Update-O-Rama
By: Inara | August 23rd, 2007Lots of things have been happening at the Gerland this past week.
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First of all, Lyon have signed another goalkeeper to be Remy Vercoutre’s backup. His name is Frederic Roux, formerly of Nancy, Bordeaux, and Ajaccio. I have no idea how he is as a player, but Sam at the France Offside was pretty negative about Roux’s arrival, and I’m inclined to agree. Roux won’t be any better than Vercoutre and has even less experience.
He spent several years at Bordeaux as a backup keeper, and after that spent a year in L2 with Ajaccio. But Lyon wanted someone who is only looking for a short term contract (he signed for only one year) and who wouldn’t challenge Gregory Coupet when he returns from injury. Apparently both Alain Perrin and Joel Bats (OL’s goalkeeping coach) have worked with Roux before.
Read his press conference here.
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I’m not sure if this is good or bad news, but Fred might end up staying at Lyon. After being linked with several clubs in a handful of days (Sevilla, Napoli, Portsmouth, Newcastle, and Middlesbrough), he seems to have realized that he’s better off at Lyon and is now willing to sit down and have talks with Aulas and Perrin.
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Lyon are still searching for an attacker. Since Nicolas Anelka has once again ruled out a return to France, Lyon attempted to pry Jefferson Farfan away from PSV, but the Dutch club refuses to sell, so they are now asking about Arouna Kone. Perrin is also interested in Eidur Gudjohnsen, but since the Icelander is injured at the moment, his arrival at the Gerland seems a remote possibility. Afonso Alves is another possibility.
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In what is surely a moment of humor from Aulas, Lyon have asked Inter Milan about their South American attacking trio - Hernan Crespo, Adriano, and Julio Cruz. Hey, why isn’t Lyon interested in Zlatan the Great aka the pretty one?
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Kim Kallstrom was handed only a one-match ban for the spitting incident (the norm is three). Since he sat out against Lorient, he will be back in action this weekend for the derby against St. Etienne. In more good news, he has accepted a contract extension and is now tied to Lyon until 2012.
Kallstrom scored the only goal against the US.
To celebrate, he scored the only goal against the US today in a friendly. I haven’t been able to find the goal on youtube just yet, so all I can offer you is a goal.com summary:
…The only goal came a bit controversially as Kennedy Bakircioglu looked like he pushed off his defender while sending a short pass to Kim Kallstrom just outside the 18-yard-box. Kallstrom then bullied his way past Carlos Bocanegra and unleashed a powerful left-footed strike that curled into the top left corner of the goal. It was a goal that showcased the theme of the day, which was a stronger Swedish side overpowering the rather timid Americans…
And this is what Team USA’s Oguchi Onyewu and Tim Howard had to say:
“The guy got through and he had quick feet,” Onyewu told YA. “To find space like that and to strike it as well as he did is tough. You give a guy an inch at this level and he’s going to make you pay.”
Howard admitted he was out of position after the match but didn’t take anything away from Kallstrom. “The guy hit it well. I tried to get a piece but I think you have to give credit to him. At a certain point all you can do is tip your cap,” Howard said.
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Just as I predicted, Lyon lost out on Gabriel Heinze to Real Madrid. Who didn’t see that one coming?
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Lyon are about to sign Kleber Anderson (or is it Anderson Kleber…?) from Benfica for the sum of around 4 million euros. Before I go further, I would like to point out that even Lyon get inflated prices. Benfica asked only two million from Cruzeiro, yet Lyon have to pay twice that amount!!
Anyway, Anderson has passed his medical and will be presented later today. He may even take the field for this weekend’s derby with St. Etienne.
Anderson is no Heinze, but he is no Boumsong or Silvestre either. According to Bernard Lacombe, Lyon have been following Anderson for the past seven years. They almost signed him in 2002 but took Edmilson instead. Two years later, they almost signed him again before deciding upon Cris. Granted, Anderson is unwanted by Benfica, but that sort of thing doesn’t trouble Lyon. No one wanted Cris or Claudio Cacapa either, and look how well that turned out!
In any case, Lyon have had at least one Brazilian central defender for every one of their title winning campaigns. It’s reassuring to know that the tradition will still continue.
