even sweeter when all three scorers are homegrown. except for 15-20 flat minutes in the middle of the first half (during which they had one scary chance) les merlus were not allowed to exist in any way, shape or form. in the second half there was one cafouillage where koné had to save off the line and one nice outside shot antho had to tip over the bar, but OL was very stable in defense, controlled the midfield and was quick and sharp in the last 30. whatever one wants to say about the weekness of the opponent, the quality of OL's game was undeniable. before the first goal n'jie had two great chances and after the last tolisso and gourcuff had one each. for lorient 4-0 was pas trop cher payé. continuity of their recent fine form for ferri, tolisso, gonalons, n'jie, fékir, koné, lopes. lacazette finding his level. enormous match from jallet. for umtiti hard to say if he's getting the rhythm back since he wasn't much tested. after last season when OL played more matches than anyone else i'm wondering if there will be enough matches to go around this year: gourcuff and bedimo are getting back to match fitness, bisevac might be available this weekend, dabo has resumed practice, grenier is aiming to be back for the derby in november, fofana may be back in the first quarter of 2015. but the squad playing now has earned their stripes. and then there are players like yattara, benzia, ghezzal, bahlouli and rose all chomping at the bit to show what they're worth. that's a lot of bodies to find pitch time for. http://www.lfp.fr/video/78844/resume
They deserved the point at PSG despite PSG's fans feeling otherwise. They had a shakey first half and a good 2nd half.
they don't all drive the same model hyundai to practice but they really do drive hyundais. the other day malbranque kind of cut me off in a sporty black one.
a bit. denying lorient the right to even dream about existing is one thing but putting the screws to the LOSC that way is another. not only lacazette but gonalons did his best to show DD they deserve respect. very interesting match from gourcuff too. the only method the dogues found to stop him was with the lunch hooks (that goes for fékir and alex too) and sometimes not even that worked. everyone's talking about OM but if it wasn't for the six points we foolishly put down the disposal against metz and lens we'd be breathing down their necks. and we don't even have bielsa. overhauled the green slime in the standings for the first time in what seems like ages and it better stay that way.
i wouldn't hire the horse he rode in on either. of all the overrated things in the game big name coaches are the most overrated. there are bad coaches and good ones but there are no great coaches. give pascal dupraz three-quarters of a billion euros worth of players and he'd be a "great" coach. make ancelloti work with a payroll of 2.4M€ and he's pascal dupraz.
The commentator yesterday (vs Montpellier) said the same ref gave out 14 yellow cards in a game earlier this year. Maybe he was a bit excessive yesterday, but the players should have learned how he controls games. Obviously they didn't.
that couldn't have been matt spiro, he's generally more on top of things. bald bart varelix had given out 14 YC and 0 RC in FOUR matches so far this season before last night (courtesy the official program, the only thing i read before KO is who's officiating). i think he did a sucky job, but what i hate about varela more than anything is that the folks in the stands have NO idea what his gig is. i thought he had given out EIGHT cards to OL and 2 to MHSC (in reality 6 and 3) because he ALWAYS has the card in his hand whenever he's talking to players.
What a thoroughly dominating performance. I'm glad I resisted temptation to peek and watched it sans spoilers this morning! Felt like old days again, shall 2015 mark the return of YOYO?
a tactical match of huge intensity. best lyonnais were gourcuff, just awesome over and above that magnificent goal (looked like a 3 stooges gag), gonalons and lopes who saved the house a couple of times in the 2nd half (knocking out ayew's 1st half shot looked nice, but that's the stuff a L1 has to do, nothing overly heroic). i want to say fournier outdid bielsa last night; the pressing in the first half wore everyone out. if OL had gone into the locker room at 1-0 it would have been a perfect cunning plan. that very well could have happened, OM was forced several times to grab players headed at mandanda and jallet and fékir both lacked lucidity a couple of times. that's part of the equation too though: nabil paid for the huge pressing he exerted even then. the second half was probably pretty much what was planned too, leave possession and play the counter, the idea being that the exhausting first half would take away a lot of OM's efficiency too, and that was the case, there was a lot of déchet. and OL defended with a lot of density and a lot of heart; when they changed the game over to lemina they had to dig deep to slide right to left. it was still a damned close-run thing, OM is a really good team. the counters were there too; the one yoyo scored on, but at the end OL should have scored two more on big breakaways; the fatigue hurt there, but n'jie didn't have that excuse on the last one. one last thing will surprise no one: andré ayew is a pleureuse. just hearing him whine is worth the price of admission.
Yeah, that match didnt disappoint, although I think everyone expected more goals going in. Especially with OM lining up such an attacking formation with only 3 at the back it seemed that it would be end to end stuff. Finally it was more of a tactical contest, but still pleasant to watch. But Yoann's goal....oh my. I thought he blew it when he seemed to hesitate to shoot but his pullback and then that gorgeous left-footed shot into the top of the net. I mean come on, that's Zidane-esque.
the angle of it that starts around 2:10 is awesome: you see three players run by him. http://www.lfp.fr/video/78884/resume
Like everyone else I envisioned this match being a goalfest, but the 1-0 wasn't a let down in the slightest. What a gritty match and well played by both sides. Thought les Gones had the better of the match for most of it, bar the first 15 min or so in the second half where Lopes earned his wages. Gourcuff's goal was phenomenal and drove a stake right through the heart of Marseille. OM didn't look the same squad after that, and it was pretty much smooth sailing after then. It could have easily been different though, that shot that hit the post from Ayew(?) could have had the boys chasing and I don't think it would have led to any points.
headache what headache? he's not in competition with APG, it's that stiff payet that needs to go overboard. an easier decision was never taken.
Payet not a stiff at all he's been great this year. Maybe it wont last but he deserves the call up IMO.
if it lasts i'll be very happy for him. but no way he's been better than alex at any point this season.
OL-EAG this afternoon in the rain. started wonderfully, all first half OL was in motion and zinging the ball around. first alex scored and then fékir made it 2-0 with a good candidate forgoal of the week counting the build-up, it was fantastic. then guingamp closed the gap with a direct FK just at the end of the half, and in the 2nd it was OL who was suffered when everyone expected it would be EAG after their big EL effort on thursday. it wasn't so much that we looked in grave danger when guingamp had the ball as we were just cutting our throats when we had it. first bedimo was pulled for mvuemba after dogging it when twice he didn't make the runs the MF was asking him for (we haven't seen the bedimo show even once so far this season) then njie went out for yattara for basically not looking nearly concerned enough all afternoon. problem was, momo fresh legs and all was worse. i was high on him in august but if i ever see him in an OL shirt again it will be too soon. arnold didn't put the world on its ear but shifting coco to LB helped, and i think yattara's nonchalance pissed off gonalons, malbranque and fékir enough to make them find juice they didn't know they had. the engagement and the fluidity came back just long enough to score the very sweet 3-1 that took the wind out of guingamp's sails for good. all it takes now id for the green slime to lose to ASM (0-1 at 70' right now) and for the cashico to end in a draw and life is looking VERY VERY GOOD.
fk tht, wolfie van rinckstinkl just evened it. god, would it be too much to ask for him AND gradel to die in a fire? just askin'.
i'd rather see mylaine tarrieu than a little bitch like yattara was today. that little girl has her head on straight. seriously, i'd like to see more of njie. the start today didn't seem to do his head any favors, but i imagine fournier gave him a shampoo and blow-dry after the game today.