SOCHAUX vs. LYON

By: John | October 16th, 2009

sochaux-lyon
October 17, 2009
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
1 PM ET (19:00 CET, 18:00 GMT)

Well, after the short but much needed international break, Lyon head back to office. The break gave us some much needed time for the laundry list of players out due to injury, to continue their convalescences. But unfortunatley, we haven’t healed where we really need it: on the defenesive side of the ball, but there is a ray of light in that our two offensive superpowers Lisandro and Bastos- who shockingly haven’t been missed very much since they’ve gone down- will be match ready. What a difference a year makes: imagine our two best offensive players going down last year, and what a disaster that would have been! But as always, our CBs continue to limp along, with the injury monster rearing it’s ugly head again this week, although we might have dodged a bullet on that one- more on that later.

More important than Saturday’s match though, is the sad news that’s struck both the Sochaux and the US footballing community: Sochaux and US international striker Charlie Davies was involved in a serious car accident midweek in Washington D.C. Apparently Davies’ passenger died in the crash and Charlie was listed in serious but stable condition after hours of surgery to repair fractures to this right tibia and femur by having steel rods inserted in them, fractures to his left elbow and face, as well as a lacerated bladder. The doctors say it will take anywhere from six to twelve months to recover from the injury through intense rehab and that he will be bedridden for one to two months. Hopefully Davies makes a swift recovery and return to L1- where he’s quickly become a favorite, and to international football.

As for the match, Sochaux have their work cut out for them. Lyon are in blistering form, and Sochaux walking out of Gerland with even a draw seems highly unlikely.

Sochaux’s Form: Les Lionceaux are below par in just about every category. A perennial mid-table squad, they are currently in 14th place in the league, hovering just over the drop, with a 3-0-5 record. They have just two (2) wins at home- ranked 14th, and more importantly for our purposes, just (1) one win away- ranked 16th. They are ranked 14th in attack with (8)eight goals scored, and 16th in defense with (13) allowed, just four less than last placed Grenoble.

Sochaux had been on a four match losing streak and have just two wins in their last seven before taking a victory at home vs. lowly Le Mans, right before the break. They have not managed to score more than one goal in each of their three victories, all of them ending with a 1-0 scoreline, and only one of those victories came on the road. This fact, coupled with the fact that with the loss of their major offensive signing of the summer Charlie Davies, Les Lionceaux will lose 1/4 of their offense, things look bleak. The only worries left are the Lion’s remaining “teeth:” striker Vaclav Sverkos and CMF Marvin Martin- the other half of the offense. The only hope they have are that OL have become rusty over the break and come-out completely flat, or that the tragedy of their fallen teammate, infuses their play. Other than that, I’m going with a 2-0 Lyon victory.

Injuries:

Les Lyonnais: The usuals: Cleber, Boumsong, Bodmer; Cris- what the F#CK is going on with adductors this year?- was a maybe until late Friday, and so was Kallstrom who picked-up some muscle injury on international duty. They are both included in the group but are I guess will have to wait to see if they are operational on Saturday. If not, we may see a Makoun-Toul pairing at CB with Seguin out with a muscle strain, and Faure and Fontaine not available for whatever reasons. Oh, and in terms of some good news: Bastos, Delgado and Lilo are back in form, so they’ll probably see some light second half action.

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

Sochaux: As if the loss of the Charlie Davies wasn’t a big enough blow to an already light squad, Sochaux are experiencing their own injury crisis. Les Lionceaux will be without Boudebouz, Stevanovic, Carlao and Dalmat. The only good news for them, and maybe bad for us, is that Sverkos will be back in action after injury.

Le groupe sochalien: Dreyer, Richert – Faty, Perquis, Bréchet, Jokic, Mikari, Josse, Dramé – Martin, Maurice-Belay, Gavanon, Nogueira, Tulasne – Sverkos, Butin, Privat, Gurler.

Starting Formation:

The only doubt for me is does Lilo start?

Lloris
Reveillere-Cris -Toulalan-Cissokho
Clerc-Makoun-Pjanic
Govou-Gomis-Lisandro