Category: Team News and Rumors
Tags: Adriano, Afonso Alves, Arouna Kone, Cleber Anderson, Eidur Gudjohnson, Fred, Gabriel Heinze, Guy Roux, Hernan Crespo, Julio Cruz, Kim Kallstrom, Lyon, Team News and RumorsSubscribe
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Comments
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Im not to excited about Roux or Anderson. I dont think they add quality to the squad, just extra bodies, kinda like what real madrid is doing but is dropping 150 million to do it. anyways, i would have prefered a French defender and a stronger defensive midfielder then Fabio Santos.
Posted from
United States
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Crappy vid of Kim’s goal, shot with a hand camera. Don’t those technological barbarians in Sweden have recording software?
Anyway it’s typical Kim stuff, “I’m gonna waltz over to your 16-metre line, slam the ball past your goalie and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j2Co4chFZUI don’t really think it’s a loss to lose Heinze. His long passing and crossing is, eww, and that severe injury had has considerably reduced his pace, one of his previous strong points.
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Aaaaahhhh scared it’s Materrazi !!(on the first photo).
Posted from
France -
Corey: For some reason I feel like Lyon have been rushed throughout this mercato, which is odd when you consider that they’ve been preparing for it since last September. But I think the injuries to Coupet, Cris, and Muller really threw them off, and they’ve spent time looking for emergency replacements when they could have been working on getting a striker.
rickard: Thanks for the video! The quality isn’t high definition, but at least now I’ve seen the goal KK scored. Nice
And you’re right, very typical of him. He never scores gently, does he? As for Heinze, Anderson is probably just as good, but Heinze would be a “big” name which would have reassured the fans. Thierry: I thought exactly the same thing when I saw that pic! So it’s not just me! At least he’s not Italian lol. Or he’d get booed all the time, even if sitting on the bench.
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http://nowimpypadsfootball.blogspot.com/2007/08/highlights-from-some-of-yesterdays.html
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Ack, I accidentally clicked submit. Anyway there’s a much better highlights vid in that link.
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Get this, Valencia are negotiating with Juninho.
Also, Willian is apparently not off the books just yet. Lyon seem set to recruit one more Brazilian.
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Willian Borges is seemingly keen on leaving Brazil for…Shaktar Donetsk.
I’m quite confident in Anderson skills. Marcelo only recommended great defenders like Cris and Caçapa.Posted from
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Marcelo has an eye for talent, but I have never seen Anderson playbefore so I dont know. Willian is caught between Fiorentina and Shaktar, i dont know if we will get him, have to Claudio, 17 year old phenom from Palmeiras juniors. Gonna be a great striker someday.
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Honestly, I’ve never seen Anderson playing. But Marcelo and Lacombe did want to sign him before signing Edmilson, and once again did want to sign him… before signing Cris. So I hope he ’s as talented as these guys. I must acknowledge that Anderson did not play so many games with Benfica last year, but I remember that Cris did not convince anyone when playing for Bayer Leverkusen… and today he is considered as one of the best defender in Europe. So…wait and see, and let’s hope that he won’t be the new Fabio Santos.
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“he won’t be the new Fabio Santos.”
I hate this sentence. Sorry.
I don’t understand how we can write this for a player who pratically never played with OL, except when he was trying to adapt himself to a new country and a new team, which was in crisis…Posted from
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Has Fabio Santos played at all? I know he played during the pre-season, but I can’t remember him on the pitch for the league games.
Who would have thought that little Jeremy Toulalan from Nantes would be Lyon’s most essential player?
He was totally shafted by coming here. I wish Lyon hadn’t recruited an extra DM during winter. If anything, even if Diarra still left, I would have preferred to recruit a younger French DM who wouldn’t mind being Toulalan’s understudy.
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“who would have thought that little Jeremy Toulalan from Nantes would be Lyon’s most essential player?”
-Me…(Original soundtrack of your favorite action movie)…
More seriously, Toulalan was not really a surprise to me, the fact he was best player of the year and helped Nantes against relegation, plus the fact Nantes has produced some players like Deschamps, Makélélé, Dessailly, Karembeu…I never had seen Fabio Santos Play, So it s difficult for me to judge him. I would have see him against Lorient, with toulalan and juninho(for me with Juninho 4 3 3 is the best formation).
