08/07/10 2100 CET 1500 EST Stade de Gerland The Ligue opens up!! First on the chopping block, Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club ALLEZ L'OL
La liste: Lloris, Vercoutre, Cris, Toulalan, Lovren, Gassama, Cissokho, Källström, Gonalons, Makoun, Bastos, Pjanic, Ederson, Pied, Grenier, Novillo, Gomis, Briand.
Les titulaires: Lloris, Gassama, Cris, Toulalan, Cissokho, Gonalons, Ederson, Pjanic, Briand, Bastos, Gomis. Not a bad line up. Hopefully Gonalons can take the pressure of a more prominent role in midfield. Hope to see some majic from Briand on his debut too.
...not an optimal start, but you gotta start somewhere. The worrying thing, at least from here, is that PSG not only looks like they have some talent but that the talent can play together...
5 in all at the end! saved our bacon for sure. hard to draw many conclusions after a match like that, but the main one is that as good as toulalan is as CB he's desperately needed somewhere he can influence the game more. the MF of gonalons, pjanic and ederson was pathetic, but it's hard to lay the blame on any individual. in the second half gonalons took more chances, coming out of his sentinel role, but that still is a bit light. it wasn't until KK came in that we had any weight of cannon in the middle at all. and all the shortcomings last night link back to that. briand, gomis and bastos all seemed willing enough, but against a team that is bunkering down and STILL able to deny you big possession and buildup, you''re bound to have problems. cissokho and gassama never had confidence to get up their alleys until the end because the whole thing seemed so rickety. normally they could say: "i've got toule behind me, and he has defenders behind him"... and it wasn't just a question of positioning. they both (especially gassama, atrocious match from him) clearly felt very nervous and vulnerable. misc notes: - the BG distributed a tract calling for a boycott of the new jerseys. - gomis had a small seizure again at the beginning... got boo'ed off again at the end. some guys have all the luck! - pied and novillo both got their L1 baptisms, pied almost scored in stoppages on a great ball from gonalons, perhaps OL's best chance.