2010-11 Coupe de la Ligue-Coupe de France thread [R]

this is gonna be great! la duch' will be the home club i'm almost certain this will be at gerland. the organization costs are pretty high for them (about 80K€) but breaking even is a lead pipe cinch and if they can get 15,000 attendance (not unlikely since france3 rhône-alpes will probably show ASSE-FCGB), and JMA leaves them the visitors' share (a gesture considered de rigueur in these david and goliath fixtures) they could clear well over 100K€.

both sides have to do their utmost to make this a party; this draw (which has been theoretically possible and much wished for in the past) is unlikely to happen again in our lifetime.

 

matmut is no problem for me, i can practically walk there, and i'd kind of like to check it out. it's sure that if he's looking for a homefield advantage he's best off in his own place, since he can fill that up by himself no problem, and for OL fans it's the most difficult to get to... not to mention it's a pretty bad neighborhood.

but he has a chance to get bigger exposure for his club, and make the biggest gate in their history.

 

a grand time was had by all and weather finally quite pleasant. didn't think much of the idea of afternoon games but i'm sold now.

except for the let down just after the third goal a perfectly professional outing: knock 'em out toot sweet and trot home after all we've got LOSC wednesday and MHSC next weekend!

i'm not sold on either umtiti or fofana so platini MUST ensure burkina faso (the land of upright men my ass!) get kicked out of the CAN. what does he think we're paying him for?

 

a match i will remember... almost as long as laurent bonnart will! from hope to despair to euphoria in 90 minutes (well, the other way round for bonnart!)

first, i had read just before leaving home that lovren was scheduled to start. and then i see gonalons lining up with umtiti.

then dabo walks 10 minutes in. i can't fault duhamel, it looked pretty wicked at real speed, only this morning did my colleagues say it was a very harsh call. can't accuse bonnart of acting either: anyone who plays knows sometimes you feel like you'll need your leg amputated and 5 minutes later it's OK. but whistling every time he touched the ball is just normal in such circumstances.

then we go down a goal when logic said our only chance in hell was scoring first. 25% down to a wicked LOSC press, 25% down to gourcuff making a poor pass, 25% down to umtiti's inexperience, 25% down to a shot from hell by cole that even a strong hand from hugo could only deflect a few microns.

all seemed lost.

from that moment on we bossed their sorry ch'ti asses all over the field. what irony that it was bastos owning bonnart right down to indentures on his great-grandchildren that set up the winner.

bastos was a demon, with brazilian fury to match lisandro's argentine grinta. lacazette, whose forte is playing balle au pied, had a hard time with a swarm of dogues on him but nearly broke through a couple of times and failing that earned some good FK's. grenier very imprecise with his passing in the first half but always cutting back to provide a solution for those behind him. kâllström, what a fox. an opportunistic goal down more to experience and intelligence than luck (a keeper is almost always going to have to deal with a bastos™ FK én deux temps...) and an extra helping of clver fouls to make up part of our man disadvantage. gourcuff a surprise starter and not in a role made for him showed a lot of effort and though the ball he lost was a bad one i'm sure he won more than he lost. cissokho always had either cole or hazard or both on his side, and for a fullback who can't defend he did great; aside from the goal, neither of these really weighed on the match. gonalons sober and solid, umtiti only one naïve stab from a clean sheet for him and for us. the proof these two did well is that against the most fearsome attack in L1 lloris had almost nothing to do: one thrilling save on balmont's shot... that had been blocked.

but for me, MOTM is garde. he found the words to get a victory out of an injury-riddled team that was a man and a goal down: but not only at halftime, obviously has been finding them for months. and he used his subs to perfection, starting with not wasting one right after the red card... and saving the last one for the extra time that was always a possibility.

the best 8€ i ever spent!

 

i went to 3 matches this week for the grand total of 13€:

7/1: OL-MHSC (ladies) - free gratis for nothing
8/1: OL-La duch' - 5€
8/1: OL-LOSC - 8€

now i've long decried the coupe moustache but it offers a chance to go see a match for a reduced price and when the players put their hearts into it like that...

 

after a dangerous FK awarded to lille, just seconds after one was denied us at the other end he was yelling at kalt (4th official) so loud you could hear him in the VN!

he has more than heart though, he has brains. he had the team really well organized at 10, and just before the goal i was thinking "this isn't working out so bad!"

 

laville, violeau and of course:

GODJILLA!
​

 

personally i thought djila - tiago - juni was even better; we called tiago the washing maching. whereas essien could lose his cool and make bad pass after bad pass...

the fact that at 38,000,000 - 10,000,000 we picked up 28 million euros while improving our midfield... i still giggle myself to sleep some nights over that!

 

young man i have an automobile industry to run.

lacazette was MOTM for me too, above all because without his goal the fire would never have been lit.

at HT i had a feeling OL would regret not having capitalized on their temps fort, and sure enough they got pummeled. at 2-0, 3-0 looked more likely than 2-1, and the lorient defense was well in place when laca scored, it took a perfect shot and he hit one. benzemesque.

after that, even with only 10' left OL was raging so hard that extra time looked almost certain. right up to the last corner i was believing. and after a knock on the back of the head like that the moustoir was silent and the merlus were dead in the water. gourcuff père can moan all he wants about the ref letting extra time drag on, but the last assault was within shooting distance when the clock struck 90+3 and you will be hard pressed to find a case where an honest referee didn't allow that last CK to be taken.

lloris was his usual self on his line but his kicking game was poor. RVR quite pale, nothing on attack, slow on the defensive wing, but he saved off the line or in the box two or three times to earn his trip to the SdF. cissokho better front to back, and umtiti was not only the best defender of the night, he was the best CB we've had this season, bar none. a pearl. cris much worse than a professional has any right to be, even in his first match after an injury. no pace, no reactions, no placement, no physical presence, passing worse than imprecise... his going off was as salutory as briand, grénier and ederson coming on (all bonnes pioches). without being awe-inspiring, gonalons steady both in the MF and later on defense. källström indispensible as a runner but useless as a passer. lisandro was getting behind the merlus at will in the first half but inhabitually missed 3 chances (he had scored on precisely HALF his shots this year until yesterday) and faded quickly after the pause; a shot of his face after lorient's second showed none of the habitual grinta. bastos the main source of rhythm and transmission, gomis worked like john henry all over the field, came close to opening the night's scoring, and the last anecdotal goal aside (in which he played a big part) finished it.

 

nah, the gym' will be a pushover.