[guignol]

Is this an important match for OL?

Yes. One of the most important of the year; with the upcoming derby in le chaudron, this is a key part of the season, more important than their last CL group match against rosenborg.

The coach and players have been very good at motivating themselves this year; no small task when you consider how far ahead of the pack they are, but in draws against réal and nice, and beating troyes with 2 goals by cris they looked professional but stale.

now they have four matches to show what they're really made of, and this is the first. they need to finish up the first half and go into the winter break with a flourish, not with the kind of lackluster results they've produced recently.

[Fredinho]

yeah thats my opinion too !!!!!!!!
this is really important to check out the quality of Lyon . !!
i was quite angry about the draw against nice, so i hope they will play the strongest and give their best in this derby. I was astonished by the recent champions league games lyon played very well....but the last two games were bull ******** .
So Lyon show your skill and might :]

[quentinc]

Originally Posted by Fredinho

so i hope they will play the strongest and give their best in this derby.

Are you referring to PSG or St. Etienne? Because PSG-Lyon isn't really much of a rivalry.

[Looper121]

Welp, there's one for the good guys.

[fishbiproduct]

Yep, no contest on this one. Good stuff!

[fishbiproduct]

Damnnnn...
Fred's goal was beautifull:
Poor clearance on a Lyon corner-kick,
Tiago volley's towards Fred, Fred's volley
and goal. Boom-boom.

Fred's 1-0

Carew's 2-0

[guignol]

you may have noticed that i've been busier lately, so no long posts, but for this match i have to make time. OL obviously felt the same way i did about this match. houllier called it a CL match. the 2-0 score is inflated in a way because carew's goal came in extra time, but the domination over 90 minutes was even bigger than 2-0. OL was enormous, even better than against madrid. a brief note on vikash' return to gerland: a love like ours can never die...

coupet -aside from his normal fine aerial work, nothing to do. he should have brought a quilt, it was nippy!

RVR - if fred hadn't scored so quickly, and the attacking crew hadn't had things so well in hand he would have gone forward more, but why take a risk when there's no need? put up a big no crossing sign on his lane and enforced it.

cris - a monster. when mr. clean comes in the door, godzilla sneaks out the window. one often sees strikers moving back to get into the game, for OL it was cris and claudio moving forward. it looked like there was alot of room, but the only time pauleta really got clear, cris raced back and ate him alive. royal, imperial, presidential. he's starting to make parreira look a bit silly.

cacapa - and who's captain claudio making look silly? all those who said he was losing it, that he was the weak link. they've got nothing! impermeable at back, and covered more ground than a central defender is expected to. he even almost scored a beautiful acrobatic goal.

monsoreau - he says he's not in his best position on the left, and he's no TGV like abidal, but his contribution going forward is clean and intelligent. he's known for his defense, and PSG figured out very quickly that his corridor was hopeless. and in the air? maybe better than cris and that's not something one can say lightly. when you have talent like this as a third choice at left back, that's not just depth, that's the marianas trench!

diarra -was was worried he might lose his place on the team after a lackluster match in nice? probably just pride. the boss. i think the PSG midfield even had to ask his permission to take a leak at halftime. "kalou, you can go; the others...hold it!"

tiago -cris is sometimes called mr. clean (his real nickname is the policeman) but this should be tiago's tag. why? because he just picks up any old ball lying around or is chucked at him, washes and irons it, (not too much starch please) and sends it forward with a pretty pink ribbon. garbage in, caviar out. now that's something essien never did!

juninho - only finished 12th for the ballon d'or, so maybe he figured he's better start looking like ronnie... like taking a ball in the circle, dribbling the whole defense and beating letizi... but not the post, alas. also was inches from another juni® FK. 90 minutes of gold plated dynamite.

malouda - brilliant in the first half. less visible in the second, but i think it was due to monsoreau. PSG just stopped taking the ball to that side, and OL took it mostly to the right because...

govou - gave mendy fits; i think he needed dramamine by halftime. bernard can look good and he can look bad. saturday he looked real bad. wiltord coming on was a big sign of how this team runs. two guys fighting tooth and nail for the same spot, and they almost hug each other at the change.

fred - his best match since coming to lyon. he just missed doubling the score around 30 minutes. finally seems to have grasped the offsides rule! and on his replacement by carew, the same as for syd & nino. team spirit. houllier's success at rotating the team has made believers out of everyone.

[ralfonso]

I only saw it briefly, but does anyone have any photos of the guy who was cut above the eye and returned to the game with an enormous bandage?

I think it might have been Fred.

[lefutur]

Originally Posted by fishbiproduct

Damnnnn...
Fred's goal was beautifull:
Poor clearance on a Lyon corner-kick,
Tiago volley's towards Fred, Fred's volley
and goal. Boom-boom.

Fred's 1-0

Carew's 2-0

This is why they call it 'the beautiful game'.

wonderous.

[guignol]

Originally Posted by ralfonso

I only saw it briefly, but does anyone have any photos of the guy who was cut above the eye and returned to the game with an enormous bandage?

I think it might have been Fred.

yes, fred. it was pichot who did him, and he did flo just after. but even at 11 against 9, PSG was in over their heads.

as for a pic, i went to ask on olweb if someone could help, but as the forum closes down any hour now for one week of renovation, not much to hope for there...