Ol-om 11/11 [r]

[guignol]

I've been meaning to get this thread started ALL DAY... but hey, i gotta work, too!

These are always special matches in our family, because my wife is provençale... she herself couldn't care less about football, but when you say wife you say in-laws... and in my case, avé l'assent...

in years past there has always been some mild ribbing about our teams... but i haven't heard any in a while now, wonder why ??? ;)

there are always vague plans to go to the match together, but of course that's impossible... in JJ maybe but in the VN???? :eek:

in any case, this year we'll have a super bowl type get together at my sister-in-law's so OL had better win!

i see benzema, ben arfa and govou all getting the day off, and a front line of belhadj, fred and keita. but if things don't go well, the A-team will get a call around 70'. toulalan is still not 100% so he'll not play. bodmer needs time and will get it.

[Inara]

This match will be Juni's 200th in L1!

[SportBoy333]

Seems to me to be a good time to start both of the ex Lille boys.

[Inara]

Since the Rangers game, Lyon have scored 20 goals in the last 7 matches. That's almost a ratio of 3 goals per game. Let's hope they keep it up.

[AfrcnHrbMan]

It's 'supercalssico' time lol. I always look forward the OL OM matches, lets hope this one doesn't disappoint.

[AfrcnHrbMan]

and juninho scores in the 7th minute of his 200th game! A header in off a deflection.


and then then Niang gets brought down in the box by Squillaci. He scores off the penalty 1-1!!!

[AfrcnHrbMan]

Niang scores in the 44th to make it 2-1. Beats two defenders and shoots it right through Vercoutre's legs.

Well this game has not been boring. Marseille is really bringing it today. Not playing like a team that should be in the drop zone, thats for sure. Have had a lot of chances and I can't say their lead is unjustified. Valbuena has been particularly busy in the Marseille attack, as well as Niang. Lyon has not been playing that bad I don't think. There were a few chances when we could have well taken the lead. Fred should have buried that opportunity he had to head the ball in off that Juni corner. Actually alot of chances have been coming in the air this half. The should probably concentrate on making some holes in the Marseille defense, that our speed guys can exploit.

[AfrcnHrbMan]

WoW so we were beaten. It was an open game, could have gone either way. Both keepers made some excellent saves.

[guignol]

an enormous disappointment in a match it would have been so sweet to win!

To say OL stunk wouldn't be fair to OM who played a great match. nor would it be true, there was good and bad for lyon. except for anderson who was completely OTL (and dragged toto down with him) and källström who has had trouble finding consistency this year, the only underperformers were those who haven't been given much match time: fred, belhadj, clerc... which perhaps proves that if OL is going to do any platooning (and they must) they perhaps have to do more, so that all the players find a groove, not just the équipe type. but i'm not throwing any more stones at perrin yet, he hasn't had many matches before this one where he had the liberty to play anything else than his winning 11; granted it's largely due to his catastrophic start, but that's water under the bridge now.

especially since the player we most needed to step up last night was fred, and his absence from the squad so far this year had nothing to do with perrin. ben arfa and govou played their match, but definitely missed having benzema alongside. even at that, without a mindbending performance from mandanda hatem and sid might have been enough to win, and even with benzema in the last half hour they just couldn't beat him.

at the back the same. vercoutre just might have pulled it off and weathered his lack of protection if not for niang. so even if this is far from the level of performance that will suffice at ibrox, there's no need to shout fire, especially since nancy drew (pun completely unintentional).

[lefutur]

nancy drew (pun completely unintentional).

it actually took me half a minute to find the pun. haha

[AfrcnHrbMan]

I thought Belhadj was decent defensively, and had a couple of big stops, but was poor going forward and wasn't linking very well with the attack.

[Inara]

Well, Belhadj was facing a Valbuena who was ill with the Maradona syndrome. I don't think any LB could have done much. But I wouldn't be surprised if Perrin has seconds thoughts about using Belhadj more often.

[guignol]

it actually took me half a minute to find the pun. hahaand i'm sure to some it's still a mystery...

[guignol]

Well, Belhadj was facing a Valbuena who was ill with the Maradona syndrome. I don't think any LB could have done much. But I wouldn't be surprised if Perrin has seconds thoughts about using Belhadj more often.i think if grosso had been fit, belhadj would have spelled ben arfa up front instead. the problem with him at back isn't that he can't tackle (he can) but that he doesn't watch his positioning, and doesn't defend well on his feet. he goes forward when he shouldn't, and though he's got abidal type speed to get back, even that's not sufficient without a malouda to cover for him... ben arfa defends about as well as my cat.

here's some good news: i had heard through the grapevine that pat müller was going to play in the CFA match this weekend, and now it's confirmed in b&w: 60 good minutes in a 1-1 draw with sochaux (0-0 when pat subbed out)... welcome news because cleber anderson also defends about as well as my cat.

[Inara]

Lyon are so shady about Muller's injury.

I'll be glad to have him back. He can't be any worse than what we have now, and his experience and age will help calm things back there.

[AfrcnHrbMan]

Muller returning is indeed good news, but I wont be completely happy without Cris back. Nothing has looked completely right back there without his presence.


Maradonna syndrome?

[guignol]

Lyon are so shady about Muller's injury.it's never precisely clear what the status of injured players; one obvious reason is that it's none of their next opponent's business! but the müller affair is a bit murkier than usual, and perhaps there's a legal reason behind it (pure speculation on my part). misdiagnoses, failed operations, second opinions... there's a whole litigious world at work there.