New coach, practically same team: what can we reasonably hope for this season?

The new post is online, that's the end of this thread. 

Congrats, guys, it's been really interesting to read, you guys are a great bunch of commenters!

Can't wait, can't wait when the new will start) It's only 4 hours left!
I hope with a new couch we will show our ability and game, that we used to play 3-4 seasons ago)
About transfers: I think we have a rather balanced team at the moment and in my opinion the only one position we need to strengthen is DM (it's obviously :) ) (of course, if no one left our team until August). I mean Bastos or Pjanic, then we need a winger or AM.Good Luck Lyon today with Nice!Allez Olympique Lyonnais!!

Good luck against Nice. I want Bastos & Ederson to leave. Kallstrom too, but I doubt he will. I want to see Lacazette, Pied be given more chances on the wings and Grenier etc in midfield. It might result in a poor Champions League campaign and a tough battle to finish in top 3. But in the long term it will benefit Lyon more. Why couldn't PSG be interested in Ederson or Kallstrom!

If all 3 will leave, we will have a big problem in midfield, especially on wings and on position of DM (on wings only Briand left and Pied (in last season, in my opinion, he wasn't good enough), Lisandro not winger) and only one DM left - Gonalons (his play depends on mood).
But about Kallstrom I agree with you and if Bastos will leave, it wouldn't be bad too.
What about youngters: all should have a little bit much time on pitch (maybe excluding Pied)

P.S. It's also very great, that on WC U-20 in Colombia, 7 players from France squad are from OL (the first position). There are no players from Lille, PSG and Marseille...

I guess were facing Rubin kazan i wonder how Lyon will cope with the weather in Russia

It's not a guess, unfortunately, it's a certainty. I consider this the worst possible draw for Lyon. Weather is not so much of a problem (we'll face them in the second half of August); but the real problem is Rubin Kazan is in the middle of their season, standing at the fourth place of their championship, and just went past Dynamo Kiev in the second round of the qualifying stages... Danger, danger, so early in the Lyon season.

Rubin kazan are not very strong its like facing Rennes i bet you anything Lyon is going to win this. Aggregate 3-1 or 4-2 i just dont understand why so many people on this Blog underestimate Lyon example to those of you who think Lyon is gonna finsh in 4th place what makes u guys think Lyon is gonna finish 4th just becuase PSG got money it dosnt mean its the end of the world even if Marseille and PSG were to finsh ahead of us do u guys really think Lille is gonna do better than Lyon knowing that they have the Champions league to deal with plus they lost 3 very good players. I Believe we have the 1st or 2nd best team in the League if anything only OM have a better squad than us and this whole buying a new DM is bullshit why sell toulalon for 10mill if ur gonna buy ndinga for 9mill i think the team should start using its youth players or play with a more attacking formation with pjanic gourcuff and kallstorm in the middle

Bad analogy using Rennes: Along with Lille, they are one of our two nemeses and apart from that, are a formidable team. Rennes might finish ahead of us this season. They have a talented young squad and even more talented coach.

Speaking about Rennes, they are facing my hometown club, Red Star Belgrade, in the Europa League play-offs. So, it's a tough draw for both Red Star and Lyon, but both will be pretty entertaining ties. Rennes might not fare well in front of a full stadium in Belgrade, while Lyon certainly won't have an easy task in dealing with the Russians. However, we should not forget that Zenit, although with a strong team and an even stronger ambition wasn't able to defeat Auxerre last year. You never know with Russians and their form - the fact that they play in a different season format can be very problematic for them.

you want to use "a more attacking formation with pjanic gourcuff and kallstorm in the middle" - seriously? you cant play modern football without a DM, not to even mention the back four standing behind those 3 offensive minded midfielders.

I agree with most of what you said but not buying a DM is a suicide. I was even for buying another DM when we still had Toulalan just so we don't have to watch Gonalons playing a defensive mid anymore cos he was terrible at it. Kallstrom also isn't a DM.
I'm not sure how good is this N'dinga guy and is he really worth 10M€ but at this time I'll take anything that gives us the possibility not to play Gonalons.

Have you watched the preseason games? We couldn't hold the ball for 10 seconds. It will be very hard to beat Kazan. The Gonalons-Kallstrom midfield is sad to watch.

They are a disaster even when playing in the 4-2-3-1. The 4-4-2 makes it even more apparent.

