Sochaux vs. Lyon, CL Group Draw, and Other News

By: Inara | August 29th, 2007

Sorry for my lack of posting, but I’ve been moving for the past few days and just got my internet set up last night. Anyway, I’m happy to see that despite Lyon’s lacklustre performance agaist St. Etienne, the supporters are taking this positively. After all, we can’t expect Lyon to hit perfect form immediately after a slump.

August 29, 2007
Stade Auguste Bonal
2:45 PM Eastern Time (20:45 in France)

Pre-match info against Sochaux:

If the name sounds familiar, it does. Lyon played them in the Trophee des Champions last July, and they are also the club formerly managed by Alain Perrin.

Lyon need to confirm their return by another good result, though I would argue that Sochaux need this result even more. In five games, they only have two points. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing for them. Many smaller teams play really well against Lyon in an effort to prove themselves, so Sochaux will be certain to put in a fight.

On the Lyon front, more bad news has popped up. Both Juninho and Anderson are out due to injuries. Juninho may have pulled a muscle again while Anderson (who just got to Lyon a few days ago) has a thigh strain. Great. Just great. No other major European team has been hit with an injury crisis of such massive proportions. At the rate Lyon are picking up injuries, I’ll be glad if we can challenge for a UEFA Cup spot.

You think I’m kidding? I’m not.

But I would rather Lyon get over their yearly injury crisis now than later, when games are crucial. So if the club has to go through this to be healthy later on, I’m all for it.

The squad list for the match is all that’s left of a formerly stacked manpower.

Le groupe lyonnais : Baros, Belhadj, Benzema, Bodmer, Clerc, Fabio Santos, Govou, Grosso, Kallström, Keita, Mounier, Paillot, Rémy, Réveillère, Roux, Squillaci, Toulalan et Vercoutre.

Absents : Coupet, Hartock, Müller, Cris, Cleber Anderson, Ben Arfa, Fred, Juninho et Beynié.

The only two things of note are the inclusion of Frederic Roux (his first time on the bench for Lyon) as well as that of Anthony Mounier, who really impressed me during the Peace Cup. But for some reason, Perrin hasn’t used him since in favor of the ineffectual Loic Remy.

Given the manpower available to him, Perrin will have no choice but to field a 4-4-2, due to the lack of available midfielders for a 4-3-3. With Juninho out and Mathieu Bodmer in defense, that leaves only Jeremy Toulalan and Kim Kallstrom. Fabio Santos needs to be on the bench, not because he isn’t that good, but also because Lyon needs at least one substitute in case anything happens.

We’ll probably see something like this:

Vercoutre
Reveillere - Squillaci - Bodmer - Grosso
Keita - Toulalan - Kallstrom - Govou
Baros - Benzema

The only change I can imagine Perrin making to this is by dropping Kader Keita to the bench, moving Sidney Govou to the right, and putting Nadir Belhadj on the left. I somehow doubt that though. And it should be Anthony Reveillere instead of Francois Clerc because not only did Clerc start in the last game, but he has two international matches coming up.

Anyway, let’s hope for another Lyon win. I will be glad if we can keep a clean sheet, given the makeshift look of our defenses. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but a 1-0 will make me very happy.

CL group stage draw

Tomorrow morning, Lyon find out their European destiny for next season. A CL group is what can make or break a club’s campaign, so it’s important that Lyon get a good one. UEFA currently has Lyon ranked 10th, in the second pot. Since Liverpool has qualified, Lyon have no chance of moving up two spots to get into the first spot (but have no fear - if Lyon do reasonably well this year, they will be seeded first next year!). For information on how seeding works, visit this site.

From Pot 1, I would like Lyon to draw Barcelona or Arsenal, just because it would be fun to see the teams play against each other. As hilarious as it would be to get Real Madrid again, we met them the last two years. I also want to avoid defensive teams like Liverpool and Chelsea. So no thanks to that.

All the teams in Pot 3 are difficult, so it’s hard for me to choose. Lyon have played Lazio, Werder Bremen, Celtic, and Steaua Bucharest before, but the remaining teams (Stuttgart, Schalke, CSKA Moscow, and Sporting) are not easy challengers either. I would like Sporting though.

In Pot 4, Lyon can’t face Marseille at this stage of the competition. While I’m sure everyone wants Tampere United, I’ll be happy if we don’t have to face Rangers.

The group I’d love: Arsenal, Lyon, Sporting, and Tampere United (!!)
The group I’d hate: Liverpool, Lyon, Werder, Rangers

See the pots here.

The Mancini Thing:

I know I didn’t write a post about this, but it was discussed extensively in the comments section of this post. Anyway, at first it seemed like a bad 24 hour flu, because after that first day the rumors all but disappeared. But then Lyon are saying that they are still interested in Mancini, who in turn is interested by Lyon. But Roma (naturally) are blocking the move.

Okay, so this is what I think is really happening. I don’t buy that Lyon were ever seriously interested in Mancini, or they wouldn’t have started pursuing him so late in the transfer window. Everyone knows high-profile signings take time, and though Roma mama Rosella Sensi’s brain is half-fried by UV tanning booths, even she knows that it’s unwise to sell a player without bringing in some sort of adequate replacement. Aulas did this purposely so he could fail at getting Mancini, but still tell the supporters that he tried.

I would like to believe the Mancini thing is a smokescreen for something else, but I doubt it. In fact, I don’t know what’s been going on Lyon’s pursuit of attackers. All I can tell you is that the three players they really wanted, Willian, Jose Antonio Reyes and Nicolas Anelka, didn’t come for various reasons. I think Aulas thought he could sign one of those players, which is why the club didn’t worry about ten other backup plans. Which is why Lyon are directionless in their attack search right now.

What is more troubling to me is the lack of communication between Perrin, Aulas, and Lacombe. While Perrin says that two strikers are necessary, Aulas’s stance alternates between no more signings and “2 or 3″ more signings. Aulas also says the Mancini track is practically impossible while Lacombe claims it is likely.

Have they lost each other’s cell phone numbers? Is that why they are communicating via L’Equipe?

The mercato ends in three and half more days. I would rather Aulas give up on bringing in an attacker and instead bring in some more medical staff to compensate for Lyon’s growing list of injured players.

Florent Malouda is Sexy:

Kickette, one of my favorite soccer blogs, posted their five sexiest footballers, and one of them is Florent Malouda. He’s not a Lyon player any longer, but the pictures they posted of him were from his Lyon days. He’s always been sexy, but I guess these things don’t get noticed when you play in France. Total sadness.