Off The Hook. Again.

By: Megame | May 20th, 2011

The following article has been written by our new guest blogger Dan. Enjoy!
Megame

To use the crudest of paradoxes, if PSG were a fisherman, he would starve. Because, time after time they are given a golden opportunity through a Lyon slip-up to take and cement third place. But time and again, time and again…and time and again…they let the chance go. Which makes Lyon (or 3rd spot, depending on how you follow the metaphor) a *^%$3@$ lucky, slippery and/or stupid fish.

caen1

The Run Continues

With the 1-1 draw with Brest, Lyon extended their winless streak away from home to 6 games. To put that in perspective, the last time Les Gones beat a side away from home (Sochaux 2-0) was BEFORE OUR LAST 16 2nd LEG AGAINST REAL MADRID! That was a long, long time ago. We haven’t won away from home since week 27. Incidentally we were 3rd then too. The most frustrating part is that, arguably, apart from the 1-0 loss to PSG and maybe the 1-1 draw with Rennais, all of the teams we failed to beat are VERY BEATABLE (Toulouse, Auxerre, Brest, Nice).

Blitz Start = Cause for Hope
The most frustrating part, in hindsight, was how well we played in the first 20 minutes. It really seemed that the training camp earlier in the week had worked. Lyon played with pace, passion and verve. The players were strong and seemed ALIVE. Despite a weak-looking line-up we were playing very well. Diakhite and Cris were resolute, will no-one could match Sissokho’s strength. All of Brest’s attacks were stifled by a very effective high defensive line. Brest’s players were often caught out and dispossessed because they had no-where to go. In front of them were two Lyon defenders and behind them our 4-2-3-1 formation meant that 3 Lyon players could cut them off. Their only attacks came from set pieces and the ball only ventured into our half courtesy of some wild clearances and hopeful long balls.

Going forward we looked good, especially down the left hand side. Sissokho was looking excellent after his absence through suspension. His pace and power were too much to handle. At one point he shrugged off two Brest players before whipping in a cross. We looked dangerous in the box because Sissokho would drive almost to the line with the ball and Gomis would set up on the edge of the six yard box, forcing the Brest backline back. This left space around the edge of the box for Pjanic, Ederson and Delgado to make nuisances of themselves.

And then we scored. (which was, incredibly, our first goal in 4 away games.)

And Everything started to go wrong…
You could almost see it coming. The energy levels dropped, the players didn’t look motivated. Suddenly Larsen Traore was beating Reveillere at will. We looked super-vulnerable from every cross. Cris and Diakhite looked like they had never headed a ball in their lives. Every air-borne ball in our box was as dangerous as a tsunami in an extremely economically successful first-world country where baseball is very popular, the public transport is as famous for being good as the traffic is for being bad, where each family line is steeped in history of ninjas, and where ancient, decaying, volatile NUCLEAR REACTORS are liberally spread across the coastline.

Hugo was a hero. To put it lightly. Sans Lloris, we would have left with nothing. I spent the whole second half waiting for the goal to come. Licka’s finish was excellent, but Brest should have got a lot more.

You can see by my considerably smaller report of the post-Lyon-goal game compared to the pre-Lyon-goal game which one I would rather think about.

Some Thoughts
We’re playing Caen this weekend and I am very pleased to see that Lisandro will return. Gomis is out with knee trouble. Some will view this as a blessing, as Gomis isn’t too popular with all OL fans.
Me, I think the reason why he so often drifts in and out of games and looks unimpressive is because of the way that Puel sets up the team. Gomis operates better with a fellow front man. His game isn’t designed for holding up the ball and leading the line on his own until we get to the opponents box, when he is expected to occupy two defenders until he gets a half-chance or someone else takes a shot. If the new manager wants to play the same way next season he can leave, but if a 4-4-2 or the like is set in place, I say we give him a chance to prove what he can do. He is our second highest scorer after all.

On the note of questioning player’s futures, I think it is time for Ederson to go. I have never been impressed by him. Apart from the goal and a nutmeg in the early stages he offered nothing to the game at Brest.