Preseason games dont mean anything and if they do we beat Porto. Lyon were never a team that prefer to hold the ball unless ur talking about the juninho days and if im not mistaken this same lyon sqaud have been playing together in the champions league for 2 years they have more than enough experience to get past Rubin kazan if Auxerre overcame Zenit St. Petersburg which is alot stronger than Rubin than u do the math

All of you fall in 2 categories: too optimistic, too pessimistic. For me Lyon are favourites against rubin but only just. With Gourcuff-Ederson_pjanic injured that central midfield is looking thin. If Greneier, Gonalons & Kallstrom can step up then Lyon should ride out Rubin's storm.

Grenier will be out too if France U20 make it past the quarterfinals. Doesn't leave much options there.

It would have been nice if we could have signed a DM before the start of the season. Two days til Nice --just not feeling good. Can only hope PSG doesn't gel, OM is flaky and Lille--well they sold too many players to match last season.

i was watching a couple of Champions league highlights from the 09/10 season and i just noticed that selling Boumsong was a big mistake that guy was and is better than cris and diakhate put together thats probably why are defence was so bad last season

Boumsong was one of my favorite players. I don't understand why he was sold, especially since his salary wasn't that large, nor was he going to fetch a large sale price, which was evident from the whopping 750k we got from his sale. Then, we had to scramble to bring in Diakhate, who obviously couldn't carry Boum's boots- not that management could have forseen that- and made about the same salary-wise, if my memory serves me correct. He should have been allowed to finish his career at OL.

well guys, its official. to no surprise, we are one of the 5 seeded teams along with bayern arsenal villareal and benfica. as a result of this we could face any one of the following teams: rubin kazan, udinese, twente, fc zurich, or odense of sweden. rubin is the only one that kinda scares me im not too concerned with udinese seeing as though theyve sold off their best players from last year and it would certainly be a positive if we end up drawing zurich or odense

just realized that odense is danish and not swedish lol

Is there any interest from Lyon for Anthony Annan? Schalke is begging teams to take him off their hands and he would cost much less than N'Dinga or Mariga

qatari sheik, do you have any interest in the OL? a 100 mil euro transfer kitty sounds purrrrfect(apologize for the word play)

"in a repeat of his patented and now perennial last transfer minute dramatics, JMA will announce the signings of Yann M'Vila and Younes Kaboul thursday morning ... "

oh, guess i just nodded off there, for a moment - sigh.  but seriously, mercato365 reports lyon now tracking inter's mariga, along with n'dinga.  it's my understanding he is a capable, if not brilliant DM.  will we be able to sign one of those two?  and will JMA sign any one to shore up the CB's?  what are the chances of swooping for one of those rennes CB's, for example - mangane or danze?  i think either of those, along with cris, lovren, and a healthy and in form mensah, would take care of that perennial issue.   

I think whatever happen we will sign a DM. Lastest rumours have JMA upping his initial offer for N'Dinga to 9millions. If we can't sntach him this kind of money should be more than enought to find a decent replacement
As for the CB post there is absolutely no signs of a transfer being considered. It looks like we will take a gamble on our current players...If it doesnt work (most likely scenario : Mensah has a promissing ten minutes in his first game before getting injurezd for the rest of the season) we can either buy someone before october or in january.

You can't compete with Serie A: Britos snubbing OL for less money with Parma: http://www.footmercato.net/nap...

I am sure the monetary difference wasn't that huge. Napoli are on the rise while Lyon are on a decline which I am sure was a factor. If Lyon can have a season where they play good futball, qualify for Champions League, have good atmosphere within the club, Lyon won't be interested in someone called Britos!

The point wasn't the monetary difference. I only posted as another example to show alot of readers who are shocked when players choose lower tier teams in the big three leagues over playing in the CL and sometimes higher salaries with OL.

I think we have ourselves a new Benzema. after watching Ishak Belfodile i think he plays very identical to him but only time can tell if he will be as talented as Benzema was

Have been a fan of Belfodil myself. :) Looking forward to seeing him play.

he is also quite tall

People please bring me up to speed. Is that Porto jersey our Europe kit? Wtf.

unfortunately, yes

Bastos is working so hard. Scored the winner today. Hope he stays.

Started dating a Lyon fan this past year. Wanna follow them (or PSG) ... great resource! I'm one of the Valencia CF Offside writers. What other resources are out there for French footie fans in English? Lyon specifically?
Thanks!! Cesar from NYC

Pastore next week in PSG; price 43mil

I'm watching Baros take apart Liverpool. Two goals in the first half. Unbelievable.

Will we sign any new players this summer? The current squad is not strong enough to win anything and we could easily be out of the CL.

