This board has sure grown quiet since during the course of last season. Let's see if I can revive some interest in old OL. I figure a singular match thread would be more practical seeing as we don't have that many regular posters anymore. I'll start this one of with a congratulations to Remi Garde and a sigh of relief we started the campaign on a good foot. J1: Nice 1 - 3 OL Great win. The team played solidly, and everyone did their part mostly. Our main threats Licha and Bafe opened their accounts for the season, and much maligned Gonalons added the icing on the cake late in the match. The only thing I could recall going wrong was Lloris getting caught in no mans land and having us nearly concede a second goal. But the policeman was there to clean up the mess. Great to start the season of with 3 pts ALLEZ L'OL
Great start vs a team who is notorious for being a black sheep I actually would have given Lloris MOTM, so many saves everywhere from rockets from midfield, corners etc. I'm a bit worried about defeding against set pieces, besides scoring on one they could have equalized 2-2 if it wasn't for Lloris Also that pass from reveillere(?) to licha was a beauty and the way he scored I was like WHAT???
No I don't think that Lloris had a bad game at all, I just pointed that out as being the only major incident on our side. I'm so used to see 3-4 major gaffes/game last season that it was something different. RVR is boss, he should be playing ahead of Sagna, but I know I sound like a broken record on that.
Any opinions on Bastos staying ? I thought he was gone for sure because they needed money. He's a good player and I dont understand why Juventus wouldnt pay for him. Who will they sell now ? Kallstrom ?
I don't see anybody else leaving in this window personally. No one will pay Bastos' value, and he seems content to stay at the club for the time being. I'm glad to have him too, adds a genuine spark to the lineup.
for the club, great cause honestly some of the other clubs have been beefing up their squads and Lyon need all the quality to ensure a decent standing or win the title lot of folks putting Lyon in the top second tier now...
J2: OL v. AC Ajaccio 08/13/2011 CET 1900 EST 1300 I might be jinxing us here but this match should be a relatively smooth ride. Ajaccio lost 2-0 at home to Toulouse in the first week, and I don't think they showed much doing it. We have injury concerns at CB with Cris hurt and Mensah perpetually injured. Read that we have secured Bakary Kone to shore up the defense, which is good because I see the physio room being Cris and Mensahs new favorite place to hang out. Bastos has finally laid rumors to rest and is staying with the club. We have a champions league match against Rubin Kazan on Tuesday so I imagine some of the younger guys might get a look tomorrow. ALLEZ L'OL
line ups La compo lyonnaise : Lloris, Réveillère, B.Kone, Lovren, Cissokho, Gonalons, Källström, Bastos, Briand, Lisandro, Gomis. La compo ajaccienne : Ochoa, N'Diaye, Poulard, Lippini, Pierazzi (C), Sammaritano, Begeorgi, Cavalli, Lasne, Kinkela, Ilan. rookie getting first start
2 great shots in the 6th min by lisandro, unlucky EDIT: make that 3 in the first ten i forgot ochoa got signed by ajaccio
Full strength lineup for ACA when we have a match on tuesday...I cna't believe Kone is already starting. Wasn't it made official yesterday?! I'm sure we had no contigency plan at CB even though everybody and their mother knows that Mensah and Cris will be prone to injury.
and ajaccio havent showed much in these 30mins, probably could have conserved 2 or 3 players it was made official yesterday and since theres 4 CBs now I seriously doubt we are going for another btw did lovren foul someone or something for the goal to be annulled ?
well the chances were there to go up not once but multiple times mostly from lisandro in the first 20 minutes ochoa having lots of work and his performance has kept ajaccio in the game however they have yet to show any real threat which has only tested Lloris maybe 3 times in all of the first half new signing has been ok, not really being challenged much but has yet to have a bad blunder
wow....ajaccio scores 1-0... i guess their plan worked after all, keep Lloris cold for the whole game until you get a counter attack then score besides that, Ochoa for man of the match, save after save time to play Lyon!
Finally!!!!!!!!!! 1-1!!!!!!!!!!!!! the only header that Ochoa couldn't save from lisandro, with less than 10 mins we might see another
Well before the match everyone thought this should have been a win, but Ochoa's performance is what kept Ajaccio in the game and he deserves the man of the match bit disappointing but the chances were there and if it wasnt for Ochoa Lyon would have won final score 1-1
J3: Stade Brest v. OL 08/20/11 CET 1900 EST 1300 Stade Francis-Le Blé Can't say this is easy opposition, seeing as we only got one point out of our match last week. Stade Brestois have start the season decently getting draws out of their first two matches against Evian and Valenciennes. I guess the player to look out for would be striker Nolan Roux. They also picked up Zebina, but it's anyone's guess how well he will play for them. Coach Garde said that Cris is iffy to play, and Aly should be good to go as well. The man to watch will have to Bafe. He's had a dynamite start to season, hopefully he can bag a few against Brest. I don't know how much rotation Garde plans on this match, seeing as all our brightest young talent are currently in Colombia. But the return leg in Russia will be tough despite the comfortable lead, and this many matches in quick sucession maybe be problematic for some players. ALLEZ L'OL
L'equipes probables Brest : Elana - Coulibaly, Baysse, Martial, Gentiletti - Poyet, Culma, Grougi, Lesoimier - Roux, Ben Basat. Lyon : Lloris - Réveillère, B. Koné, Lovren, Cissokho - Briand, Gonalons, Källström, Bastos - Gomis, Lisandro. No changes to the lineup it seems, again all our brightest backup players are currently lining up for les bleuets tonight in Colombia. Tough spot to be in, but at least it's a testament to Lyon's amazing youth system!
We've got 17 year old CB Samuel Umtiti on our bench to back up Lovren and Kone...He's an U17 international, but that looks dire. Update, I was going to update the lineup but then freaking Brest just scored on a shot outside the box by Lesoimier. I feel Lloris should have kept that out, but it was a tough shot dipping away from him. Well I was going to write before I was rudely interrupted that Garde has gone with some fresh faces. Belfodil is starting on the left instead of Briand, Pjanic is in for Bastos, and Sidy Kone is playing in the middle instead of Gonalons. Young side.
Nice movement by the team, but Belfodil should have tried on goal instead of trying to center the ball. That was never gonna work...
well Brest has been pressuring more, created more chances, more shots off and on target, and defensively have been for the most part sound therefore they are rightfully ahead
Play looked very disjointed out there and we haven't had many threats on goal. That being said, neither have Brest, and their lucky to up with that strike they got in the 12th. Might have to bring some starters in later in the game to try to salvage something here. I'd probably wait til around the 60th minute though. I'm way more concerned about the Rubin Kazan match. I think Rev is trying to get himself sent off here...