to sign for that amount,now hes worth jack shit 3mill tops so we might as well release him. I think hes had one good game for us in almost two years and that was against Monaco last season.Lille must be pissing themselves with laughter actually as they sold us Keita and Bodmer for a total of 23.5 million euros of which virtually none of has been payed back by either player.John,there will always be better options to sign than Piquionne and Boumsong even if you go to norway to look . As you mentioned Oliveira who is MUCH better than Piquionne but also Diego Milito we could have had soo easily-big,big shame
Posted from
United States -
.As for Boumsong-there are 1000s of better CBs we could have purchased but its not just Boumsong we lack depth there not to mention quality also. I was wondering at Madrid and all these big ass other clubs they have presidential elections-now seeing as Aulas is Lyons presidant can we finally get him to leave,the man whos going to eventually drag us to being the new PSG-falling from grace. Come on signing Robinho,Gourcuff etc isnt going to happen but Quaresma could come im sure he is an intelligant option.
Posted from
United States -
I think Petter Hansson has always been a solid CB wherever he has been-Heerenveen,Sweden etc also he is experienced and would reunite him with Mensah-the pair formed a good parnership at Rennes. Plus he would cost a pittance. Also Mohammed Sarr a no nonce CB at Standard Liege who I saw have a heroic game at Liverpool last year hes young and I feel a Hansson-Sarr parnership would be so so solid that even the likes of Barca and Man U would have a tough time.I have already explained Quaresma he is such an oppertunity for Lyon I feel. Then Remy,Bastos,Luyindula and a target man forward and we are sorted(possibly Tulio De Melo if he can recover from his injury and show his 07/08 form)Also Gabriel Heinze
Posted from
United States -
My squad for the 09/10 season is-Loris,Vercoutre,Hartock,Reveillere,Gassama,Clerc,Boumsong,Hansson,Sarr,Mensah,Heinze,Grosso,Toulalan,Makoun,Ederson,Bodmer,Kallstrom,Pjanic,Govou,Delgado,Quaresma,Bastos,Mounier,De Melo,Benzema,Luyindula,Remy.
loan out Paillot,Kolodziejczak,Faure,Beynie,Valdivia,Mehamha,Grenier,Tafer,Lacazette. LOAN-dont sell because at least one of them will probably be good enough to return and get first elevan. On the whole I think that squad is talented and definately capable of shocking the CL under the right guidance.
Posted from
United States -
with the first 11 as
Lloris
Clerc-Hansson-Sarr-Grosso
Toulalan-Ederson-Makoun
Quaresma-Benzema-BastosSubs-Vercoutre Reveillere Mensah Boumsong Heinze Bodmer Kallstrom Pjanic Govou Delgado Mounier Luyindula De Melo Remy Gassama. I think that squad would be as good as the Essien days,possibly better its all up to Aulas and Puel-they can choose to fuck OL up or make us competitive
Posted from
United States -
yawn…
so any injury updates, so we can know who will be available for the next match.
Posted from
United States -
Its annoying to see Brandao with Marseille he cost 1mill less than Mensah and only two mill more than Piquionne and he looks a really good striker
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Makoun’s are second highest scorer now. I don’t see how anyone could think of sitting this guy down for any of our other CMFs other than Ederson.
Posted from
Costa Rica -
A beautiful day! Shame these slime didn’t get a bigger beating: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elv4ZKRnq3M&feature=related
Posted from
Costa Rica -
I didn’t know Bousouffa plays mainly as a left winger at Anderlect. I guess that means Bastos is out of the recruiting picture.
Posted from
Costa Rica -
Lloris
Clerc Miranda Mensah MathieuMakoun Toulalan
Ederson/pjanicQuaresma Benzema Michel Bastos
With Gignac rotating with benzema. I think this could be a world class team, able to play very free flowing football forwards. If Bastos goes Bayern we could get that bousaffa guy.
Posted from
Norway -
aleks: you have dilema between Ederson and Pjanic. Pjanic can’t replace Ederson. And we could have Bastos this winter. He clearly said that he work under Puel in Lille, and he want to continued to work with him in Lyon. But we always calculate and wait. Now when Bayern is in the game, we want him.
John: that was the legendary game. Lyon was in that time club who can beat anyone. I miss this time. Remember games:Lyon – Real 3-0
Olympiakos – Lyon 1-4
Werder – Lyon 0-3
Lyon – Werder 7-2
Lyon – Real 2-0
Kiev – Lyon 0-3
Marseille – Lyon 1-4
Lens – Lyon 0-4
Lyon – PSG 3-1
Lyon – Lille 4-1I cannot forget that results.
Posted from
United States -
I mix little bit results, but you all know that this results are from 2004.-2005., 2005.-2006. and 2006.-2007.
Posted from
United States -
This is not good news, but if Juni leaves, we must buy Gourcuff.
Posted from
United States -
What are Lyon signing Boussoufa ?
Posted from
United States -
I think its harsh on Fabio Santos that he was released by the club,a disagreement about a substitution must happen every week in every league,would Lyon release Benzema if it were him who had the disagreement ?I know Santos was not really that important to us because of Jeremy and Jean with defencive midfield duties but I think at a club like say Lille or Toulouse he would be a good player.Harsh by the club.
Posted from
United States -
There are some rumors about Gallas leaving Arsenal for one of French heavyweight teams this summer.
Posted from
United States -
Milan wants 15 mil for Gourcuff. We cannot wait. We must go into action and buy that young man.
Posted from
United States -
-I Juni leaves- which he probably will- we MUST get Bastos to have a free kick specialist.
-Gallas will go to PSG- the elephant grave yard of French soccer,or Marseilles.
-There is now way Bordeaux will not sign Gourcuff. And if they don’t, Milan will not sell unless it’s for around 20mill I imagine. I think Bordeaux signs him and sells him for double in a year or two.Posted from
Costa Rica -
Bs.com states gourcuff wants to go back to milan, which i believe may be true, as he wants another chance.
Posted from
Norway -
He would be foolish to go back there and too the bench. He should stay at Bordeaux and get better. One day he’ll be at one of the bigger clubs and make Milan regret their decision.
Posted from
Costa Rica -
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