sad to see no thread for this... interest in OL seems to be waning on BS, and i've been distracted by other things, but since i was at the match i wanted to make a post about it. OL took about 5 minutes (5 too many) to get into the match but from then on looked very good. frankly OL has impressed me more this season so far than they have in years. there's a chemistry that has been sadly missing. MOTM for me was bastos, who is working overtime to silence the boos he's received so far this year after wanting away to juventus. that has fallen through, he's made a public commitment to lyon and what's more his play is backing that up. gomis and lisandro together in gerde's 4-4-2 is a match made in heaven. gonalons once again excellent. against nice he had an almost perfect match (69 balls played, 65 completed passes, 3 shots on goal with one score makes how many balls lost for 18 won? awesome from awesome town) and tuesday he was just as valuable. ndinga may arrive, but it will be as max's backup. the new kid koné from guingamp had a rough patch at the beginning but looked very solid after that. diakhaté also had a couple good matches after he arrived, let's hope this kid isn't a flash in the pan.
i really enjoyed this match. i watched it in a bar in paris and though i was the most enthusiastic person in the place, it was fun to watch it in france. i'm still not convinced that Gonalons is ready to fill Toul's shoes. he seems to make sloppy choices at critical moments and i dont think he's a great defender the way Toul was. but so far Remi Garde seems to have had a great effect on the team and their play has been much more attractive with each game. This match versus Rubin Kazan was the most enjoyable play I've seen from Lyon since Juninho left.
gonalons seems to want to let go of the ball as soon as he gets it, which is an upgrade over not doing anything with it or losing it while holding it he's still not too accurate with his long range passing, defending wise he still commits a bit too many fouls but his only 22 and after spending a good season in the bench I expect him to get better as the season goes on, if not then not buying a quality DM might bite... on the game, I was disappointed again at getting scored on by a set piece, like wise on cissokho's defensive duties though he was good going forward and thats why remi put in pjanic and pushed bastos back unfortunately that gave control and opportunities to Rubin, and if it wasnt for Briand scoring we could have very well seen a different scenario heading to Russia
two more interesting stats from the nice match: for the 69 times he touched the ball he still had under one minute of possession (that's basically one touch every time) and only one foul committed. his job is clearly to win balls and give them immediately to kallstrom (gourcuff, pjanic...), basta. and that's the heart of the new (actually old) look OL is showing now. three matches against mediocre opponents isn't enough to make sweeping statements but in a completely different style he's looked even superior to toule so far. the key is he's faster, and instead of hounding the opponent with the ball to eventually scoop tackle it away he simply beats him to it and that's that. less spectacular but more effective, especially for a team that's decided on fast-paced pressing as a way of life. the OGCN match was even better. and i'd go even farther back: this is the best OL has looked since djilla diarra left.
I've had a tough week so I didn't get to watch the match til late and I didn't get a chance to start the thread. But I'm trying to hold down the fort Guignol . Pretty much everything's been said about the match, so I'll just agree that I'm happy the guys played excellently. They didn't let that first goal put them down and put themselves comfortable ahead in this tie. Now they just have to play a tight organized game in Russia, maybe try to nick an away and ride the tie out. Then we can take our rightful place in the Champions league proper.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYZpYQKhk2M"]Rubin Kazan vs Olympique Lyon 1 1 All Goals Match Highlights 24 8 2011 UEFA Champions League - YouTube[/ame]
got a little nervous after natkho scored, one more and good bye CL Kone has been doing well, very sensible player we will see how he performs in a big game even in CL, starting times are usually earlier in Russia and FSU