OMG THE SEASON IS STARTING aka Le Mans vs. Lyon

By: Inara | August 7th, 2009

Tomorrow marks the start of Lyon’s 2009-2010 season. For the first time in a really long time, Lyon will be fighting to earn back the title, as opposed to defending it (maybe this will help the team wake up from their apathy). Tomorrow they’ll be facing Le Mans, who are definitely capable of surprises on their good days.

But before I get into the match preview itself, just a couple of things. First, Sidney Govou has been named captain. I’m sure my lack of faith in Govou (both as a player and as a human being) is not a surprise to any of you, but I’ve promised myself to be more positive about him from now on. After all, that armband is definitely worth something. Frederic Piquionne has been loaned to Portsmouth while Cleber Anderson has returned from his loan from Santos. Also, Lyon have drawn Anderlect in their Champions League qualifiers (more on that tomorrow).

August 8th, 2009
Stade Léon Bollée, Le Mans
3 PM ET (21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT)

Match background:

Le Mans is one of those odd little teams that bounce back and forth between Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. While they have managed to stay in the top flight the last couple of year, they barely hung on last season when they ended the year in 16th place. To compound matters, they lost two of their best players this summer – Yohann Pele left for Toulouse while Gervinho is now at Lille. Anthony Le Tallec and Mathieu Coutadeur still remain, at least for now. In terms of acquisitions, most of their new players are from L2, though they did bring in a CB from Porto, Joao Paolo Andrade.

Le Mans do have a new manager, however. His name is Paulo Duarte, a former Portuguese football player who has coached some smaller club teams and currently is in charge of Burkina Faso’s national team. Duarte will be coaching both teams simultaneously, so we’ll see how that works out.

A couple of Le Mans’ players will be out tomorrow. Andrade and Antonio Geder are still getting back into shape while Fredrik Strømstad and Ibrahima Camara are injured.

Lyon info:

I’m not sure how or why, but Lyon have a whole host of players injured, suspended, and in one case, both. John Mensah and Cleber Anderson have calf injuries while Cesar Delgado and Jean-Alain Boumsong have inflamed thigh muscles (yes, really). Kim Kallstrom is suspended, as is Mensah (probably for being so fragile).

Le groupe lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre – Clerc, Cris, Bodmer, Réveillère, Cissokho, Grosso, Seguin – Toulalan, Makoun, Govou, Ederson, Pjanic, Mounier, Bastos – Gomis, Lisandro

Interestingly, Yannis Tafer and Clement Grenier both miss out, as does Lamine Gassama (where is he, anyway?). The only youth player on the squad is Nicolas Seguin, who was brought in to help cover the lack of CBs.

Expected Lineup:

Lloris
Reveillere – Cris – Bodmer – Cissokho
Toulalan
Ederson – Pjanic – Bastos
Gomis – Lisandro

There isn’t much to say about the defense. It’s always a tossup over Francois Clerc and Anthony Reveillere, though it is apparent that Fabio Grosso has taken a back seat to Aly Cissokho. In midfield, I think starting bothJean II Makoun and Jeremy Toulalan is overkill against a team like Le Mans, so I’m hoping one of them will be benched. Instead, I’d like to see Ederson and Miralem Pjanic on the field at the same time. A novel concept, I know, but I think they’d do well together.

And of course I expect our three newest acquisitions to play. Michel Bastos and Bafetimbi Gomis are no strangers to L1 football, and hopefully Lisandro Lopez will find it easy to fit in as well.

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Expected results:
I expect Lyon to win. If 75 million euros in incoming transfers isn't enough to beat Le Mans - even by one goal - Aulas will be the laughing stock of the league.