In a 4 4 2 you need two great MD, juninho is not really a MD and he is old, he need support. with our old 4 3 3 we have Toulalan,Juninho,Tiago, Malouda,Wiltord, Abidal, Clerc, and even Chris sometimes to catch the ball in defensive phase. Near than 8 players and of course the adversories in 4 4 2were in numeric inferiority, Their Wings Back can’t progress without the counter of our wings, plus they had like we have against Lorient, two corridor players or midfield offensive less skilled with recuperation. It used to give us a great tactical advantage. We had lot of chance to win the ball before the danger zone(near penalty surface) And with pass skilled player like Juninho, Tiago, Toulalan and counter attack players like Malouda, Govou, Wiltord It provided us great counter situations in the adversories danger zone.
Nowadays, in recuperation we have…Toulalan,…Juninho…in the midlfield, our wing back are under the menace of wings Offensives middlefield adversories, so they can’t participate a lot at the middle field recuperation… our offensive middlefield Keita not great in recuperaton, our corridor player Belhadj or Ben Harfa play in his corridor. players against 8 in the precedent formation for recuperation it’s few. And now we are victims of counters in our danger Zone Because we step back under the pressure and the impossibility to recover the ball quickly.Posted from
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A few posts back (here), Evilo pointed out some great things about Toulalan, and how he is one of Lyon’s most important players. I confess, I never really watched Nantes, so his performance at Lyon took me by surprise. And here’s the thing - it was Houllier who wanted him. I guess Ged did have one or two good transfers in him.
I think the 4-4-2 is only good if Toulalan and Kallstrom are in the midfield, with Govou as one of the wingers. He did really well on the left in that formation. Keita has been blowing hot and cold, so I’m not sure yet.
It’s funny, because if you look at the current team, many of the players are new to the 4-3-3 or have never played it before, and yet they are struck with the Lyon disease, ie unable to play anything else. I think that’s why Perrin is trying to force the change, to make Lyon less reliant.
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Thierry, don’t forget Bodmer, who can play as a DM and a “number 10″ in the same match !
That’s what he did when he played for Lille.Posted from
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Thierry, I disagree strongly when you say that a 4-4-2 formation “needs” two great DMs.
In a 4-4-2 formation, both central midfielders should relay on attacking and defensive duties, or separate them completely. If they are shared, then you get a midfield that is like Juventus’ in 2003 : Tacchinardi and Davids shared defensive and offensive workloads. If they are shared, then you get a midfield that is like Arsenal’s in 2006 : Fabregas took offensive matters and Gilberto defensive questions.
Juninho isn’t “inadapted” to playing in a 4-4-2, but simply isn’t suited to playing in a DM role. If you look at Man U’s 1999 side, you’ll see that Scholes and Keane shared responsibilities in midfield, and yet Scholes was present in defensive phases of play, and Keane in offensive phases.
You say that Lyon’s 4-3-3 put them in numerical superiority. I think that’s partly false. Lyon were often in numerical superiority thanks to Malouda and Govou’s very good defensive responsabilities. But only Malouda was a very good counter player. Govou is quick, but doesn’t quite make the mark in the Champion’s League.
When Malouda and Abidal left, it caused Lyon’s defence to be exposed from not just the right, but also the left. Perrin’s 4-4-2 system should work, and Juninho could adapt to it, but it calls for a much stronger defensive axis. Squillaci and Cris, for me, aren’t the international-class players that Perrin needs in that position. Since both wing-back are poor at defending (Grosso, Belhadj, Reveillère, Müller), the central defenders need to be able to cope with crosses, through-balls and one-twos. Squillaci and Cris (we’ll see for Anderson, but Müller can’t either) just aren’t able to cope with that defensive responsability.
