NICE vs. LYON

By: John | October 23rd, 2009

lyonnice
OCTOBER 24, 2009
Stade Municipal Du Ray, Nice
1 PM ET (19:00 CET, 18:00 GMT)

After Tuesday’s unbelievable victory at Anfield, we can only hope that the players have come back down to earth- because I’m still on cloud nine- and are ready to dispatch there next league obstacle and maintain their miniscule +1 goal differential lead over second place Montpellier? Saturday, Lyon head down to the beautiful Côte d’Azur -Ederson and Hugo Lloris’ old stomping ground- to take on OGC Nice. We also get a change to see two of Lyon’s ex-youth products, Loic Remy and Anthony Mounier spearhead the Le Gym’s attack against us. Although a seemingly easy obstacle to hurdle, Lyon have made a mess of those matches that should have been walkovers this year, so they will have only themselves to trip over in this contest.

Nice have fallen, and they have fallen hard after the departure of coach Frédéric Antonetti to Rennes. They currently languish in the relegation zone, just above winless Grenoble who are keeping them from the rock bottom of the table. Indeed, since Antonetti’s departure, Les Aiglons have had a complete reversal of fortunes: going from a perennial top-of-the-table squad in the last couple of years, to relegation material.

And I have to give club president Maurice Cohen some credit, well, I don’t know if it was avarice or foresight that prevented him from selling Loic Remy to OL this summer, because, he seems to be the main reason that Nice isn’t winless, and may play an integral part of any future surge that Nice may mount to battle their way out of the basement in the coming months. Loic makes-up 50% of the offense.

History: Nice have a winning record in all head-to-head competions vs. OL. They are 19-8-12 vs. Lyon. But, you’d have to go back to September of ‘95, when Nice took a 1-0 victory at home vs. OL, to find their last win.

Nice’s Form: As afromentioned, Nice are in dysmal form. Aside from a 3-2 victory against Valenciennes two weeks ago, Les Aiglons haven’t had a victory since week one( vs. St. Etienne 2-0). They currently sit in 19th place in the table with a 2-2-5 record. They have just one (1) win at home and are 19th in that department. They are 14th in attack with nine (9) goals scored. Their defense is an absolute shambles: a dysmal 20th in defense- last in the league- with (20) goals allowed.

When they lose, they usually lose big: Nice have gone down by an average margin of two (2) goals in their loses, and have given-up (3) goals on average in all their losses. They have taken real beatings at the hands of: Bordeaux: 4-0; Montpellier: 3-0; Monaco: 3-1; St. Etienne: 4-1; and Lorient: 4-1. Just an added woeful defensive stat: Nice has allowed and average of two (2)goals/pr match in all competitions.

Again, like last week vs. Sochaux- well they did have something to play for in their fallen teammate- OL only have themselves to blame for anything less than a victory in the match.

Injuries: Cleber, Boumsong, Bodmer, Seguin and Faure are still out. The hospital gets even more full this week, since Kim Kallstrom will miss the trip, out with “muscle pain,” and in news that really sank my spirits, Hugo Lloris will miss his homecoming and is out with- you guessed it- adductor problems!!!!!!! What the hell is going on? Is this the trainer’s fault or is there really a superior deity who is torturing OL for shits and giggles? In the last two years it was devastating knee injuries, and this year, the flavor of the season is the adductor strain.

This injury comes at the worst time in that we have an upcoming stretch of games that will require our utmost on the defensive side of the pitch; matches against St. Etienne at the end of this month then a murderous entire month of November, with matches against Liverpool, Marseille, Fiorentina, and Rennes respectively. The calender looks intimidating, but even more so when you imagine Remy Vercoutre starting during that stretch.

There is some good news though: Cris is operational after that knock to the head that he recieved at Anfield on Tuesday, so thakfully we won’t be seeing Maxime Gonalons at CB.

Le groupe lyonnais: Vercoutre, Hartock – Cris, Réveillère, Clerc, Cissokho, Kolodziejczak, Toulalan, Gonalons – Makoun, Pjanic, Bastos, Delgado, Ederson – Govou, Belfodil, Tafer, Gomis, Lisandro.

Prediction: I think OL still have an Anfield hangover, but that won’t be enough to stop them from putting a couple of goals through Nice’s swiss cheese, sieve of a defense. 2-1 due to Vercoutre’s tending the nets.

Formation:

Vercoutre
Clerc-Cris -Toulalan-Cissokho
Pjanic-Makoun-Ederson
Bastos-Gomis-Lisandro