I also feel that we must hang on to Yoann Gourcuff. Despite haveing a shocker of a season, I can’t drive the player he was for Milan and Bordeaux out of my head. He has such fantastic potential and ability. Let’s build a team around him, and see what happens.

Kim’s return against Brest was a highlight for me. He has been such a good player for us this season, despite the injuries, and he played well enough. I look forward to seeing him fully match-fit and running games, as he does so well.

Caen2

Bonne Chance, Mes Gones. J’espere que ce weekend vous allez jouer comme des hommes. Pour 90 minutes.

Allez OL

Dan

Probable teams
Caen: Bar one man, the team who won against 2-0 Montpellier last matchday should be lined up again.
Thébaux- Inez, Leca, Heurtaux, Raineau – Proment, Seube- Hamouma, Mollo, El Arabi- Traoré.

Lyon: Great news, Licha is back! That could help, especially as Gomis won’t play again this season. Lovren is still banned, so the Cris-Diakhate pair will continue to cause heart attacks. And to complete a 100% south american front trio, Delgado and Ederson should start today also.
Lloris – Réveillère, Cris (cap.), Diakhaté, Cissokho – Toulalan, Källström – Delgado, Pjanic, Ederson – Lisandro

Megame

Some Related Lyon Posts:

Category: Team News and Rumors

« From Marseille to Auxerre and now Brest : the Lyon roller-coaster goes on… | Home | Monaco-Lyon : the end of a cycle. Or several, actually. »

AnBean

fitch abercrombie
ipad 2 case
iphone 4 case
links of london Jewellery
sabo thomas
john

A list of players who are free this summer. A few interesting players. Has anyone followed Mauro Cetto this season? He's on the list.
http://www.unfp.org/unfp/ce-qu...
sideny govou

Mensah returns to OL; but he will stay or not; don't know!! I just hope that Wenger will be our coach; I'm sure that he will give much more playing time to Grenier, Lacazette and others young players! And Wenger loves to play nice football, attacking football!! Arsenal play very beautifull but no results and that is sad
john

SG: What's this Wenger news?
sideny govou

John: on mercato 365 I read that Wenger talk with OL's presidentes; but nothing is 100% sure! Still I hope that we can sing him; Wenger will be ideal for OL
Megame

Reassuring news : Lloris just said about next year, in a press conference : "I hope to stay. I really hope to stay".
That seems clear. What can influence this is financial pressure, of course (although it is not Aulas's style to sell his best assets), assurances regarding the club's ambitions for next year (as Lloris and the club are currently negotiating an extension), and, of course, whether we keep the third spot to have a chance to play the CL next year.

Guys, join me and cross your fingers, too...
Theo

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!

Thank you very much for this Megame and my fingers are crossed too! :D
Megame

Guys, this is HISTORICAL!!! THE OL FEMININES JUST WON THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!!
AT LAST, AN AULAS INVESTMENT PAYING OFF ;)
mrCham

Yeah, an investment that could almost pay the fuel for the Lyon bus.
sideny govou

Compare Puel and Perrin!!

Perrin : Vercoutre - Cris - Squillaci - Rev - Grosso - Toula - JUNINHO - Baros -Govou - HBA - Benzema; Keita, Coupet, Anderson, Kallstrom .....

Puel - Lloris - Cris - Lovren- Aly - Toula - Gourcuff - Pjanic - Ederson - Bastos - Lisandro - Gomis; Vercoutre, Pape, Kallstrom, Gonalons, Delgado, Briand, Lacazette .....

Puel have much more stronger team and Perrin lost Malouda, Tiago .....

