2013-2014 Ligue 1 match thread [R]

magnificent match! great to see how well fofana filled in at the back with all the other usual suspects were suspended, bedimo looks good, alex showed he really is pointman material, that miguel lopes is some player. MOTM? gournier. besides how well both played individually, the way they clicked together was exciting.

bafé says he wants to reintegrate the A squad, and i feel his attitude will be good, that's just the way he is. what's not to like ? who needs licha?

we very well may be in first place tomorrw, with laca leading scorer. let's just stop th season right here!

 

he was and always will be my first choice too. he's just the type of point man i like the most, the kind who do so much more than just score themselves. gomis is about as far from a clinical finisher as a #9 can be, which leads many to the idea that he doesn't score... luckily there are such things as statistics to prove that's a misconception.

 

here's what JMA had to say about gomis on olweb


"Obviously Licha's departure creates a new problem. I hope to try to bring everyone to the discussion table. We've had no proposals for Bafé. We might think of, with Licha's departure, recruiting a center forward or someone who can play on the right side. But i repeat, let's reconsider the question. I'm ready to go to Bafé to discuss with him. One has to be humble, me first of all. Bafé needs to play. I tell myself it would be a mistake to remain inflexible in our position. We have to work with his agent to find a solution that suits him so he can remain at OL with good relations."

http://www.olweb.fr/fr/article/un-president-satisfait-et-resolu-63192.html

 

i was able to watch the sochaux match on real TV in the states and was pleased wit just about everything about it.

not so for my first time this season to gerland (i just got back). i was amazed to see they were watering the pitch when i got to my seat about 5 min before kickoff, because any lummox could see it was threatening to rain and rain it did. a deluge. that was no excuse for the timid start, but after 2o-25 minutes play was going to be sluggish no matter what, and the last 10 minutes of the half the ball wouldn't even roll.

the rain stopped almost precisely at the HT whistle, but the groundskeepers did a pretty poor job at first, thinking they could just fork some holes for the water to run into when there was 5 times too much for that. buquet came out at the end of the half, examined the field and gave them 15 extra minutes, and only then did they start sweeping water off the field. that, plus the extra runoff time, made things very playable: footing had never been the problem, actually the pitch was in great shape (hope it still is). OL started to put on the pressure, and forced agassa to make some tough stops, plus they hit the bar... when the penalty on ferri finally came it was a logical conclusion to a period of real dominance. but when grenier skied that it was the play of the match. lyon became impatient, stopped playing as confidently and left spaces behind too; SdR's goal came on a fluke shot but that counter was real danger, and one that never should have presented itself.

OL's best player was gourcuff again, gonalons good too... the disappointments for me were bahlouli and ferri... perhaps i was expecting too much of a couple of very young kids, but these aren't the guys that are going to do it for us right now. starting danic when he had hurt himself warming up was a bad move, and bringing in ferri (and moving yoyo to the left) when he had to stop after 10 minutes another; bringing in benzia right away would have worked better.

 

that wasa foregone conclusion to me.

 

OL actually looked started looking good real right after nantes' goal. especially malbranque changed, he was invisible up to that point. awesome work from bafé again.

 

if by people you mean fans, you have to know that there is a significant population of lowbrows in both ends that never liked gomis (because he came from sainté i guess) and no amount of work, goals or attitude can change that. when you're that stupid, it's for life.

 

none of these guys are worth even a quarter of the money they'd want. i'd try to get martial back on loan.

 

by moments they showed plenty of fight, just not enough concentration. if not for steed's blunder we still win, but you're right, it shouldn't have been close.