I've only seen the highlights for the Rennes match but its nice that the tradition of not losing the opening game has been maintained, despite all the injuries. Anyone know when Grenier and Gourcuff should be available now that Fekir is injured?
The tradition of not losing the opening match followed by the tradition of losing away to Toulouse but hey they scored at least! I think with a full strength squad they win that match, if not at least draw.
too bad alex didn't get that penalty. maybe varela was considering advantage, but the second contact was a foul too, and hey, what advantage can be better than a penalty? not to say OL deserved any better, they looked OK second half but too many schoolboy blunders to expect any points. as for the full strength squad, it's X steps forward and Y steps back: bisevac more serious than thought, umtiti out for an undetermined period (2-3 weeks at least) but dabo, malbranque and gourcuff all practiced monday and grenier yesterday. a few late notes about the rennes match: jallet was as horrible as he had been good in europa league. gonalons was awesome. millot may not have been as bad as he looked from the VN (someone next to me got a txt that the first refused penalty was 50/50 at best, but the other calls that riled us including contact the contact that dislocated fekir's shoulder were pretty egregious. anyway, when we did get a pk just under our noses it happened just as we were starting a horto, and though the VN is generally pretty lame at the exercise we kept that first ominous hum going all the way until the ball hit the net, about 2-3 min. and it was jouissif.
he's not out again. he was never really back. i tell you he's got a sophrologist who convinces him in his mind that he's never healthy. my sources are so good i can't even name them. actually he was just extended.
It's really sad to see what's happened to Gourcuff. I'm convinced his time at Milan is what broke him.
i'm not that harsh on him. far from the most reliable defender but he's very good in the air, in both boxes and even farther out. he's fast enough and cuts out some spectacular tackles. the RCL goal happened right in front of me, and the geste he screwed up was far from easy. and he pulled off a similar one at the other end in thesecond half. he needs to be paired with a partner who's going to cover him while he's out taking chances, and lindsay rose is not that partner. of the two i think it's rose who has been more to blame for the goals we've taken these three games. there are others to point the finger at too. sure, baky made the glaring f*ckups in the highlight reels. but where was everybody else? nulle part and that goes double for rose! and most of the counters we've been hit by started way back, and on balls players in front of him gifted the opponent much too easily. i was disappointed with the TFC loss and thoroughly disgusted by the two after. but koné is very far from the player i'm the the angriest with. he's been going out there and giving it all he's got which is more than i'll say for many others. especially the youngsters. our big problem right nowis the injury list. all the kids being tried out have the talent. put one or two of them in with a real A-team and the veterans bring out the best in them les tirent vers le haut. but with 5 or 6 of them on the pitch at the same time you don't get that. against astra and lens we had tonton steed trying to organize and motivate what was no more than a reinforced CFA side. case in point? coco tolisso. he was very useful last season, really did his little job! but right now he's one of the players available who has the most experience, and his shoulders aren't big enough yet to carry that role of leader.
Maybe Kone is an easy target because he does make some glaring errors but Rose is still a newbie so I'm trying to cut him some slack. But you're right. He hasn't been good. The fact is that the defense is in shambles right now, and the injuries are probably mostly to blame but at the same time they're defending like school kids out there. I watch Gonalons and I keep thinking, Toulalan would have never have let that breakaway happen. Maybe its nostalgia but I think he's so overrated.
gonalons isn't 100% right now; he pulled something a tad in the first half against astra and moved to the left, leaving his normal post to ferri. he was back at real #6 for lens but clearly has reduced range. his dropping back to CB at the end sunday has multiple possible explanations: because rose was so poor, because i think he too pulled a little something before going out (he exited over the by-line holding his thigh), but perhaps also because gonalons in his present condition isn't as indispensable in the midfield. he also has had his share of missed passes, but the ones losing the balls that put us in trouble are at the front.
hard to believe and hard to understand just what the hell happened. OL looked superior though the 0-0 first half, has some chances, knocks one in, and after that starts to look even more dangerous as counter opportunities open up... then an avoidable penalty, and then the wheels come off. i'm beside myself.
Welp...I guess I picked a good day to move. Had no chance to see the match, and it looks like I didn't miss too much. Things aren't looking to good in Breakwood's world. OL in shambles, and Toronto just fired their coach with less than 10 games to play. Yikes!
2-1 win home to Monaco! The team looked good in the first and last 30 minutes. The middle 30 was lackluster. Lopes stood on his head in the last 10 minutes to preserve the victory. Too bad N'Jie couldn't finish his chance to make it 3-1. That would've been on highlight shows around the globe.
i've rarely had more fun at gerland. the way the team and the VN were feeding off each other was fantastic. nabil fékir was dynamite. enormous match from lopes. both goals by homegrown players... in fact 8 of our starters came out of tola vologe... and one of ASM's players too!
Yeah I just think it was premature of your president and some of you guys to say the top 2 places are locked up because clearly thats not true. Monaco's still a good team but yeah 2nd place locked up no way. You mentioned 8 starters from Tola Vologe, I think the future of Monaco is having a team with lots players from La Turbie.
look like nabil was almost as excited about coco's goal as his own... not quite though : in the earlier photo you only see the players who were holding him up - i swear i thought he was going to faint.
1-1 away to PSG followed by 4-0 home to Lorient. Not a bad couple days of football. From what I can gather Lyon was poor in Paris, but all that really matters is the result, and I will take a point there any day of the week. I havent seen the highlights yet from the Lorient match, but anytime you score 4 goals is a good game in my book. Even better when there's 3 different scorers. Perhaps the lack of European football will help the club focus on the league this year. Can this club grab the Champions League Qualifying spot? With Lille and Saint-Etienne having Europa League football along with the League, I wonder if we can squeek past them?