Guys I read on mercato 365 that Wenger spoke with Lyons presidentes; what is you opinion
Ronan

I disagree with that,I think the 06/07 side was stronger than this lyon team...Govou-Ben-benarfa were quick,skillful and scored goals and had a good understanding with each other,Juninho was almost at his peak,and Cris-Squillaci were very solid,Grosso was probably better than what Cissokho has played this season to-I think only Lloris is an improvement to be honest. I think for this summer get Bassong at CB,Mounier at LW,Luiz Adriano to bring some life into attack,and ideally someone in the Cabaye mould to replace Kallstrom,though tbh Lyon atm is a stepdown from Lille,so why would he join. And of course finally change the coach.Im quite for Lacombes idea of appointing Remi Garde,afterall two of the most succesful sides in europe at the moment,have younger coaches Andre-Villas Boas-Guardiola,selected internally from the club,the same as Garde,and afterall I see know other,good,realistic candidate.
sideny govou

Sorry throw out Pjanic and put Rev in Puel's squed, stupid me put Yoann on RB; imagen that Yoann on RB hahahahaha, total disaster, but with Puel you never know ;)
Theo

So how much money are we going to get for our players this summer.
Bastos 20mil, Kallstrom 6mil, Pjanic 15mil, Cris 1mil , Gomis 8mil, Briand 8mil, Cissokho 15mil, anyone else? = makes about 63mil

Now we should buy:
Falcao 25mil, Gameiro 8mil, Tremoulinas 6mil, Samba 10mil, N'Zonzi 8mil = 57mil

---------------------Lloris-----------------------
Reveillere---Lovren---Samba---Tremoulinas
-------------------Toulalan----------------------
-----------N'Zonzi------Gourcuff---------------
Gameiro------------------------------Lisandro
--------------------Falcao-----------------------

What do you think? A season without losing.
john

Alex is right: Gameiro and Tremoulinas would be much more expensive. Kallstrom will leave on a Bosman I believe, and Pjanic would go for less than 10mill, while Briand isn't going anywhere and no one will pay 15mill for Cissoko in his current state. The only major expense will be a CB. We should get a cheap DMF/CMF like Cabaye- 5mill- but that's it.
You need to put Carasso at keeper.
And no more dealing with Porto! Pinto da Costa has JMA's ass for lunch in negotiations every time. I read that OL were looking at bringing Chrisitian Rodriguez in from Porto, but I say no thanks to that. JMA would probably end up paying 35mill for Falcao.
Doesn't matter what players we get, if we don't get a good coach from the outside, we're still going to underachieve- much less than under Puel- but underachieve none the less.
Theo

I agree with most that you said especialy the underachieving part. But I heard that Galatasaray will pay that sum for Kim and Pjanic will cost more then 10mil. You don't find good players at his age easy.
john

I'm just thinking that Pjanic's skills haven't been on display this season, and you know we usually don't get top money for most of our transfers. And you're right: Kallstrom's contract expires in June 2012.
Theo

Oh, you are absolutely right. We are spending too much on average players and can't get much for our own.
Where are the Diarras and Essiens today...
john

We are letting foreign clubs poach them from the youth systems of other clubs or letting promising talent develop too much with their L1 squads, so that bigger clubs take notice. Meanwhile, we've also been off in foreign lands/and at home buying overpriced players. What happened to the days of picking-up a Toulalan or a Pjanic for 7mill?
AlexT

im sure tremolinas and gameiro will cost more then that
MerOL

Jean Fernandez is rumored to replace Puel this morning in the reliable press (l'equipe)
Theo

Now or at the end of the season?
Not the best solution but better then Lippi or Anceloti.
Muaz

i would LIKE to see Ancelotti as our coach
john

I'm lighting a candel for Lippi, but doubt he will take the job, when OL is implementing austerity measures by selling their assets and slashing payroll this summer.
Theo

Why do you guys want them? We should look for a long term solution.
john

I just don't see any of the current, AVAILABLE, L1 coaches being long term solutions either. We don't know if any of them could handle the tribulations of playing in Europe and in the league or even if they would be able to handle this crop of egos and babies at OL. Basically just another gamble like Puel and Perrin. Seems like proven winners from outside L1 that would come to OL are oldtimers. What do you guys think about Rijkaard?
sideny govou

but Perrin was good gamble, guy won our historical duoble, with squad who were 60-70% weaker then Puel's Lyon
john

