without grenier or gourcuff i was worried... and after the czechs opened the scoring (the earliest i've ever had to chant "c'est notre fierté..." ) i was really worried. but it only took 10' to see that the opening sequence was just a two-minute brain fart. mvuemba and malbranque both had great games; arnold has slowly started to come good, but steed has looked so tired recently. maybe some credit has to be given to garde for knowing his players because the lineup worked great. jimmy isn't gomis but bafé has started looking fatigued too, and jimbo always gives %100. and dabo back just in time when bedimo went down. as for lacazette, he proved once and for all that DD needs to go into rehab for his payet problem. how can anyone even compare these two, much less prefer the stiff over the stud? a real champs league atmosphere at gerland too, even though it was only 3/4 full (only one section in the VS open). the players have said they much prefer attacking towards the VN and it's true they scored three times in front of us. so i like to think we deserve some credit even if it's probably not true. but the team spent a quarter of an hour in front of the stand, chanting, beating the drum, and making corentin tolisso (le voleur des bordelias) do us a little dance. la parc, c'était peut-être mieux avant... but gerland has never been better (even if the team obviously has); on s'amuse comme des petits fous. it will be a shame to have to leave for the sticks.
Miguel Lopes fractured of the lower end of his tibia. http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/newsid=2078231.html
while it's tough for him, and he has been playing quite well, that's far from the worst of our health problems since mehdi zeffane can back him up, and next year might be the starter anyway. the real problems are grenier (even though gourcuff is back) and above all both umtiti and bisevac being out. baky koné is OK but not the most dependable CB in the world, and for both the derby and juventus he'll either be paired with naby-sarr, a very green kid (though U-20 world champion) or gonalons, who will be sorely missed at his usual post.
I read they could discuss a big salary increase and extention for Gonalons. Obviously its a good thing if its true but is it true or does he want to go to Naples. I think Aulas doesnt want to sell because he refused the 17m offer and thats a big amount of money and no way hes gonna get more than that.
I've never understood all the love for Gonalons. He's nowhere near as good as Toulalan was for Lyon and he left for 10M Euros.
He's your captain and he came up though the ranks. Guys like him who are abroad stay with their club for life. If you need to trim the budget there's other ways to do it like getting Gomis's salary off the payroll and selling Gourcuff.
I just think he's replaceable and not necessarily worth a big salary increase especially if he wants to leave anyway.
i took a long time to get convinced, but i'm a believer now. he's not flashy (no toule spoon-tackles) but he's ultradependable, controls his zone and transmits the ball well. it's no coincidence he's got big offers and it will be impossible to replace him for less than what we get for him.
Ok I did read today he could extend and now I read OL group has announced there must be a sale in June and it will likely be him. Im not posting transfer rumors anymore. http://www.foot01.com/equipe/ol/l-ol-annonce-une-grosse-vente-en-juin,143579
List of central midfielders I'd take over Gonalons: Pogba (well that is obvious), Kondogbia (second half of the season playing very well, significantly higher ceiling), Cabaye (more offensive ability), Matuidi (superior overall), Schneiderlin (yes I have seen him play, I believe he's better) I could add 3-4 more based on what they did before (think about midfielders we had at the last few major tournaments, like Toulalan (2008), Lass Diarra (2010, injured), M'Vila (2012)), but I'll admit I wouldn't be too knowledgeable about how they're doing at this time.
#1 choice to replace Remi Garde is the Sochaux manager. Nice cheap hire. Way to show some ambition JMA. http://www.foot01.com/equipe/ol/herve-renard-n-1-pour-remplacer-remi-garde-a-l-ol,143677
#1 choice ??? foot01 saying it with conviction doesn't mean squat to me. SB, we already did this years ago: foot01 is a horrible site, nothing but regurgitated, bottom-feeding fantasy-mongering. there are other sites relaying this same article from le parisien*, (all of the same ilk, and each, as always, making up their own version) but no one else who has any journalists of their own has talked about renard yet, and maxifoot (still just a rumor clearinghouse, but with at least a semblance of credibility) relays the info as simply another name who might be one of JMA's targets, to add to gourvennec, fournier (names cited by l'equipe) and juninho... and domenech (!) cited by the sempiternal parisien. i know you don't like any of these names better than renard... or probably garde. but if the club is looking for a way to spend money i'd MUCH rather see it go towards holding on to grenier, gonalons, umtiti, lacazette... or gomis! who knows? in any case, i'm far from convinced RG is leaving. he won't talk about his situation, but gives a good reason! he needs to concentrate of the end of this season, not next season. i'm not saying he will stay but the general opinion that he's absolutely leaving doesn't have much to support it, it's a classic creation of the rumor industry. *far from the best source in itself, but offers the advantage to these rumor mills of being behind a paywall which means no one can verify what they really wrote... beyond the fact their headline has a question mark.
I actually like the Juninho idea. I need to see how other coaches have done with no prior coaching experience to compare. Sorry but I like Foot01. The OL articles always get tons of comments and more than than OM articles do. Dont know if you think thats good or bad.
Isnt it kind of shocking that he left ? Didnt you guignol say you thought he'd be there for a long time or something like that? He said personal reasons and family and he needed a break but behind the scenes something must have been up.
i'm upset but the news has been gradually leading in that direction. he says that he (and his family) need a break and that's easy to understand. it's a tough life and he's would a little tight already. the club really wanted him to stay and that can be no surprise. with a few fewer injuries and a couple of officiating breaks this season might have been magic. and RG was a big part of that.
I'm really sad to see him go. His spirit and tone really helped to guide the youngsters and elevate the team to a level of play that few would have thought possible considering how many players have left the club recently and how green the squad was. I really hope that whoever succeeds him can motivate the team the same way.
i don't think he's even under consideration but it would make a splash, and i think a splash is much needed. if OL can hang on to all the young players, and replace gomis/briand and gourcuff/malbranque with a couple of veterans i think the "project" is very appealing. add the attractions of the city and i think even some big name coaches could do a whole lot worse than coming here... alas, they're just as mercenary as the players, probably even more. for an extra 100K a month they'd rather coach leicester.