Theo: What you see is what you are most probably going to get this season. I haven't seen M. Diarra in practice, nor did I see him play more than a few minutes for Monaco last year, but it is incredible that being in as urgent need of a DM as we are- we only have one on the roster- we will not be signing him.
Nor have OL made a serious bid for Ndinga, who is virtually begging OL to get him out of Auxerre, and AJA's management are even- not so subtly- telling OL to make a bid. And nothing has happened.
You heard management say that "we need to sell before we buy." Well, we sold JT and we have bought no one. Not even our most pressing need- a DM- which was caused by JT's departure. I mean they didn't even pick-up N'guemo, who has a tiny salary and was free. What does that tell you about their intentions?
I'll accept that they will try to play with Cris and Mensah at CB- both will be gone next season and OL might as well make due since they're stuck with those two salaries- but this situation of not recruiting a DM is suicide.  The only sliver of hope is that someone is sold before the window closes, but what do we really have to sell- that anyone really wants-besides Pjanic? No one wants any of our our overpriced, big-salaried players at the moment. Ederson and Kallstrom will leave on Bosmans, and hopefully Cissoko and Bastos do really well this season so we can get something respectable for them in the winter or next summer.

well if the sheiks stick with PSG and genuinely are in it for the long term,this season is probably our last chance to win it,you get cant compete with a side willing to spend 50 mill per transfer window-after spending 100mill to start with on a already talented squad which finished like 2 points behind us anyway-you get a team hot on our heels-then throw in Sirigu,Bisevac,sissoko,Matuidi,Douchez,Menez,Gameiro,Pastore/Martin/Ganso plus I think they want another international CB like Luisao or Rolando...thats a pretty impressive line up..Sirigu,Jallet,Rolando,Sakho,Armand,Sissoko,Matuidi,Menez,Pastore,Nene,Gameiro. Plus Marseille if they get El Hamdaoui,then theres no chance we can finish above 3rd,competing with Lille is the priority. While I like both Cris and Mensah individually,i dont think there a good partnership,tall and/or pacey strikers will rip them apart,Mensah is just an enigma really,the negatives are he is as we know the first patient at the doctors every morning,his lyon days are a bit stale,hes short,well for a cb anyway,which in the modern day game is a problem,but still 100% fit,Ghana captain Mensah,is as good as they come,sort of in the puyol mould,fierce,passionate,reliable.

Money doesn't win titles ;) We are or should I say were a big spending club also in recent years. Funny is that the titles came when we spended less money. Two seasons ago Lyon payed about 70 mil for new players and won nothing.
And for the CB positions I hope Lovren starts with Cris/Mensah

amen to that! money does NOT win titles.  as theo points out,  OL spent bucket loads 2 seasons ago.  the team looked like world beaters august through october (remember the anderlecht ties?), then fell apart.  another big $$ signing last summer, and the team looked even worse, and wasn't able to manage much in the CL either, unlike previous year.  and what have real or man city won over the past few years? 
anyway, i'd be surprised if aulas doesn't have a couple of cards up his sleeve.  i very much doubt there will be big name signings - no swooping for mvila and mexes at the last minute, sigh - but i suspect he'll bring in a decent DM and CB.  as we all know, ndinga is begging to come - think it would be odd if we don't get him, in the end.  with 2 serviceable additions, there is still a LOT of talent on this team, including all the terrific youngsters who deserve some 1st team minutes, or in the case of laca, eg, perhaps should be starting.  this team is capable of winning ligue 1, and making another run in the CL.  will garde have them back to the lyon form of a few years ago?  will mensah stay healthy the entire year, and continue his present impressive form?  will whoever's starting at DM be able to acquit themselves well against big opposition? if yes, yes, and yes, this should be a very good year.  and psg can spend as much as they want, the team is worthless until they prove themselves on the pitch.