I've posted this before, but something just caught my eye now: niether Lille nor Rennes have a single player on this list! That Lille has put together such a powerful squad without having a single player on this list is a testament to their management and coach. And I have all the more respect for Rennes and Antonetti's skill as a coach, since he's basically taken that club to the top five with a bunch of kids who are barely old enough to drink in the US, and almost no offense to speak of. Our recruitment policy and coach- no one's fault- have been a colossal failure. We need a new coach, no more overpriced whinners, and integrate the youth system from now on, but Aulas has figured this out already so I'm just blowing hot air.
http://www.sportune.fr/news_sp...
john

I wonder if A. Diarra would ever consider coming back to OL. He's valued at like 5M€, a steal to say the least. I wonder if a pairing with Toul in the 4-2-3-1 would work.
Theo

It was a big mistake letting him go. Bodmer too.
john

Theo: again, both wanted to leave, but it's kind of different from most players of that caliber, who leave bec they want to go to a bigger club, in that Diarra couldn't beat-out Toul for the only DM spot since we would never use that 4-2-3-1 at the time, and Bodmer wanted to "unruin" his career by moving back to the midfield and getting first team action. Can't blaim either one.
Theo

Just one more mistake in the "Puel era".
john

Diarra was under Perrin, so we can't blame Puel, but Bodmer was def Puel's creation. At the same time, management recruited that glut of AMFs and CMFs that made it hard to find time for all these players: Kallstrom, Bodmer and Makoun as box-to-box MFs and Pjanic, Ederson, Juni at AMF. You had six players competing for two spots. Now it might be Gourcuff, Pjanic and Ederson, plus the youngsters Grenier, and Reale fighting for one or two spots.
john

Amazing: looking at our salary, we have three of the top five highest payed players in L1, and eight of the top twenty. And except for Lisandro and Toulalan-maybe Bastos- none are really worth it at the moment.
john

http://www.footmercato.net/lig...
Question for you guys who follow the CFAs: I was wondering why Mehamha hadn't been integrated into the squad or called-up when Toulalan went down several times this year. Was he so not ready that we had to play with two CMFs in front of the CBs? Puel decided that Gonalons was up to the job?
Also, we have a glut of attacking mids i.e., Gourcuff, Pjanic, Ederson, Grenier, Reale, Pied(can play on the wing) etc... We need several loans lest we lose a bunch of talented youngsters. Then what gets me is that we were rumored to RMF/AMFs like Boudebouz and M. Martin who are of the same vein.
muffin

I was wondering the same thing about Mehamha. Could he really be worse defensively than Gonalons? I even read Mehamha and his parents went to talk to OL management to see about his future since he's getting 0 first team playing time.
And about Martin/Boudebouz rumors. I doubt there's any seriousness in that, it's probably cos they have nowhere else to go of the stronger teams, and all of our AM's struggled this season. But I doubt we're gonna let Gourcuff or Pjanic go just yet. Also, JMA and Lacombe announced recently they're not gonna spend big this summer, but instead give more playing time to our youths, and in the same time try and cut some salaries (Kallstrom, Ederson?).
john

keeps coming up: http://www.footmercato.net/lig...
john

Aulas said that three to four internationals would be out. I'm assuming he means, Bastos, Kallstrom, Lloris, and maybe Ederson. If you throw in Cris- is his contract up or did he sign a new one? - that's €1.383.000,00 pr/mnth in salary. Delgado isn't considered an international is he? That's a major payroll slash. I think that if they could get a buyer for Gomis, they wouldn't hesitate to sell; he has a monster salary as well at €291 667 pr/mnth, fifth highest on the squad. Hopefully they pick-up some young, experienced players with low salaries to fill in some of the gaps e.g., E. Capoue at DM; Cabaye on a free would be nice. They're going to have to spend big on a CB though.
Theo

Why sale Lloris? :(
When will we stop selling our best players?
john

Lloris wants to leave. He's put in his time, been an exemplary player; he's tired of playing with no CBs in front of him, tired of his teammates playing with no desire, and winning nothing in three years. He's an ambitious young man, not to mention a winner and a competitor, and with the direction the club is taking, I don't blame him.
Megame

Seems like things are turning sour in Lyon... Puel's family went to the police to file a claim for insults and death threats, following graffiti on the wall of their former home, reading "Puel I hate you, Puel I'll get you"
Who said Lyon's supporters are more civilised than Marseille's or PSG's?
Theo

I don't want to justify this because normal persons would never do this. But it's Puels own fault. I mean he sees that the fans are against him and that the results are not acceptable. What is him motivating to stay? You know what, it's money. He could have easily avoided that.
Nikhil Apte

Other than money, it could be the feeling of wanting to do something to save his face. But the simpler solution in that case would have been to resign while things were going well in December - February. :P
Theo

I wouldn't say that things were going well at any time of this season. Just remember the Schalke match. ;)
Megame

The French "Best Player of the year" award, which Lisandro received last year, has been given to Eden Hazard yesterday.

