Ligue 1 Talk

Fernando and Bordeaux get the edge over Lyon

In what was the first turning point of the season in Ligue 1, Bordeaux proved that they remain the bosses of Ligue 1. The difference between the two teams is now pretty obvious, something few would have bet on a couple years ago. The game was overall pretty bad, thanks to useless aggressiveness on both side and a hard-fought midfield battle. Both teams were tense, but Bordeaux came out as the winner, benefiting from the same kind of luck that was so typical of Lyon in the past 7 or 8 years. At the end, Bordeaux comes out of this game as what seems to be the future champion.

Lyon started the game with a rather unusual diamond-shaped midfield, with Jean II Makoun playing at his natural positioning as the sole man in front of the defense, with Kim Kallström to his left and promising youngster Maxime Gonalons to his right. Puel trusted Miralem Pjanic with the n°10 position, with Lopez in front of him and Michel Bastos, the lefty, on the right flank. This left lots of room on the left for Aly Cissokho to offer support to his attack.

Bordeaux played a less surprising 4-2-3-1, with Marouane Chamakh starting up front, Yohann Gourcuff behind him, Wendel on the left and Jaroslav Plasil on the right. Fernando and Alou Diarra staffed the center midfield positions. At the back, Michael Ciani, having injured himself during the pre-game warm-up, was replaced at the last minute by 23-year old Ludovic Sané who played his first ever L1 game.

The first-half was pretty slow, with not much going on, and it was pretty clear from the start that whoever would win the battle of the midfield would eventually take the game. At this little game, Diarra and Fernando are hard to beat. Lyon supporters witnessed first hand the progress that Diarra made since his not-so-happy Lyon days, and understood why Fernando is looking for a transfer to a top club. The two form a wonderful pair, with a great balance of technical skill, physical presence, tactical intelligence, and positioning. Kallström and Gonalons provided a pretty good fight but Bordeaux prevailed. Makoun did a good job shutting down Gourcuff, who ended up being pretty quiet overall today. Lots of long balls went directly towards Chamakh, who managed to draw fouls from Boumsong and Cris and provided Bordeaux with their favorite set-piece opportunities, on which Lyon was threatened every time.

Lyon had the first chance on a neat cross from Anthony Réveillère that met the head of Lisandro Lopez but the Argentine was not able to direct the ball towards the side of the net and it was an easy stop for Carrasso. Except for that, the two teams neutralized each other, and there is not much to say about this first half, but notice that Lyon head coach Claude Puel seems to be slowly sucking any confidence Michel Bastos ever had in him by playing him on the right side, where he can not use his left foot to  even10% of its (amazing) capacities. His dribbling was awkward because the ball was always on his weak foot, and his game has become hyper-predictable, as every defender knows that he will always come back on his left foot to cross or pass. The Brazilian tried and showed flashes of what he can do, but Puel pulled him at the 55th minute to put in righty Cesar Delgado. No doubt Dunga is puzzled by this, and I can tell you that everyone in the stands could see it today too. I don’t either see Aulas being very happy with spending €15 million on a player who consistently scored 10+ goals and had 10+ assits for 3 years as a left midfielder to see him struggle and bring nothing to the team as right midfielder.

At the start of the second half, Lyon came on the field with a changed tactical disposition, reverting to their normal 4-3-2-1. This gave Gourcuff more space, and highlighted the domination of Bordeaux’s midfield. Lyon supporters will remember how the Essien-Diarra midfield was dominating, and Bordeaux reminded me of these times tonight. This also pushed Kallström further to the left, a position where it is obvious that he is inefficient and uncomfortable ; and Bastos further to the right, something you will have understood by now is not good news for Lyon.

Bordeaux played a much better half. They consistently held the ball and the distribution by the midfielders was flawless. Besides the usual set-pieces, Matthieu Chalmé and Benoît Trémoulinas had more room to run down the flanks and they proved to always be dangerous for Lyon’s defense by creating “power play” situations in which they managed to send crosses toward Chamakh, who is well-known for his aerial skills. Lyon was never dangerous in the second half, except when, at the 76th minute,  Gonalons ran past Bordeaux’s midfield and placed a screamer from the edge of the box that Carrasso barely deflected, but still enough to avoid a deadly rebound.

And from then on the controversy starts, and you’ll hear enough of it in the next few days and will be able to make a mind of your own (replay anyone? no?). Lisandro was pretty obviously pushed down by Sané in the box, with the ball very far from the defender, as the Argentine was about to crucify Carrasso and put Lyon on top. Now, I would like you to give me a good reason for any striker with a chance to put his team on top in a crucial game to fall to the ground instead of scoring? There is none, which means he was helped down to the ground, something that all replays corroborate. Images of last year’s foul by Chalmé on Ederson immediately jumped to my mind ; and the end result was the same. At the 85th minute, after a neat attack by Trémoulinas on left side, a missed cross fell in Gourcuff’s feet, who chipped the ball towards Chamakh who headed it in the net. Lloris seemed to have stopped it but the linesman saw that the ball had crossed the line and allowed the goal.

From then on, Bordeaux easily held on to the lead. A Lisandro free kick at the 93rd minute was deflected by the wall and that is all for Lyon. At the end of the match, the first shouts of “Puel démission” (Puel resignation) were to be heard, which is a first for Puel, and a symbol of how his leadership is perceived. The club, if anything, seems to have been declining since his arrival, and for a team (and fans) used to winning, the downfall is hard to deal with. The team looked pretty strong, but games like tonight were won by Lyon if the previous years. Lyon slides to the 9th position in the table, and is now 8 points behind Bordeaux.

Bordeaux, with this victory, cements its position on top of L1 and seems to be poised for another title year. The team chemistry is great ; their defense, even with a 23-year old newbie, is solid ; the midfield holds its own and dominates every other team ; and Chamakh only needs one chance to score. This was a turning point of the season, and Bordeaux comes out of tonight with a strong lead, in points but also in their head. In the meanwhile, in Lyon, times have never seemed as bad as tonight.

Chamakh delivers Bordeaux

Filed under: Girondins de Bordeaux, Olympique Lyonnais, Uncategorized Tagged: | Marouane Chamakh, Yohann Gourcuff