2011-2012 Ligue 1 match thread [R]

1) not all the older threads have been migrated yet. you'll also see that some that are are locked; i get error messages when i try to unlock them but hope to be able to soon.

2) newness always takes getting used to, just like when they relook telerama every too often.

3) well if you ask me, the best emoticons... are no emoticons!

 

went to OL-VAFC last night (great deal on tix: this and the brest match for 16.50€), very enjoyable and all the goals took place at the north end except for laca's cross for licha and the beauty of that one was visible from the moon.

you all know i'm pretty kind to refs but if there's a place in the game for this kid rainville it's selling merguez on the corner.
the penalty he gave valenciennes was doubly bogus: cissokho knocks the ball away from dossevi clean as a whistle over a meter outside the zone. while koné's sweeping up the ball they collide still outside the line, and go down in a heap just inside it. péno AND biscotte! not even the ch'tis could believe it!

the game went flat from then on; cissokho had got off 4 nice crosses in the first 20 minutes but pretty well disappeared after the penalty call. worse, a couple of times at the start of the second half we had every reason to fear the worst but luck and lloris were with us. lacazette broke through dangerously a couple of times but just couldn't pull the trigger. gourcuff was valiant, and once he gets going you can see the talent's still there (as on a brilliant exchange with lacazette right at the start that ended up with him unbelievably not scoring) but getting very few balls to work with, and he's still having problems with his first touch. fofana very timid at a post where you need volume... but heck, we've got our cup, and lille is winning, so no biggie...

then penneteau goes down after colliding with briand outside the box. he stays down what seems like a half hour, VAFC doesn't even have their reserve GK warming up, it looks like chrome plated time wasting, and the VN is going nuts. incidentally garde puts in gomis for fofana (who had started looking a shade better, but that's like saying modeste is better than maazou) and grenier for gourcuff (who got a nice round of applause).

from that minute on it's a new match. manque de bol for yoyo whose set pieces all went to penneteau, grenier's first one is a pearl right to cris (another excellent match) who jumps two feet higher than everyone and nearly puts it through the back of the net. the crowd goes wild. a couple of minutes later penneteau under pressure (him again) knocks an ill-inspired backpass about half as far as i could right to briand who serves up licha who hooks around penneteau (not his day) and fires in. at that point the ch'tis are just hoping traffic to the airport will be light so it's a mere detail that he fumbles the ball right to jimmy for our 4th while the crowd breaks into their tenth chorus of:

merci penneteau, merci penneteau, merci! merci penneteau, merci penneteau, merci! ​

 

another thing, concerning the ludicrous brouhaha about the anti-steff chant at city hall (a harmless little ditty lyonnais kids learn in nursery school along with their phone number and how to tie their shoes) ... normally it's sung at gerland at the 42nd minute of every match, but yesterday it was almost constant!

http://www.leprogres.fr/football/2012/05/01/emmenez-moi-a-geoffroy-guichard

 

his set pieces were still not quite right but he did have a good match. i thought garde's bringing pied on was a good thing, but i expected him to do more. as it was only cissokho among the subs brought any zip. jimmy had a great shot to take, but decided to make a useless pass instead. oh well.

 

laca's been looking great in 2012, but yesterday he was having problems pulling the trigger when he got a chance, and wasn't making much of an impact. pied was injured much of the season and got very little time after that due to alex's great form, but looked very good in a rare recent appearance and in a similar situation. he made two very interesting appels right when he came on and no one looked at him; unfortunately after that he stopped proposing passes behind the defense and got caught up in the ambient muddle.

 

as a side note, i got a rare chance to watch all three of our top teams in one day sunday:

the first half of our fenottes against soyaux, where i saw a goal by élodie thomis that was all down to great work by lotta schelin, and a second on a long ball from cocotte franco that the soyaux keeper lost track of. final score was 6-0; three goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half, two from eugénie le sommer (who was already having her way on the left flank in the first half but moved to her habitual post at halftime) and one from amandine henry, (womankind's blond, frecklefaced answer to claude makelele)...

then right next door the reserves' second half against belfort ; a great run from william le pogam (playing at left back yesterday) to equalize at 1-1, then al-kamali's first goal for OL on a corner, and when ferri made it 3-1 i left to get to gerland for the pro kickoff (seeing as i went by thomis' goal to make the ladies' final score 6-0, another long ball soyaux's GK lost in the sky). but i read this morning the kids allowed two goals in the closing minutes to squander 2 very important points.

a last note: it's crazy how the CFA got precedence over the ladies for field n°10 (which seats about 750) and had to play on n°9 (which seats zero)... there were only 60-80 people at the reserves' match, and about 500 crowding around the field for the women. the two pitches are identical (and both in even better shape than gerland, although smaller).

 

well, källström was already on vacation because he's certain to leave, as is ederson, so the fact he played last night means to me that it's not 100% he'll leave. with kolo washing out we're at 3 fullbacks right now, so he'll only go if a replacement is lined up that would cost less than he fetches.

 

lannoy had a horrible match. straight red for yoyo was the worst call i'd seen in a long time... until i saw the penalty he called against cris! missing gomis' handball was not quite as horrendous but not whistling a penalty on cissokho was just flat out amazing. he hit him like a combine harvester.

 

i thought he looked fine the couple of appearances he made at the beginning of the season but those who see him practice daily know better than i do, and not only haven't they even put him on the bench for ages, his contract has run out and has not been renewed. next week he is on the UNFP available players list.