I think there is a difference between the way OM, Lille and to a lesser extent PSG are recruiting and the way that we did it in the last two years: First, we vastly overpaid for questionable/sometimes unproven players. I mean, 14mill for Gomis? 11mill for Delgado?  15mill for Ederson? 15mill for Cissoko? 18mill for Bastos? Thank god that Sadran was so greedy and didn't let Gignac go for the 20mill+ we were willing to pay!
We get/let ourselves get  ripped off(my ass still hurts from the Cissoko deal and it wasn't even my money; we have to pay Porto 20% of his future sale proceeds) while other clubs pick-up bargains- not so much PSG this summer. Also, we pay these players absurd salaries which makes it difficult to unload them at any price. Just look at Kallstrom, Ederson, Bastos, Gomis etc. We couldn't give most of them away bec of there fat salaries- all make near/over 3mill pr/year.
While it's true that money doesn't necessarily buy a winner, I feel that there is a difference in the way you spend. And we definetely haven't been smart in both how much we've payed for players and giving them whopping salaries that they don't deserve, which later makes them a turn-off to potential buyers. I mean, management has spent money like a bored doctor's wife, and now the pain of the credit card bill has manifested, and it's now time to pay the piper in the form of extreme cutbacks/limited funds to recruit. I don't mean to be hypocritical, bec I was not complaining when they were buying these players left and right and I think management took a shot at fielding a winner:  they rolled the dice by spending and bringing-in Puel, but now that project has failed.  Anyway, money bought us nothing except a team that was perenially barely capable of finishing third, but we will now see what that same group of overpriced players is capable of under a coach they respect.  

Spot on john, great post really!
The most tragic thing is that we sold great players and replaced them with a bunch of average ones for the abou same money. I mean we payed more for Aly then we got for Abidal, sold Malouda and used the money to bring fuckin Kader Keita.
But still money won't get PSG the title (I hope).

Kader Keita! I had mangaged to burry that memory in my subconscious. I'm getting chills.

Hey, shit happens! It's not like it was "hey this player is average, let's spend 15 million euros on him". We're sure as shit not the first nor the last ones to spend a lot of money on players which flopped. And let's not forget that the season in which we spent most money on players, we reached CL semi-finals for the first time in Lyon's history! Now last season was a horrible nightmare and there was a poisonous atmosphere in the club the whole season in which most of our players flopped. If we overcome that I bet we can do a solid season.
And let's not overglorify OM's and Lille's transfers so far. Both have CL on their backs too and with players like Payet, N'koulou, Amalfitano, Morel, etc., they will struggle a lot to keep up the pace in both CL and L1. Also the players they've lost; Gervinho, Cabaye, Rami, Taiwo, Hilton, Heinze, probably Lucho too; are some great players which will they just couldn't replace adequately.
So keep your heads up guys. It's not like we're doing a shit business while everyone around us is bathing in money buying world class players.

It's not spending alot on players whom we know are average: It's spending too much on good players. Look at 90% of those players we've bought in the last three years and you'll see that we vastly overpayed for them, even when we had no one else really competing with us for their signatures! Lisandro- as much as I love him and is our most/second most important player is not worth 25mill, especially since no other squad was competing with us, to raise the price when we were in the process of purchasing him. That's just the most extreme example. Is Gourcuff- last season's performance aside- worth 26mill? Again, with no one else vying for him? Like I said before, usually when we pay over 10mill for a player, they tend to underperform- Lilo aside. So when Auxerre says 10mill for N'ding, I kind of say "no thanks," but wouldn't mind pulling the trigger bec he fills such a critical need for us.
So it's not only that these players have underperformed- and it's a big coincidence that almost all have- but that we are overpaying and then throwing whopping salaries on them to boot. Anyway, someone brought up the point that all this happened under Puel and that it's unfair to write-off these players as "flops"- not that I consider them flops- and I'll go with that. We did see flashes of brilliance like last the year we went deep into the CL. What really impressed me that year is that we were a jauggernaut coming out of the pre-season and rolled over the competition, fought back to come-from-behind in matches until we fizzeled-out around winter time. Hopefully this group regains that spirit this year. The only thing that will be missing is Puel's occasional tactical skill, that this rookie coach might be unlikely to possess.

one of the last points you mention here is what i was thinking of, elsewhere in this massive thread.  right after the signings of cissokho, lisandro, gomis, and bastos - ie: beginning of 09 season - lyon looked absolutely brilliant, beginning with the 2 leg demolition of anderlecht in CL qualifying, before fizzling out mid-season.  we're basically the same team now, with addition of gourcuff, but loss of toule (and makoun - oooooohh how relieved i'd be right now if we'd held on to him.)  adding a solid DM and one more solid CB, improved morale and a move away from negative tactics, and i see no reason why the team can't get back to that level.  that level got us to the CL semi's, as john mentions.

