Olympique Lyonnais Cafe II [R]

[guignol]

obviously we're glad to see a new face ReMad, but this thread is really for miscellaneous OL topics outside of matches and transfers... there is a specific thread for the :o ... lorient match.

[Catfish]

Who was your favorite OL player in the last 6 championships?
Please tell us who and why. I'm just curious. Of course,
this includes OL players who might not be with the Lyonnais
side anymore. If you can include a highlight video of some
of the players who are no longer with Olympique Lyonnais.

Thanks.

I don't know if this post belongs in this thread or should
have a thread all of it's own.

[guignol]

Who was your favorite OL player in the last 6 championships?
Please tell us who and why. I'm just curious. Of course,
this includes OL players who might not be with the Lyonnais
side anymore. If you can include a highlight video of some
of the players who are no longer with Olympique Lyonnais.

Thanks.

I don't know if this post belongs in this thread or should
have a thread all of it's own. the real question is who is my 2nd favorite, and that would have to be edmilson. watching him and pat müller on defense was like watching a couple of dads playing with their kids; almost effortless superiority, so much so unfortunately that they became lackadaisical at times, and that's why lacombe replaced them with a pair of mozers, cris and claudio.

for the favorite there's only one right answer, and his name is sonny anderson. a truly underestimated player. no one had more ways of getting the ball into the net than he! right foot, left foot, head, knee, on the break, back to the goal, long, short, power or finesse... and though he didn't score all of OL's goals, it seemed he scored all the important ones. thierry henry has called him his mentor, his spiritual father, and starting here you can get a glimpse of why. http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvh8GH7Afp4

[Catfish]

for the favorite there's only one right answer, and his name is sonny anderson. a truly underestimated player. no one had more ways of getting the ball into the net than he! right foot, left foot, head, knee, on the break, back to the goal, long, short, power or finesse... and though he didn't score all of OL's goals, it seemed he scored all the important ones. thierry henry has called him his mentor, his spiritual father, and starting here you can get a glimpse of why. http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvh8GH7Afp4
Thanks for sharing Sonny Anderson with me. I never heard or saw him, but he was
incredible. He seems to be able to score from anywhere + anytime!

[sl7vk]

the real question is who is my 2nd favorite, and that would have to be edmilson. watching him and pat müller on defense was like watching a couple of dads playing with their kids; almost effortless superiority, so much so unfortunately that they became lackadaisical at times, and that's why lacombe replaced them with a pair of mozers, cris and claudio.

for the favorite there's only one right answer, and his name is sonny anderson. a truly underestimated player. no one had more ways of getting the ball into the net than he! right foot, left foot, head, knee, on the break, back to the goal, long, short, power or finesse... and though he didn't score all of OL's goals, it seemed he scored all the important ones. thierry henry has called him his mentor, his spiritual father, and starting here you can get a glimpse of why. http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvh8GH7Afp4

Watching Sonny again was a pleasure. There are a couple of other comps floating around out there. What an ability to beat keeepers hard to the near post or lob their far post! Brilliant stuff!

He was a class act as well. Where is he now?

[guignol]

[Sonny] was a class act as well. Where is he now?he's coaching the strikers at OL.

he left the club under the circumstances that he and the management didn't want him to do one year too many at OL, and also he wanted to have one last go in spain. they declined any transfer fees in order to help him find a club, and changed the remainder of his contract, with the idea that once he retired from play he would join our staff in some capacity. he actually was going to be back earlier but i believe that a costly divorce made the qatar money indispensable.

now he's back and has become pretty much to the city of lyon what willie mays is to san francisco.

[lefutur]

i see reasons for being hopeful for the rest of the season now. 2 back to back wins and despite an injury crisis OL is showing some real determination and is gaining confidence. i think credit needs to be given to Toulalan and Benzema. Toulalan has been a rock in midefield and has noticibly elevated his game from last season. lets hope it continues. Benzema looks like he's just having a blast doesn't he? and his composure on the ball is almost as solid as Toulalan. his future is bright indeed and it makes people wonder if this whole Fred nightmare has been a blessing in disguise. i'm sure Fred wouldn't agree but i'll bet he'll be more motivated to prove himself when he gets on the pitch again.

another positive is that Vercoutre had a great game against Souchaux. that first win seemed to give him a shot of confidence and now i'm sure he can start playing to his ability.

I'm still confused as to how to incorporate Juninho because i feel that having 2 strikers has helped Lyon to score goals...maybe a 4-3-1-2 is worth trying.

[Catfish]

he's coaching the strikers at OL.
he left the club under the circumstances that he and the management didn't want him to do one year too many at OL, and also he wanted to have one last go in spain. they declined any transfer fees in order to help him find a club, and changed the remainder of his contract, with the idea that once he retired from play he would join our staff in some capacity. he actually was going to be back earlier but i believe that a costly divorce made the qatar money indispensable. now he's back and has become pretty much to the city of lyon what willie mays is to san francisco.
Now THAT is a happy ending. Nothing like keeping a fine player around to
help the youngsters and also instill a sense of history, tradition, and pride into
the players new to OL.

