Danijel Ljuboja: Grenoble's only offense
I thought today was going to be a boring day in Ligue 1. I actually have a flu right now, and thought that this would be the perfect day to relax, sleep, and try to get over this virus.
Boy was I wrong.
If you would have told me that Axuerre would be at the top of the table today and that Grenoble would draw against the mighty Lyon, I would have told you that you were crazy. Seems like I was the crazy one.
So, lets look at our new leaders. At the start of the year, Auxerre was in last place. They started off with three losses, and their fourth game was a draw. In all of those game, Auxerre failed to score a goal. Now, Auxerre has a 7-game winning streak, they have gone from the cellar to first place, and are now a threat to Bordeaux and Lyon.
Today they defeated Monaco, another team that was trying to prove a point. Though The Principality was without Ligue 1 leading scorer Nene, the Monaco side really needed a win today to show that they are a contender for a Champions League spot. The lack of offense, and Nene, spelled doom for Monaco today. Monaco is now in 6th place, just one point out of the Europa League spot.
In untraditional fashion, Auxerre saw most of their scoring threat coming from their back line. Traditional scorer, Polish international Ireneusz Jelen was shut down today with only one goal. But even with the win, Auxerre has to figure out how to increase their scoring output if they intend on remaining in the likes of Bordeaux and Lyon.
Lyon today didn’t look like Lyon. In a game that they should have dominated, Lyon travelled to Grenoble in what should have been an easy 4-0 win. Instead, Grenoble has a two game unbeaten streak.
Lyon did dress their “A-and-a-half-team” today, but that wasn’t enough. Lisandro, Gomis, Govou and the likes were playing for Lyon, but Pjanic, Cissokho and Bostos didn’t. Even with this squad, Grenoble played on the same level as the Rhone team. Both teams had a number of chances, and the score could have been easily 3-3 as it was 1-1. And with saying all that, Grenoble were down to ten men in the last 20 minutes.
While Grenoble did get a point against, what might be considered, the best team in Europe, don’t expect it to happen much. While Grenoble has the same problem as Auxerre (the lack of scoring), all but one goal for Grenoble has come off the foot of Danijel Ljuboja. And in this game, Ljuboja came on as a substitute, and scored after only six minutes on the pitch.
For Lyon, Cesar Delgado got the rare start and scored the goal for Lyon in the 65th minute. After his performance, should Delgado be considered for a starting spot on Claude Peul’s side? Also, Jean-Alain Boumsong started his first game for Lyon today as well.
While Lyon did draw to the worse team in Ligue 1, Bordeaux lost at home to the next up-and-coming team, Valenciennes. Like Lyon, Bordeaux dressed their A-Team, but Les Girondins were without Yoann Gourcuff, who was injured against Ireland in the second leg and will be missing for three weeks.
Valenciennes, who are the highest scoring team this season with 24 goals, netted another one against the strong defense of Bordeaux. The goal of the match was scored by Valenciennes’ leading scorer Mamadou Samassa. That was Samassa’s 6th goal of the year. But while Samassa is the leading scorer, Valenciennes has been highly successful spreading the ball around and giving a number of players the opportunity to score, unlike Grenoble.
Filed under: AJ Auxerre, AS Monaco FC, Grenoble Foot 38, Olympique Lyonnais, Valenciennes FC Tagged: | Auxerre, Bordeaux, Danijel Ljuboja, Grenoble, Ireneusz Jelen, Lyon, Mamadou Samassa, Monaco, Nene, Valenciennes, Yoann Gourcuff