"keep your heads up guys. It's not like we're doing a shit business while everyone around us is bathing in money buying world class players"....Is that not what PSG are doing right now ? Lille have got the best attack in the league Payet-Sow-Hazard..and there plucky,shrewd and now have a winning mentality,Rami and Emerson leaving are blows as is Cabaye,but guys like Payet,Basa,Pedretti,Diakite if he comes,are likely to step up and Lille should be there or there abouts,and comeone lets be honest here I dont think Marseille will be having sleepless nights over losing Grandads Hilton and Heinze,Lucho might not leave,and if he does Amalfitano is a perfect replacement,and Taiwo ? Theyll get over it,as Goal.coms article says were probably slipping behind Marseille,Lille and Paris,but hay were the underdogs now-might do us some good-did Rocky some good-lets see.

That's why I didn't mention PSG. Although Matuidi, Gameiro, Menez and Biševac are FAR from world class. Pastore is a different story, but god knows how will he adapt to L1. Anyway, PSG is the only team I'm fearing of.
The players you mentioned like Payet, Sow, Baša, Pedretti...They can clean Bastos's, Lisandro's, Lovren's or Gourcuff's boots when the latter are in form. I'm speaking talent wise we have nothing to envy to OM or Lille.
Oh, and don't read goal.com too much. Grow your own opinion.

i'm with muffin on this.  i think psg has bought a very solid team, but i agree that there are no real superstars in that group with the possible exception of pastore -- i confess to not really knowing much about him, and why there was such a buzz about him among the big clubs. maybe he's truly a huge, 'world class' signing.  both lille and OM have very solid clubs too, but if we get a good DM and CB before close of transfer, i think OL has as much talent as any L1 club. 

having said that, i watched quite a bit of today's friendly with porto.  they were sharp in the attacks that led to the 2 goals -- good finish from bastos, great finish from lisandro.  unfortunately i thought the team looked atrocious for much of the match though, particularly in the midfield.  sloppy sloppy sloppy, giving the ball away incredibly cheaply over and over again, tactically naive most of the match - kind of like a puel coached team!!  we really need gourcuff, and pjanic and/or ederson, back at full health, and back in top form.  and we need a DM. gonalons/kallstrom is NOT the answer there.  even with signing a true replacement for toule, i really want to see gonalons start stepping up and showing more of the potential i saw in him a couple of years ago. 

back line was actually pretty solid.  revs was great, cisshoko had a lot of energy down the left flank.  cris and lovren were shaky at times, but solid for the most part.  final third was a mixed bag - looked sharp and dangerous at times, clumsy and naive at others.  midfield though - ugh.  guess that's to be expected with G/P/E all out, and club not having replaced toule yet. 

we don't know how either psg or OM are going to gel on the pitch.  i think we all expect lille to be well coached and dangerous.  regardless, if OL continues to underachieve and underwhelm a la the past 2 seasons, they could very well not only be out of CL, but out of europe altogether by the end of the year.  assuming the 2 additions i've mentioned a couple of times now and injuries sorted out, if they really come together and start playing to potential they can win L1, and make a run in the CL.    

I think the point is that PSG don't really need worldclass accquisitions: they came in forth last year with the cast of players they had. They have a good nucleus of players and great coach. All they need is to add some pieces here and there, hope they gell, and voila: them grabbing first place is not so difficult to imagine. The issue is: will these new accquitions complement that nucleus or stir it up in a negatively.

Well, we came in third last season. And now without the poison in the club like Puel was, plus with a couple of players that will seemingly be more focused than last year (Bastos, Gourcuff), wouldn't that mean we're also supposed to make progress in the standings? I mean surely it's not guaranteed but the same goes for PSG.
we do however need some new players to make sure we have all the necessary bodies in the squad not to completely flop, but the transfer window isn't over. I still remember the last summer transfer window - Aulas repeating there's no money for Gourcuff or any big reinforcements, and well...we all know what happened then. Not saying such a big signing is gonna happen again, but I highly doubt Aulas and Lacombe are willing to let the DM duties to Gonalons and Kone.

i never said psg grabbing 1st this season was difficult to imagine. i - and i think muffin as well - was merely suggesting their signings haven't guaranteed it. guess my point is that, at this point, i wouldn't at all be surprised by either of these L1 final season standings come next may:

1. PSG 2. Marseille 3. Lille 4. Rennes 5. Lyon...

1. Lyon 2. Lille 3. Marseille. 4. Bordeaux 5. PSG...

or any ordering of those 5 or 6 teams, or even throw in a sochaux or auxerre into the top 5 mix!  it all depends on how the teams in the top tier of L1 'gel,' what happens in august and winter transfer windows, injuries...  it was a lot of fun watching OL destroy all L1 opposition 7 years running, but let's face it, it's much better, and more interesting, to have the possibility of a really competitive league, with hopefully several teams - OL included, of course - showing well in europe as well.  this year, i'd love to see lyon and marseille do what lyon and bordeaux did in the CL couple of years ago, and psg and lille pull a benfica/braga in the europa cup!  but i ramble...

one more thing:  vercoutre was fantastic, today!