[guignol]

this saturday at gerland i had the surprise to see new banners across the way at the south end: COSA NOSTRA LYON. intrigued, i looked up what it was all about and learned that the two groups that i was used to seeing, the lugdunums and the nucléo ultra, had merged.

first of all, the new name and its mafia overtones is an unfortunate choice, especially since that area has a traditional nickname of "curva sud" which would have been much better.

but since i'm on the subject, here's a little rundown on the supporters' clubs one sees at gerland. i make no claim to its being exhaustive or even accurate so if anyone out there knows more than i do, please share.

in order of importance:

Bad Gones
this is by far the most important group; the biggest, with 2500 members, and the oldest, founded in 1987. they have 2 sections set aside for them in the lower north end but really they run the whole VNI (not in the way the clubs control the virages at the vélodrome: all tickets are sold by OL, not by supporters' clubs). they generally englobe the upper end in their "tifos" meaning graphic displays, and they do as good a job at them as anyone this side of north korea.

they have pretty cool gear, especially a sweatshirt with VIRAGE NORD in EVERLAST typeface i'd love to have, but that's members only; they're kind of like the HA for their colors, although they welcome everyone into the surrounding sections and their road trips are open to all.

apparently they had some AF or FN overtones at the beginning but that was nipped in the bud, i believe aulas made it a personal issue and i have personally never seen the slightest hint of anything untoward in the last 16 years i've been going to gerland.

Cosa Nostra Lyon
this is to the virage sud what the BG are to the virage nord, and it was created last may from two other clubs, the lugdunums and the nucléo ultra. the lugdunums were lyon's second biggest group, with about 600 members, and they also organized buses to away games and put together "tifos". btw, lugdunum was the roman name for lyon, in fact the name comes from the gauls, but the lugdus aren't that old, they were founded in 1993. nucléo ultra were a smaller club, but bigger than the 60 members indicated on olweb i'm sure; in any case they always had as much visibility as their new partners... they seem to be pretty young and perhaps immature... the only incidents i've ever seen around gerland have concerned them, but it's pretty minor stuff like cutting in line for the metro, trying the grab and run at kebab stands, etc... no vespas chucked off the second tier or anything like that. :p

Rouge&Bleu
they're in jean bouin inférieur towards the north end and you can see that it's a family type group, with women and kids involved. their trademark is waving flags of all the nations represented on the OL roster, and their message is clearly tolerance and fair play. there are about 200 members but sometimes i'd say there are only about half that in their section..

Hex@gones
the particularity of this club is that they come from all over france and as such are likely more present at away matches than at gerland. although they always have a banner in JB or the VS they don't really have a section, i think they sit just about anywhere and their group activities in lyon are probably just having a few beers together after the match. notable is that they are always present at CFA and ladies' matches too.

O'Elle Club
ladies only, which makes them a novelty. the club was formed by women who left the north end because they wanted a more laid back atmosphere. it's the smallest group but OL is enthused by the idea so they get good access to players and events and coverage on olweb and OLTV... but if there are really only 50 members, they're pretty hard core! looking at their section in jean jaurès i swear they're all there all the time; at ladies' matches i've even seen twice that number sitting behind their banner. plus they're present at all practices.

Gastrogones 69
this is a new group but the members are generally older and oldtime supporters. their idea is to mix food and football (pourquoi pas?) and as for the hex@gones they don't really form a section at gerland but get together at restaurants, both in lyon and away, discovering the cuisine of other regions and countries.

Gones 58
a group i know nothing about, but they're on the list at olweb. they're based in burgundy (the 58 is for the nièvre department), a great thing and long overdue; OM and ASSE for example have fan clubs all over france... and it reminds me of an idea i think lefutur had, to start an OL fanclub at nevada smith's in NYC. my guess is that OL would give such a venture some kind of encouragement, at the very least an article on olweb, maybe entrance to the club des cents when in lyon with or even a spot on OLTV!

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

it reminds me of an idea i think lefutur had, to start an OL fanclub at nevada smith's in NYC. my guess is that OL would give such a venture some kind of encouragement, at the very least an article on olweb, maybe entrance to the club des cents when in lyon with or even a spot on OLTV!

That's a good idea. I've thought of starting a Bordeaux fan club by offering wine at every meeting! :) Oh wait, I'm technically not old enough.

[Inara]

I know for a fact that OL has fans all over the world, which includes more than Lyon, though Aulas would beg to disagree.

Bob, the grandmaster at the Offside, sends out a monthly email telling us the statistics of each blog. On average, the Lyon blog will receive between 14,000-16,000 visitors per month, though you'd never know because only a handful of the same people will post.

