Comments on: Time to Get Serious: Lyon vs. Fiorentina

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:21:10 +0000

Just a heads up, I’m doing a liveblog over at the Champions League offside come Kick-off, would be happy for company and comments!

By: lefutur

lefutur — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:13:01 +0000

Also…I think Cris will show up big time today!

By: lefutur

lefutur — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:10:44 +0000

the guys got a car and the ladies only got a watch?

Aulas, you sexist…

By: mikep

mikep — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:54:57 +0000

We got this all day 2-0. All the lyonnais around the world including the players want the CL to badly. We are the french champs and will be takeing all three points at home. GAMes like Fiorentina at home should not scare us!

By: sidney govou

sidney govou — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:40:19 +0000

Guys, please give some links or streams for game. I live in Croatia and we don’t want to give French football in live. We are soo soo stupid nation. So please, help me to watch game. I love Lyon more than I love myself.

By: Jo

Jo — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 08:47:34 +0000

John, I’m pretty sure Juni will be out at the 70th minute for Pjanic.
As Inara said, he played 90 minutes last week-end.

I can’t wait one more second to be at Stade de Gerland tonight !
I’ll tell you my feelings after the game.

Allez l’OL !!!

By: Inara

Inara — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 04:15:37 +0000

And in totally unrelated news, Aulas finally awarded his players for the doubles they won last season. The ladies team were gifted with super fancy watches with their names engraved on them, and to the men, he gave each of the players a convertible. Geez! Wonder what they would get if they won the Champions League.

By: Inara

Inara — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:58:03 +0000

I also wanted to reiterate how glad I am that Puel is our coach. In an interview today, when asked what he thought about Aulas’s goal of reaching the semifinals, Puel said that going to the finals was his objective. It’s a refreshing change from Houllier and Perrin, who would always say things like, “going as far as possible” and “remaining realistic.” Puel isn’t making any excuses, he isn’t talking about the gross disparity of budgets that would prevent Lyon from achieving anything in Europe. He simply wants to take Lyon to the final.

I like that.

By: Inara

Inara — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:03:14 +0000

Well, Prandelli seems young. He is so modern, totally out of of sync with the traditional style of coaching (though maybe that’s just me). I consider him, along with Blanc, Spalletti, Laudrup, etc, a new generation of coaches.

Thanks for the update on the players. I don’t know them that well, so I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t sure if Vargas was a starter or not, so thanks for clearing that up.

With Fiorentina and Lyon having leaky defenses, it should be an interesting game tomorrow. The score could be anything from 0-0 to 8-8.

By: Martha

Martha — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 02:47:25 +0000

Some Viola stuff, FWIW.

Against Napoli, Vargas (left back) and Kroldrup (CB) were rested, the former ostensibly b/c he got back late from international duty, but in reality he wouldn’t have played anyway to save his legs. It was also handy that central midfielder Felipe Melo was suspended, because he’s become a key figure already, despite just arriving this summer. Also, Riccardo Montolivo is far from fit; Napoli was his first match since picking up an injury in the Olympics, and he looked a shadow of himself. When he’s fit and focused, he’s very special, but it’ll be a miracle to see that version of him tomorrow.

Even with Melo in front of them, Fiorentina’s central defense without Gamberini is a very scary thing — he’s their only reliable CB, and not having him is a massive, massive blow for them. Dainelli is erratic at best, and Kroldrup is terrifying at all times.

Generally, Fiorentina play 4-3-3, but there have been some rumors in the last few day that Prandelli (who, btw, is 51 — I’m sure he’d be delighted at being considered young) might go with a 4-4-2, with Mutu and Gila together up from, rather than Gila at the head of a trident.

And, finally, Stevan Jovetic is an outrageous talent. I’ve got my fingers crossed Cesare will give him some time in the second half, just to see what he can do.