" keep your heads up guys. It's not like we're doing a shit business while everyone around us is bathing in money buying world class players.".....Sorry to be difficult but is that not what PSG are doing right now ? Also your right about Lille,guys like Cabaye and Rami are big shoes to fill,Payet can step in where Gervinho left off,so thats ok for them...but still Lille are plucky and shrewd,and i expect them to be there or there abouts..Payet-Sow-Hazard is likely the best attack in the league,Rami and Emerson leaving at the back could be a blow though..though Marseille wont worry about losing Grandads like Hilton and Heinze lets be honest here,Lucho should be replaced adequately by Amalfitano,if he leaves that is...Taiwos a slight blow,but its hardly panic stations for them...

http://www.goal.com/en/news/17...

Id say thats a fair assesment of the situation..

Yer your right 14mill on Gomis,if we took that money abroad,we could have had a 20 goal a season striker maybe-Bastos,not even a Brazil international when we bought him,I think the problem is weve spent to much on french based players,take our cash abroad might be the trick,also sometimes id question why they never invested in a good cb,Lovren was signed as a one for the future player,but why have they never invested at the back,when its not rocket science to work out that was the problem area,that said our offence isnt looking up to much at the moment-Bastos is inconsistant on and off the pitch,ie injuries,Gomis is a lump whos better suited to wrestling or cage fighting,he just lacks that bit of quality for me youve either got it or you dont and he doesnt,Lisandro does however but sometimes I wondered he sees shit players around him,a shit coach in puel and if he wondered why do i bother. Bruno Ecuele Manga why not pick him up 5mill or something,Pejcinovic ? Not sure how a serb and a croat would react at the back but still..

"Wrestilng or cage fighting..." LOL!

Well Lyons spending was hardly a big surprise,afterall you here this stuff like,Lyon spent 70mill gasp...well hang on,about time came to mind-lets be clear-Edmilson,Abidal,Squillaci,Diarra,Essien,Tiago,Malouda,Keita,Nilmar,Benzema,Benarfa theres probably more etc,thats a huge amount of money coming in from them,money had to be spent at some point. And yes often money can buy titles-Man city,if theyd never had Quataris behind them do you think theyd be in the cl and challenging for the title this year ? No. Real,if it wasnt for Barca would probably be winning everything,and Barca themselves arent partial to a bit of spending...Villa,Sanchez,Mascherano etc so you cant really say money cant buy success because to my knowledge theres not one club who hasnt improved after a big investment. Also lyon world beaters a couple of years ago ? Ridiculous,Lyons best side by a country mile were the days of the Juninho-Diarra-Essien midfield,beating werder Bremen 10-2 on aggregate..sluggish signings such as Gomis arent going to win you titles-Lisandro and Bastos were both quality signings,ive always felt if Lisandro had better teamates he could explode into goals,at the moment hes playing at about 90% ever since hes arrived really. For me i expect by the end of the market PSG to on paper have a better squad than us,Marseille already do,Lille dont however,though its true not always the side with the best team on paper wins the jugular,so theres hope for us yet-I dont expect a CB,as I think the lads at the top are content,perhaps nievely or forced to be by lack of funds with Lovren,Cris and Mensah,seeing as Cris is captain,hes going to start with one or the other,either one whos dropped will probably leave next year. Though I expect Ndinga to come,hopefully. Personally the youngsters are what im looking forward to,while I have a feeling of lets throw the youngsters in at the deep end as an excuse not to spend,and I queary how good some of them are,i mean yer Puel was a crap manager ,but surely if there were any real gems in the academy he would have noticed and played them,but its true a lot of those youth have won the euros with France etc play for the younger french sides,so they deserve a shot,have to be fresher and hungrier than some of the older lot anyway,tbh any new names on the team sheet is exciting,reserves or recruits,gets boring seeing names like Kallstrom,Gomis on the side. Anyway enough of negativity,though a lot of its true,theres no need to mention it everyday,were all the same sheet i suppose.