I got really curious about who the other 15995 were, so I installed a web tracker a few days ago.

I was absolutely floored after the first day. There were a lot more French visitors than I expected, coming not just from Lyon but from cities such as Amiens, Nice, Nantes, Paris, and Marseille.

In Europe, they would visit from all countries - England, Spain, Ireland, Serbia and Montenegro, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, etc.

There are visitors from South America - Brazil (no surprise there), Argentina, Bolivia, Peru.

Asia - India, Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, Fiji (I didn't think they even had internet in Fiji, just spring water - and yes I am ignorant), and several places in Austrailia.

Africa - South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Algeria, etc.

And of course all over Canada.

But the biggest surprise was that most of the visitors were from the US - in nearly every state and all major cities. How cool is that? I know Americans aren't supposed to like soccer, and maybe some of them are French expats, but that's still a significant number.

I'm sure half these people aren't Lyon fans, but they must have an interest in Lyon, or else they wouldn't be checking the blog. I don't know about most people, but I don't go out of my way to check out EPL or Serie A blogs, even the ones at the Offside.

Lyon do have a big fanbase out there, a growing one, but still smaller than the bigger clubs out there. Still, these numbers are encouraging. How amazing would it be if there were a fan club for Lyon fans aboard?

[lefutur]

reminds me of an idea i think lefutur had, to start an OL fanclub at nevada smith's in NYC. my guess is that OL would give such a venture some kind of encouragement, at the very least an article on olweb, maybe entrance to the club des cents when in lyon with or even a spot on OLTV!

i had no idea that OL would be that supportive of a fan club in NYC. you know, its still on my mind but i guess i didn't pursue the idea because i was a bit disappointed with the number of people that were turning out to watch the games. in contrast to PSG and Marseille, who can always count on a big following, OL doesnt seem to have a lot of fans at Nevada's maybe a handful or possibly up to 10 people at most that i can tell at any given game.

but i suppose a fanclub might encourage more people to come to the bar and support the team, who knows? maybe during the CL matches i'll start talking to people and see if there's any interest....if i can get a few people to pitch in i'll try to get the ball moving.

[Catfish]

But the biggest surprise was that most of the visitors were from the US - in nearly every state and all major cities. How cool is that? I know Americans aren't supposed to like soccer, and maybe some of them are French expats, but that's still a significant number. I'm sure half these people aren't Lyon fans, but they must have an interest in Lyon, or else they wouldn't be checking the blog. I don't know about most people, but I don't go out of my way to check out EPL or Serie A blogs, even the ones at the Offside.
Lyon do have a big fanbase out there, a growing one, but still smaller than the bigger clubs out there. Still, these numbers are encouraging. How amazing would it be if there were a fan club for Lyon fans aboard?
Well, I'm one of your fans! Keep up the great work.
This forum and your blog are pretty much the best thing I have found
for Ligue 1 and OL.

[guignol]

and i almost forgot to mention...

today is st. aimé's day!

not only do we do well always and everywhere to give him thanks...

but today is also a special anniversary. twice on this date has OL beaten real madrid like a redheaded stepchild! :p

[guignol]

for the first time this year les cahiers named an équipe pauvre type* that didn't include a single lyonnais!

but with the mention: "note that when kader keita doesn't play for lyon, he doesn't appear in the équipe pauvre type." :D

*a kind of team of the week in reverse

[AfrcnHrbMan]

Quand Keita ne joue plus avec Lyon, il n’apparaît plus dans l’équipe pauvre type.

ROFL. I honestly don't think his performances with the club so far have been that bad. Oh its also nice to see half my fantasy lineup on the worst XI ;)

[guignol]

while trying to find out the jersey number for jean djorkaeff, i happened onto this... OL team pics from every year... the ones with lacombe and domenech are sure to please! http://forum.olweb.fr/showthread.php?t=114492

btw i still haven't found out djorkaeff's shirt n°... can anyone here help?

[Inara]

I'm going to France this March for a lab rotation, and I'm going to stop by Lyon to catch the Bordeaux-Lyon match. I'm so excited! And it's only November!

[Gmak]

Hello Lyon fans, Ben Arfa made it into my UEFA fantasy team. I know u're playing Barca next (all the best, I F*** hate that team) so i was wondering wat r the chances of him starting? is he usually a starter? he's on red hot form ryt?

[Inara]

Hello Lyon fans, Ben Arfa made it into my UEFA fantasy team. I know u're playing Barca next (all the best, I F*** hate that team) so i was wondering wat r the chances of him starting? is he usually a starter? he's on red hot form ryt?

Barring any unforeseen drop in form or injuries, I think it's more than likely he'll start. He's been one of Lyon's best players in the past few weeks, and to bench him now would be silly.