The French "Best Goalkeepeer of the year" award, which Lloris received last year, has been given to Steve Mandanda yesterday.

The French "Best Coach of the year" award, which Puel didn't receive last year, has been given to Rudi Garcia yesterday.

The French "Most Promising Young Player of the year" award, which Eden Hazard received last year, has been given to Mamadou Sakho yesterday.
@ John : can you please use your mental connection with Bernard Lacombe to snatch Sakho in the summer? He's got the potential to be an amazing CB...
john

Last year we had moments when it looked like Puel was actually the man for the job: At the beginning of the season, when we steam-rolled through competitors and fought our way back into matches when we were behind. And the CL victory over RM. What happened to that squad, that juggernaut that looked like it could box with the best in the world? I haven't seen a glimpse of that type of spirit this year; just a bunch of demotivated, demoralised, low self-respecting zombies out there; Four or five players aside that is.
john

Theo: I haven't thought about Sakho up till now, since he will probably never move to another L1 club; he'll only make a move outside of France. But, I'll give it a try just for you. In the meantime, I can assure you I've never sent Bernard any telepathic thoughts about this, it must be nonesense:
http://www.footmercato.net/lig...
john

@MEGAME, sorry.
sdzsdz

we're actually fucked...given our beautiful away record, my money would be on a monaco win...also saint ettiene really has nothing to play for against psg...today was the day we should've put it away.
MerOL

Gerland was on fire against Puel , finally!!!

500 supporters protesting before the match, Puel insulted from the beginning with agressive songs, songs of Juninho and Houiller heard, a lot of booing, a lot of true and funny messages written to show the hatred that Lyon has for Puel.

Thousands of supporters of the virage nord left after unveiling the message "Between us and your fake coach direction make a choice.
Theo

I like to hear that! :)
Luke99

Claude Puel has some kinda of relationship with Monaco if im not mistaken and he knows hes gone and he doesn't seem to be ashamed of anything after all he was the man that stopped Lyons incredible run of 7 straight league titles so basically its all down to the Lyon players if they wanna play in the Champions league or Eroupa League everything else is history next week is the real deal any eleven Lyon players should be able to beat Monaco but i think were gonna loose or tie Lucky for us its PSG chasing us instead of Marseille or Bordeaux
john

Hopefully we can attain another "inspiring" draw against Monaco and hope we don't lose our four point goal differential over PSG in the process. Though the fact that Monaco will be fighting for their lives leaves me just a tad bit pessemistic.
What a disgrace: I can't believe we've sunk to this level.
Dan

yeug. fail fail fail. congrats to lille though.
i was a bit disappointed with the fans walkout though. Puel may have failed in some ways and we want him gone, but hey, we're still 3rd arent we??
Ronan

Its lucky we play in France,with our level of points now,wed be struggling for the Europa league in other strong leagues
AlexT

going to be a heart-pounding last day.
Nikhil Apte

Betting on a Caen win of 2-1 RIGHT NOW can get you 12 times your money!
Nikhil Apte

Hoarau off with two yellows!
Megame

Crap. Their keeper is good. Unfortunately.
Megame

I can't believe Caen now has more ball possession than OL!
sideny govou

Lovren is banned for three games; he is out for all :(( because he insult the ref
Nikhil Apte

Damn!
john

We're like fisherman who just sit back and wait for fish to jump into our boat. And the funny thing is, we're lucky in that it happens. OL will wait till the last possilbe moment to try and take matters into their own hands.
mrCham

Impressing first post Dan! :)