Another amen to THAT! A little positivity around here was badly needed, all I was reading here was a lot of gloom and doom. People tend to forget how talented our team is. And the biggest problem of it last couple of seasons (according to most of our players who feel happy and relaxed now under R. Garde) - Puel - is now long gone and it's not unrealistic to expect better days very soon.
PSG bought well, but with a good DM bought we should have the squad of equal, if not better strength. I still see Bastos as more talented than Menez, Lisandro better and way more experienced than Gameiro, Gomis more useful than Hoarau, or even going further to compare Lloris with Douchez or Reveillere with Jallet. With us it was always a question of consistency and motivation, definitely not talent. Get our players motivated for every game and we will be spanking PSG, OM and Lille like crazy.

Well PSG are catching up with Lyon & OM so they have to spend a lot. 

I don't think Lyon can spank OM with that leaky defense. If Lyon has the better attack OM has a better defense. If OM attack fires then we can spank Lyon ;)!

Ndinga doing his part: http://news.maxifoot.fr/info-1...

Yeah, my pessimism increases as we fail to score from the run of play during these friendlies. Coupled with all of the injuries....I think I'm going to do myself a favor and stop following the news and just click my heels together and start repeating "there's no place like Lyon, there's no place like Lyon" ;)

watching the shakhtar lyon game, followed by lille marseille game, then reading transfer rumors about psg is an awful combination for anxious lyon fans...

We will end up fighting Rennes for fourth place- if we're lucky.

part of me is sorta excited though as a fan of not only Lyon but french football in general this is exactly what I've been waiting for a strong PSG team that will attract more interest in this league their summer buying spree has been nothing short of impressive(just signed Sirigu today from palermo, while Juve's sissoko looks a done deal) Hopefully having this new rival will bring the best out of our squad as well.

We all want a stronger league, my only problem is that I didn't want it to come at the moment that OL is in serious decline.

I still hope Aulas will surprise everyone with some good new players. :S

 1-1 final score. Both were on penalties. A lot of youngsters started the game and Lyon were being pushed back for large portions of the first half. Gassama especially had a hard time on his right flank but tightened things up gradually. In the second half Lyon looked better with Bastos and Briand on the pitch and Bastos drew a foul in the penalty area after some good work to get past the first defender.

Briand could have pulled Lyon ahead late in the game with a missed shot into the side netting from point blank range. He will be regretting that attempt.

Shaktiar Donetsk - Olympique Lyonnais : 0-0 at half time

Team compo against Shaktiar :
Lloris, Gassama, Cris, Lovren, Cissokho, Kone, Källström, Belfodil, Lisandro, Gomis, Pied.

Who is Kone ?

sidy kone.  one of the reserve kids - 19yo.  midfielder, i think he's a DM.

Ok,thanks

They've been to unbelievable lengths to avoid it, but it didn't work : Gourcuff definitely needs surgery of his ankle. That will take place on wednesday, they will clean all bone fragments and cartilagus by arthroscopy. That should mean about 3 weeks without playing (to be confirmed when the surgery has been done), and therefore missing a couple of official games...

gourcuff out for 6 weeks. -__-

The guy just can't seem to catch a break (no pun intended). Hopefully, all will go well and he'll be back quickly.

There's an opportunity for a proven CB :  Hilton wants to leave Marseille after having been attacked, held at gunpoint and beaten at home with his family.

So he's currently discussing with Evian... he must be desperate, so it could be an opportunity; after all, the guy has been included 3 years in a row in the "équipe-type de L1" (best L1 team, based on L1 players grades in L'Equipe sports newspaper)

Hopefully OL won't get him a flat in Lovren's building.

Don't worry, if you listen to the players, since Garde took over there's love and flowers everywhere.

http://www.olweb.fr/fr/Accueil...
Djila's back in town! Let's hold thumbs and toes!

It's official : former Lyonnais and midfield beast M. Diarra, still without club since Monaco didn't keep him,  is now training at OL. He started today with the reserve.
A first step ?

matuidi and menez to psg, and looks like they're not done yet!! 

psg the real/chelsea/man city of ligue 1.  lyon must play the barca/arsenal role.

Our finishing in the top three this year is looking bleeker and bleeker by the day. Let's hope this PSG squad can't jell this year, and Lille have a slight collapse after the loss of some of its key players.
BTW, I remember when almost no one wanted OL to go after Menez when he was leaving Monaco.

i think it's a good way to assess his ability for free....i still want ndinga though

Unbelievable. The new chechen owner of Neuchatel Xamax just fired Sonny Anderson and his staff (one month after their arrival), plus the only striker left and another player. Why? Because they had lost their first two games. He had already fired their keeper after the first game.

And we kept Puel 3 years...

