Bordeaux vs. Lyon

[Inara]

Ugh. I hate it when Lyon play Bordeaux. It doesn't help that this year, Bordeaux look like the real deal.

Le groupe lyonnais: Vercoutre, F.Roux - Squillaci, Belhadj, Réveillère, Cleber Anderson, Grosso, Clerc - Fabio Santos, Bodmer, Källström, Ben Arfa, Juninho - Fred, A.Keita, Benzema, Baros, Govou

Toulalan is suspended. I'm quaking in my pointy shoes as I try to imagine what sort of midfield Perrin will align - a midfield which will be in danger from Bordeaux's. They may have lost Rio Antonio Mavuba, but they have Johan Micoud, who's actually looking like a good player this year, and ex-Lyonnais Houllier reject Alou "The New Vieira and World Cup Finalist" Diarra.

Their gk, Ulrich Rame, is way better than Vercoutre, and has helped Bordeaux remain tied in the league for best defense (six goals conceded). Their striker, David Bellion, is second in L1 for goals scored (albeit three less than Benzema, but still).

And their new coach Laurent Blanc has them playing intelligent and attractive football. PPH, take notes!

The good news is that Fred is back on the squad, though Perrin said he'd be taking it easy, so Fred will probably come on late in the second half.

[AfrcnHrbMan]

Tough, Tough game to come into after the CL. This will be probably give us an indication of what kind of motivator Perrin can really be. Toulalan being out is blow, I wonder what kind of lineup he will run out there. Hopefully it looks nothing like the one from midweek. I have my fingers crossed for Ben Arfa to start.










Oh, and you wear pointy shoes?!

[Inara]

Toulalan being out is blow, I wonder what kind of lineup he will run out there. Hopefully it looks nothing like the one from midweek.

I would prefer Fabio Santos to start than having Bodmer and Kallstrom as DMs. Kallstrom is okay when complemented by a DM though.



Oh, and you wear pointy shoes?!

http://content.nordstrom.com/ImageGallery/store/product/MediumLarge/9/_5429329.jpg

They're more comfortable than they look!

[AfrcnHrbMan]

Haha My thinking was more in line with these....


http://www.nightmarefactory.com/FW9003.jpg








Fabio Santos sounds like the right decision to me. After all isn't that what we got him for?

[Inara]

Haha My thinking was more in line with these....

http://www.nightmarefactory.com/FW9003.jpg

That's what I wear to the yearly Christmas party! :p


Fabio Santos sounds like the right decision to me. After all isn't that what we got him for?

I thought so too, since he was brought in to alleviate Alou Diarra's injury in January. But he's only been played there a few times since coming to Lyon, which is too bad, because Toulalan has been way overplayed. And it's not like Fabio Santos is a bad player. If Perrin had been smart, he would have told Toulalan to get suspended earlier (perhaps missing against Lens) so that he would be free for Bordeaux.

Laurent Blanc specifically made sure Diarra didn't miss the Lyon match by having him sit out some matches. That's smart coaching.

[Inara]

Finally, a decent lineup! I'm not sure if it's a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2 though.

Vercoutre
Reveillere - Squillaci - Anderson - Grosso
Juninho - Fabio Santos - Kallstrom
Govou - Benzema - Ben Arfa

Edit: It's a 4-3-3 according to Perrin. Too bad, I would have liked to see Ben Arfa play as a second striker, but I guess with Toulalan out, it's not safe leaving Fabio Santos and Juni with defensive duties so that Kallstrom can move further up.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Both Diarra and Blanc as a manager have really impressed me this season, though the manager more so. Diarra's been much better this year, based on match ratings, though that's not saying too much as he wasn't good at OL. Blanc though I think has exceeded expectations by a lot. He is even rotating the players around well, giving capable players like Ducasse, Obertan and Cavenaghi starts in mid-week in the UEFA Cup. He's even included Henri Saivet, who is considered by many as the best attacker that France have produced since Benzema/Ménez if not Henry/Trez, in those European squads.

Bordeaux I think are a team that, while I don't think they'll win the championnat this year, are capable of doing so eventually if their players develop as they should and Blanc continues to do a good job at the helm.

[Inara]

Anderson scores off a Juni corner!

1-0!

[Inara]

Benzema had a goal denied. :(

[Inara]

The Setanta commentators are wishing that Juninho would shave because he looks scruffy. :cool:'


Edit: Benzema scores!!!

2-0

[Inara]

Kallstrom scores off a Juni corner!

3-0!

[Inara]

Squillaci had a clear hand ball in the Lyon box, which was a clear penalty for Bordeaux. With Benzema's goal wrongfully disallowed, and some questionable calls, the Setanta broadcasters are basically saying the ref sucks.

[Inara]

Jussie scores for Bordeaux. :mad:

Lyon defense completely fell apart. Anderson totally messed up his clearance, Squillaci was miles away, and Vercoutre went off his line too early.

