Olympique Lyonnais Cafe

[Looper121]

gameday bitches.

[Looper121]

No he won't: he is supposedly sick ( gastroenteritis).
Of course, we could assume that it is just too
"timely" and "convenient", but Ol's doctor says
it's real.
http://olweb.fr/fr/cmc/saison/2005/30/3735.html

In any case, it doesn't matter at this point:
I'd much rather see him leave the club now.
His presence would be more disruptive than anything
else. But that's just my opinion.

Probable line-up (according to l'Equipe):
Coupet
Réveillère, Cris, Caçapa, Berthod
Diarra, Wiltord, Pedretti
Govou, Carew, Malouda


Eff him, trade him for a jock, it's time to play...

[lefutur]

great goal by Wiltord against Le Mans. the Lyon passing could be better though. they're lacking a bit of a spark so far.

[SportBoy333]

My impressions of the match.

Le Mans deserved a point.

Juninho and Essien were sorely missed.

Pedretti was disapointing.

Carew is so big he can push away and shove aside defenders with ease.

That Juninho-Essien-Diarra combo in the middle not being there is why Lyon struggled. They will need time to adjust away from that and intergrate Pedretti.

Wiltord and Carew were solid.

Berthod seemed to be the weak link on the pitch.

Again Pedretti better adapt pretty quickly. I hope he doesnt turn out to be a bust because if so then the team will struggle without Essien.

[sl7vk]

You're not coming around on Carew are you Sportboy? :)

[Allez Lyonnais]

My impressions of the match.

Le Mans deserved a point.

Juninho and Essien were sorely missed.

Pedretti was disapointing.

Carew is so big he can push away and shove aside defenders with ease.

That Juninho-Essien-Diarra combo in the middle not being there is why Lyon struggled. They will need time to adjust away from that and intergrate Pedretti.

Wiltord and Carew were solid.

Berthod seemed to be the weak link on the pitch.

Again Pedretti better adapt pretty quickly. I hope he doesnt turn out to be a bust because if so then the team will struggle without Essien.

Carew-Wiltord combo really had their presence up front. :cool:

Carew has been impressive so far. 6 goals in 4 matches... He could be a hit :D

About Wiltord, he'd better net more goals than he did last season. There's no excuse this time.

[guignol]

Here's something that some guy wrote on Soccerpulse.com about JC. I thought it was pretty interesting.

houllier has promised not to change the team's style. but i've watched OL for 12 years now, and the champagne football tigana brought in has changed a lot, or rather, been broadened. on of OL's strong points has been their ability to play lots of styles... brazilian passing, counterattack, long flank passes, ball control, position... technical, athletic or physical. but this last is where they're weak up front. against PSV, they got beat up bad up front. govou, juninho and malouda could barely keep off the turf, and NO help from nielsen who decided that football and boxing are the same thing.

I like the fact that OL is trying to find the missing pieces of the puzzle to compete in the Champions League. OL needs to be more physical and that where Carew comes in. Nice.
:D hehe... that guy on soccerpulse... was me!

[guignol]

holy sh!t!

someone in that organisation is a GENIUS!!!that someone is bernard lacombe.

essien? without lacombe he would still be just another semi-anonymous L1 player. you want to REALLY get boggled? 2 years from now, compare essien at chelsea with the guy who will replace him at OL.

[guignol]

4-1 without that little bitch..... Let him go hang out with Drogba in London.+1i've said all along that essien was the least important of OL's midfield trio.

though he did look terrific in practice friday.

but the real wowzers were wiltord and carew. they seemed to be in competition for the strongest shot in a rep at the end... they nearly killed hartock, and wiltord almost broke the bar on one kick!

if that little rivalry gives the results we saw against le mans, it's going to HURT!

[SportBoy333]

I read that Nilmar is gonna be loaned to Sochaux and Aulas said 2 new recruits will be coming in before the end of the month. He also said something about Essien and Manchester United but I didnt understand it because the translation was too poor.

[guignol]

Equating Essien with Gerrard is, in my opinion, over the top.agreed. but it's chelsea and co. making the fuss about him, and OL that's caught up in it in spite of themselves...

Typical defensive posture by the OL president. It's business buddy, economics 101, don't take it personally.JMA doesn't need economics lessons from anyone. he didn't make his fortune with dodgy post-soviet takeovers, and he has brought Ol where they are on about %10 of what abramovich spends...

Not to mention the condescending, patriarchal attitude towards Essien. We know what is best for one of our charges, don't bother the poor boy anymore. No wonder he wants to leave.if you've interpreted it that way, it's through poor translations. JMA is just trying to call chelski to order. essien's under contract, so negotiations go through OL, not essien and his agent. that's just deontology.

[Looper121]

Wiltords goal was incredible, but I can't say the same for the rest of the match either. And Carew was great up front, I loved the fact that someone up front was very aggressive.

[sl7vk]

Ligue 1: John Carew, le "Jonah Lomu" de Lyon (http://fr.sports.yahoo.com/050801/1/8not.html)

[lefutur]

Carew has got to be one of the best values around. For the money they paid they got one hell of a striker. His dribbles around defenders and the way he's almost impossible to defend against in the air make him VERY dangerous. He doesnt even jump half the time to get his head on the ball. But he moves so well for such a big guy too. He's almost graceful.

[guignol]

Carew has got to be one of the best values around. For the money they paid they got one hell of a striker. His dribbles around defenders and the way he's almost impossible to defend against in the air make him VERY dangerous. He doesnt even jump half the time to get his head on the ball. But he moves so well for such a big guy too. He's almost graceful.true. he scored the goal against le mans with his feet on the ground!

[sl7vk]

true. he scored the goal against le mans with his feet on the ground!

What I love about him, is the prospect of him taking on the "big physical" defenders of the EPL. I would love to see him go head to head against Terry. This guy isn't going to back down off of anyone.... Great to have that kind of presence in Europe.

[sl7vk]

I just jumped onto uefa.com, and they had a poll, "which quarterfinalist from last years Champions league has the best chance of winning this years tournament?"
Lyon garnered more votes than Bayern, PSV, Inter, and Juve.... Pretty interesting stuff.

[SportBoy333]

The Baros to Shalke deal died. Now theres still a chance he can come to Lyon. The team needs another attacker. Nilmar will be loaned out probably and PAF is not that good and if he must stay he should be the 4th attacker. They need another guy and Baros would be a good fit and you know Houllier wants it. Baros wouldnt necessarily be the 3rd option all the time since Wiltord is older and he cant play all the minutes. Carew must start most games and Wiltord and Baros can split time.

[guignol]

if (when?) all that essien money comes in, JMA has said that besides toulalan and/or dacourt, they'll go after a striker. even if it looks like GH is going to a real 4-4-2 instead of last year's 4-3-3, i think frau, nilmar and ben arfa can fill in for john and nino. they're the future, and the future starts now.

and don't let wiltord's age fool you. he is in super shape!

[guignol]

What I love about him, is the prospect of him taking on the "big physical" defenders of the EPL. I would love to see him go head to head against Terry. This guy isn't going to back down off of anyone.... Great to have that kind of presence in Europe.maybe even too much presence! apparently he was only trying to calm everyone down when he got his "biscotte", but just running up he scared the bejeezuz out of everyone!