OL asst manager position still vacant ...

poor guy...

I'm wondering how much they can talk his salary down:
http://www.footmercato.net/lig...

And as discussed below with Aleksander, based on what he showed in Monaco I am wondering how much he can take his level up...

Hopefully it's just a lack of steady playing time. Whatever the case, he's free and still only 30-not having suffered any serious injuries, that I know of-  so hopefully he can at least provide a better option than Gonalons as a minimum.

The friendly against Hannover 96 (4th of the 2010-2011 Bundesliga) just ended in a draw (0-0)

In an entertaining game with a good pace, the Lyonnais failed to find the net against a team who were presented to their public on that occasion. Rémi Garde's men have shown a better face than in the previous two games against Salzburg and Genk, including defense with a rather solid Mensah-Cris hinge at the center. But despite several opportunities, including a nice Bastos pass to Gomis one hour into the game, Lyon players failed to make a difference in the final act due to lack of danger brought by Lyon players, and notably Kallstrom and Gonalons, and to weak finishing skills. Also, there is still some progress to be made in ball conservation to be more of a threat. 
To be noted : the activity level of Jimmy Briand, surely the most in form Lyonnais in Hannover, in contrast to Lisandro Lopez and Michel Bastos who did not show much today...

Other opinions? Who else saw the game ?

Michel Bastos didn't show much? Actually I thought he was the best player on the pitch with Briand. The two created havoc on their flanks.
The problem was I think the 4-4-2 formation. Again it showed Bafe and Lisandro just aren't clicking well in this formation no matter how much people craved for us to play it. And the midfield packed with Gonalons and Kallstrom again showed little or no creativity.
Also Belfodil showed a lot again. He was very brilliant in these few friendly games, he looks pretty much like a taller, faster, technically better version of Gomis. I'd love to see how he works with Licha.
The defensive sector saw its improvement thanks to Mensah who is 10 times a better CB than Diakhate is.

Agree on Belfodil. I can't stand watching Gomis play, my 2 years old sister is better on the ball than he is! I want to see a lot more of Belfodil this season, he's got the potential to become really good. Would be excited to see a trident of Licha - Belfodil - Lazazette. Is Tafer back yet?

I think Bastos can and will have to show more than that if he is to stay (which is more and more likely now that Juve has no further interest) and to regain his level... and the love of the public.

Regarding 4-4-2, it's obviously an open debate at the minute. Licha and Gomis together didn't look so bad last season overall (that was even their preferred compo), but it's true they didn't click today. A lot depends on Gourcuff, around which a 4-3-3 seems preferable.

I agree on the weaknesses of our midfield, Kallström and Gonalons were way too defensive, there was a hole in our midfield. Now that Mensah seems to provide a very decent solution at CB (as long as he's fit), we'd need our midfielders to also think about bringing the ball forward (not sideways, that is, like today), and not just defend.

I also agree on Belfodil, he did try and create, especially his pass to Pied who lacked power to score at the 84th minute.

Well for the most part of the last season Licha played on the left wing with only Bafe in the middle. That way it worked pretty good. But everytime 4-4-2 was introduced the chemistry between them got lost somewhere.
I know we didn't play much 4-4-2 but for the time being it seems that 4-3-3 with Bafe in center and Licha on the left works best for us.

The only way we could play  a 4-4-2 is in a diamond formation, but for that we'd need N'dinga or a solid DM to play alone at the back, but this is a moot point if Licha and Gomis aren't playing well together. It will be interesting to see the battle between Bastos and Briand on the right, when we go back to the 4-3-3.
It would be ironic- now that Puel is gone- if our prolblem this year becomes the offense and the defense becomes solid.

I would welcome back Mahmadou Diarra with open arms. Haven't really seen him play since he left Madrid, but he was still very good at madrid even though he didn't play much. Let's hope for Lazazette to explode this season

I also loved Diarra very much in his Lyon and even Real days, and, like you, thought -hoped- he could come back to OL, as his playing time at Real was dropping. So I looked at him when in Monaco, and I had to face the harsh reality that he isn't the player he was anymore, and that they didn't keep him for a reason, which wasn't money. He just didn't bring on and off the pitch what they hoped he would.

But I hope I'm wrong, and that he still has plenty of juice and vista should he come back to Lyon...

Even though he is declining, I think he can bring experience, leadership and balance to the team. He's big and strong, and would bring stability to the midfield anchoring behind Pjanic and Gourcuff. But for all I know, he might have declined a lot since his last season in Madrid...