[AfrcnHrbMan]

Way to come out and take the game. Good result against a good team. I like the scruffy Juni, he seems to have more attitude with it lol. Bordeaux didn't really play up to their talents for most of the game, it looked like they had just lost badly midweek. That goal from Kallstrom was just tooo easy, playground stuff. I got my wish of seeing Ben Arfa start, be he didnt seem very involved for much of the time he was out there. I don't know really what to take from his performance tonight.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Hmmm, interesting, from my vantage point (only highlights), Ben Arfa appeared to have a good match, as did Govou on the other wing, tormenting Jurietti (believe that guy had been in the French NT once? ridiculous Domenech) and Chalmé throughout the match.

Also off those highlights, it appears the Setanta commentators are right, horrible ref. That guy should not be at a big match like this.

Dang, had OL won 2-1 instead of 3-1, I would have won my game in the Fantasy League here on this forum. :(

Congrats to Lyon. In the interest of L1, I hope some of this carries into the European matches.

[Inara]

L'Equipe ratings from this match:

VERCOUTRE 5.5
REVEILLERE 6
ANDERSON 6
SQUILLACI 6.5
KALLSTROM 5.5
BEN ARFA 7
DOS SANTOS 8
JUNINHO (c.) 7.5
GROSSO 5.5
GOVOU 6
BENZEMA 7

L'Equipe tends to be rather dour handed when it comes to praising Lyon, so Fabio Santos's "8" is a pleasant surprise. He had a great match and is finally showing us why Marcelo recommended him in the first place. I wish Perrin had trusted him enough for the Rangers match.

[lefutur]

Kallstrom's rating seems quite low....considering he scored and everything. I was thinking that Fabio had a great game, he really imposed him self and a few times i mistook him for another player he looked so good (lol).

some of the interplay between benzema and ben arfa was really sweet.

great game overall. they looked almost cocky. :cool:

[guignol]

you have to start any comments on this match with praise for fabio santos. as good as toulalan is, i can't remember a match where he was as good as that. where has all that awesome been hiding? he still put his foot on top of the ball a couple of times, but no one can say anymore that he slows down the transition... for better acceleration than that you need saturn V. the bit i liked best was on benzema's goal... sure it was a lightning shot, and a gorgeous pass from ben arfa, but it all started with FS getting out of the mousetrap while bordeaux were already setting up their counter.

the équipe ratings are right on the money imo. 5 is already an honest day's work, FS's 8 is high praise indeed. källström's goal saves his note from being sub-par, the only gone who didn't really shine. that goal was a breakdown in defense by bordeaux, but above all quick thinking by juni and kim: when they saw how much attention benzema was getting they saw a big kill coming. if you count the one disallowed, juninho lasered three dead balls to his targets, and marshalled the team like the captain he is.

ben arfa was imperial, a sense of balance like a cat, you wonder how he can stay up sometimes. there was one cool moment where benzema yells at him for shooting instead of passing to govou... when you see the replay you just want to say "hey karim, you try it!" hatem was hogtied and still got off a pretty good shot! :p

govou covered so much ground he looked like twins, at different moments he was covering for grosso, RVR, fabio santos and still had the juice to make a real contribution up front.

everyone else got more than honorable mention on hit&sports postgame radio except vercoutre, but he wasn't responsable for the goal imo: sure he would have been better placed on his line but he didn't come out to cut off the angle: i think if anderson hadn't made that unwise tackle the ball would have got to rémy easily.

last note is about the officiating: first, toto's handball: obviously he touched it, and his hand was nowhere near his body. but looking at the replay, i'm not sure just how much freedom of movement he had to get that paw out of the way. more cut and dried was benzema getting robbed of his 10th goal of the season (the one he made was n°11) ... when one starts talking about the poor officiating, it's generally not the referees that foul up, it's the linesmen: the same man called keita offsides when he was a full meter good. that fellow needs a talking to, but not from the press (or from me ;)): there's a committee that takes care of that and if we let them do their job without raking them over the coals in every newsrag, blog and call-in show? one thing's for sure: the refs do their job a sight better than the average colorman or journalist does his!

[guignol]

i forgot to add that fred was theoretically going to get some pitch time, and it's a shame he didn't... if he had scored... no, just if he had had a shot on goal, it would have frazzled a nerve or two this week...

about juni's shaving: maybe it was a tribute to chabal and maybe it wasn't... he's shown that look regularly over the years.

and a very last note, girondins' playing in navy blue let us see the best OL away kit in a long time, the gold with the red shorts is awesome...

http://s.olweb.fr/ol/image/phototheque/g/74/14777.jpg

if only they could lose those stripes on the back of the stockings :rolleyes:

http://s.olweb.fr/ol/image/phototheque/g/74/14781.jpg

[midknight]

wait a minute. yjey aren(t sponsored by renault trucks anymore???