Olympique Lillyonnais vs. Lille Olympique SC

By: Inara | October 17th, 2008

Fortunately, the threat of strike has been resolved, with the UNFP (the players union) and the UCPF (the manager’s union) coming to an agreement. Since this is a match preview, I won’t go into the details, but you can read about why players wanted to go on strike and how the issue was resolved.

It’s going to be one big family reunion as Lyon’s ex-Lille crew comes face to face with their old team. Lille are eager to be the first team to take points away from Lyon at home while Lyon are desperate to forget about their humiliation at the hands of Rennes two weeks ago.

You might as well call Lille the satellite team of Lyon.

October 18th, 2008
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
3 PM ET (21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT)

Match background:

Lille are doing surprisingly better than expected this season. Having lost their manager and their most important players, everyone expected that it would be a relegation battle that Lille would be facing. However, ex-Le Mans coach Rudy Garcia has done a good job in getting the best out of a comparatively average squad.

Players like Tony Sylva, Stephan Lichtsteiner, and Kevin Mirallas left this past summer. And of course Jean II Makoun and Claude Puel left for Lyon, joining Mathieu Bodmer and Kader Keita, who left Lille the year before.

though Lille did manage to keep a hold of the highly rated Yohan Cabaye, Mathieu Debuchy, Eden Hazard, and Rio Antonio Mavuba. They also signed Tulio de Melo and Florent Balmont, which helped address some of their departures.

Currently, Lille sit in 6th place, with four wins, two draws, and two defeats. They’ve scored 11 goals and conceded 9.

Lyon are still in first place, but their lead has been cut down to two points, with Toulouse and Marseille hovering dangerously close. A loss tomorrow coupled with wins for the other two teams could see Lyon drop to third (OM have a higher goal differential).

At any rate, tomorrow will be a very emotional match for many players. Puel will be facing his team of six years, one that he practically built from scratch. Makoun was there even longer, and Lille was where Bodmer and Keita grew into the players they are today. Many Lille players also owe their careers to Puel, so it’ll be interesting to see how the players react. And let’s not forget that the president of Lille (Michel Seydoux) is the brother of Lyon’s main shareholder (Jerome Seydoux).

Lyon info:

I hate this part of writing previews because every time I do, I have a new injury to report. Remember how Fabio Santos was healthy again from his broken cheekbone and ready to play? Well, in training the other day, he strained a calf muscle, so he’ll be out for another week or so. Mathieu Bodmer is also out with a pulled adductor muscle, and it’s uncertain if he will be traveling to Bucharest next week. Sidney Govou and Francois Clerc are still convalescing and won’t be available for some time. To make matters worse, Jeremy Toulalan is suspended (though this could be a blessing in disguise as Toulalan looked tired against Tunisia and could use the rest).

Le groupe lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre – Grosso, Mensah, Boumsong, Cris, Réveillère, Gassama – Juninho, Källström, Makoun – Delgado, Mounier, Ederson, Pjanic, Keita, Benzéma, Fred, Piquionne.

Good news is that Anthony Mounier, who was thought to have strained a muscle in France’s U21 game against Germany, is in the clear and available against Lille. Fabio Grosso also makes his triumphant return (god I am so glad to have him back you have no idea).

Expected lineup:

Lloris
Reveillere – Cris – Mensah – Grosso
Juninho – Makoun – Kallstrom
Keita – Fred – Mounier

As you can tell, I’m wildly guessing the attacking portion of that lineup. Defensively however, I don’t see any other way. With Mathieu Bodmer injured, and with Jean-Alain Boumsong doing even further damage to his Chuckle Brothers reputation during international week, it seems likely that Puel will start Cris and John Mensah in central defense. But this is a good thing because Mensah was originally purchased to partner Cris. It was only because of injuries that Mensah had to play on the left. Anthony Reveillere has got to take the right, and at least this time, Fabio Grosso can play on the left. YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

In midfield, the injury to Fabio Santos and the suspension of Jeremy Toulalan means that Puel can’t do the usual two DM thing. Jean II Makoun will have to handle those duties himself. Juninho may start, but if he does, he will be substituted early in the second half, or he will come on towards the end of the game so that he remains fresh for Steaua Bucharest next week. It’s a tossup as to whether it will be Kim Kallstrom or Ederson. I’m going to go with Kallstrom because he’s been benched for a while, and I miss him.

Up front, I have a feeling Kader Keita will be starting. Puel is eager to get Keita to return to the form he had two years ago, and the only way to do that is to play him until he does. If Fred starts, Karim Benzema may not play at all – unless Lyon are losing again. Or Benzema might start and get subbed out early. I will be VERY angry if Fred and Benzema start. On the left, it’ll probably be Anthony Mounier, who looks to be Puel’s protege at the moment, though it’s possible he might give Ederson or Miralem Pjanic a run at that spot.

Viewing options:

ZOMG. It looks like Setanta USA has decided to pick up – at the very last minute – the rights to L1 broadcasting, so they will be showing this match tomorrow on Setanta USA, Setanta Canada, and Setanta Broadband. However, before you subscribe to it, keep in mind that Setanta will probably only show one L1 game a week, possibly two, so you’ll only see Lyon once a month if you’re lucky. In France, OrangeFoot will be showing this match. Hopefully there will be streams for this game. We’ll keep you updated from our end, and please do the same from yours.

Expected results:

Lille are always a tough team to break down, and players (and coaches) on both sides will be desperate to show off. My gut is saying a 1-1 draw, but I’m going to be ambitious and predict a narrow 1-0 win.