Look at Vahirua’s goal against Lyon. Sure, Grosso makes a mistake when he pings the ball back in the middle. But Lyon’s right-hand side is completely beat by Lorient, and Squillaci, Bodmer (and a player I think is Toulalan) are all covering the same player! Sure, Vahirua was far from where the cross whent, but how did he end up all alone ? Lyon had 7 players in defence, and Lorient only had 4. And yet, Lorient got the best, thanks to 3 mistakes (Clerc’s mistake on the wing, Grosso’s bad header, and then Vahirua’s marker’s error).
the problem with the 4-4-2 is that it needs players who are ready to constantly re-focus, particularly in defence. Lyon used to win by just playing with 8 defensive players, but if that works against teams in Ligue 1 or some european sides, it will ultimately fail as soon as the opponent is prepared to play a defensively solid game. Milan, Roma, PSV Eindhoven, Porto, Ajax… They were all prepared to defend, and only attack “if they could” against Lyon. Because that’s one thing Lyon couldn’t do : attack.
Lyon rely on goals from “behind” : Juninho’s free-kicks, Malouda, Govou and Wiltord (haha no longer), Källström, Toulalan, Cris… They all scored goals that gave Lyon useful points last season. But Lyon’s attack force was quite poor. Fred grabbed 11 goals, but Benzema and Baros didn’t get anything like enough goals, and even 11 is quite ridiculous for a striker.
Perrin’s 4-4-2 will help Lyon by “freeing” Lyon of Juninho’s 4-3-3 formation that will leave once Juni is out of form, and help solve the attack problem. Benzema and Baros are both seeming more dangerous this season, and Lyon need an attack force that can work alone, without relying on midfielders or defenders to score when the score is tied.
But the main problem now is that having removed one of the two defensive midfielders, everyone can see that Lyon’s back 4 aren’t what they are made to be, and that that sector needs reinforcements.
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By DM I mean Defensif middlefield or a guy who have the defensif habilities of a true DM. Of Course if one of them have great passing habilities is better.
Tacchinardi and Davids are both DM. Fabregas and Gilberto idem. Scholes and Keane idem. Scholes began his carrier as DM when he had legs then try to become OM with not a of suceess and finally CM. And the lack of defensif habilities in the middlefield of this team explain beyond me why they were in trouble the last year.
Milan AC has got Gattuso Pirlo and Ambrosini. Without Pirlo or Gattuso it is not exactly the same Milan.
The numeric superiority it is a mathematic fact 1 DM+ 2CM+ +2Wing + eventually 2 wing back= 5to7 players for the middlefield battle against 2Dm(or 1DM and 1CM)+ eventually the two lateral middlefield. 4 players if the wingback participe two the battle the risk of counter attack become huge. Most of the time they just defend their Zone.
Govou is a wing with speed and good pass hability, he is a counter attack player. He is not a AC.
“Squillaci and Cris, for me, aren’t the international-class players that Perrin needs in that position.” LOL so who?
“Lorient got the best, thanks to 3 mistakes”.As i already said with the Le Guen defensif 4 3 3 there are 3 defensive lines and even if there is a mistake (ball lost) you have at least 40 m to repair the mistake and stop the adversory attack. In this 4 4 2, the danger line is closer from the lyon line goal. You pay cash each mistake. Moreover as you made less pressure on the adversory wing, the pressure is on your wing backs.
“the problem with the 4-4-2 is that it needs players who are ready to constantly re-focus” So agree with you.
The advantges of a good tactical should provide you from this and from less good performance permitting you to win even if you are not excellent this day. With a 4 4 2 you simply need to have better players at all post in the duals at each match. I remind you of that Lyon had could eliminate Milan at 2minutes of the end; that There was a penalty against Nilmar vs PSV; and that it needs 8 yellow cards and a quantity of fouls for Roma to stop Lyon.
“Goals from Behind” LOL Fred had the high ratio apparition/goal scored. If all the Lyon adversories played very defensively(Lorient played with counter attack at their home), or made fouls, goals “from behind” are nothing else than logical.Best attack in L1 near than 2 goals by matches (:65) Rennes 38. Probably one of the most prolific attack in CL. One of the most spectacular team/price.
Even if Perrin will manage freeing Lyon from Juninho(like some wanted freeing France from Zidane lol) Lyon will depend from Käellström.
I m not totally against his 4 4 2, i just think that all a season with only Toulalan and Källström to keep the Defensive power in the middle it will be a little bit short.Posted from
France
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