Olympique Lyonnais vs Tottenham , second leg

Tottenham won the first leg 2-1, with a last minute winner from Bale, who scored both goals on freekicks.

A quick resume of the first leg: Tottenham dominated the first half quite easily, but struggled to create chances outside a sitter missed by Bale and the first goal. On the second half, we finally started to engage Tottenham and Umtiti scored a fantastic half volley goal that completely changed the dynamic of the match. We were much more comfortable and Lacazette was able to dribble past the Tottenham defense just to be denied by Friedel. Tottenham pressed hard for the last 20 minutes and got their second goal.

Basically, the mission we have now is to score goals without conceding, a thing we are really not good at. That being said, the first match brought some confidence back in the team. We were struggling badly in 2013 so far and coming so close of a good result at White Hart Lane was a positive note.

I strongly believe that the team will be 100% focused and the stadium will be pushing hard for the result to come. We basically have nothing to lose now as few people are expecting us to progress in that competition. The main point will be to avoid the mistakes made in the first match: allowing the referee to give controversial calls right in front of our box. That's what cost us the first match. Our defensive performance was very good, but we were naive and allowed Tottenham players to fall on the ground and earn faults that costed us the goal.

Needing to score will not help us, as it was obvious that Tottenham had a lot of trouble at scoring and creating chances in the open play against a team which played for the draw. Now, with some of their quick players like Ekoto and Bale, they will likely wait instead of trying to control the play.

I think the game will depend almost entirely on the ability of our midfield to be creative. It will depend on tactical choices made by Garde. Grenier, Malbranque, Fofana will be on the balance for two playing spot. I think that Grenier should play. If anyone can open up holes in Tottenham shield, it's him.

Tottenham are better away from home. Tottenham will win especially as OL have to open up. If Tottenham just keep a cleansheet for the first 60 minutes or so then I see us nicking a goal or two. After the 60-70th minute OL will really start to open up and I see Bale scoring after that happens and then tie over.

CBarca wrote:Tottenham are better away from home. Tottenham will win especially as OL have to open up. If Tottenham just keep a cleansheet for the first 60 minutes or so then I see us nicking a goal or two. After the 60-70th minute OL will really start to open up and I see Bale scoring after that happens and then tie over.

If it is still 0-0 at the 60th, I will be indeed very worried.

We needs to start strongly and score as soon as possible to disrupt Tottenham's gameplan of playing the counter. I think we can do it. When we needed to score in the first leg, we pushed and were able to score quickly enough.

the EL face of spuds didnt show up in the 1st leg, so they will show up now

lyon to win 1-0 gomis

Hopefully Gomis doesn't play. Lacazette to start in the middle

Hoping for a 3-0 Lyon win

Cmon Lyon do football proud.

RealGunner wrote:Hopefully Gomis doesn't play. Lacazette to start in the middle

Hoping for a 3-0 Lyon win

Gomis will play, of course, unfortunately. Lisandro will probably be left winger too.

The biggest question mark is about the midfield. Gonalons has its place locked. Malbranque usually plays, but was sick last match and both Grenier and Fofana were good against Bordeaux. I still think Malbranque will play. Last sport will be between Fofana, who plays well in Europa league curiously, or Grenier , who is our best playmaker. I strongly hope Grenier plays.

Tottenham fans who were watching Milan AC-Barcelona in a bar were attacked by around 50 neonazis/antisemitic militants No big injuries fortunately.

Lyon vs Spurs vs Ultras

We are cursed

We totally shut down Tottenham for 90 minutes and again they score from a 30m desperate shoot

RealGunner wrote:

It further show that Garde is a loser...

For 65 minutes, we outplayed Tottenham completely, they did not exist. And then suddendly, nothing.

We decided that at the 65th minute, it was better to defend this result and to park the bus and to stop crossing the middle line. Digusting.

If the referee hadn't misjudged Lisandro offside when he had a 1vs1 and if Lacazette did not dive when he had an open goal... It adds to the frustration with the referee mistakes of the first match.

We were the superior sides and we are eliminated. Sad.

English commentators have no shame.

Bla bla bla english team is the best bla bla bla tottenham going out would damage the competition bla bla bla Tottenham are a more dynamic side than lyon. wankers

OLpower wrote:

RealGunner wrote:

It further show that Garde is a loser...

For 65 minutes, we outplayed Tottenham completely, they did not exist. And then suddendly, nothing.

We decided that at the 65th minute, it was better to defend this result and to park the bus and to stop crossing the middle line. Digusting.

If the referee hadn't misjudged Lisandro offside when he had a 1vs1 and if Lacazette did not dive when he had an open goal... It adds to the frustration with the referee mistakes of the first match.

We were the superior sides and we are eliminated. Sad.

The players were getting tired . Had OL won you wouldn't saying that.
The refs make some bad calls but in almost every game there are bad calls so there are no '' If .... ''
I knew that the last minutes was going to be tough as spurs are used to the intensity of the PL . They brought in Dempsey, Livermore and we did bring Ghezzal , Briand ...
Good game from the team, hope in the summer we find some money and buy some players because the young players we got are really good

Bénin wrote:

OLpower wrote:

RealGunner wrote:

It further show that Garde is a loser...

For 65 minutes, we outplayed Tottenham completely, they did not exist. And then suddendly, nothing.

We decided that at the 65th minute, it was better to defend this result and to park the bus and to stop crossing the middle line. Digusting.

If the referee hadn't misjudged Lisandro offside when he had a 1vs1 and if Lacazette did not dive when he had an open goal... It adds to the frustration with the referee mistakes of the first match.

We were the superior sides and we are eliminated. Sad.

The players were getting tired . Had OL won you wouldn't saying that.
The refs make some bad calls but in almost every game there are bad calls so there are no '' If .... ''
I knew that the last minutes was going to be tough as spurs are used to the intensity of the PL . They brought in Dempsey, Livermore and we did bring Ghezzal , Briand ...
Good game from the team, hope in the summer we find some money and buy some players because the young players we got are really good

The players weren't getting tired ( you don't get tired enough to not be able to cross the middle line). The players were GIVING the ball back. It was the coach choice to park the bus. It happened few minutes after Spurs only opportunity, on a counter.

Garde made the same mistake twice. He is still unable to understand that we don't win matchs and ties by playing cattenaccio and by offering the ball to the opponent when we can hold it.

We won't achieve anything with Garde as a coach, he has to go.

Who would you replace him with ?

RealGunner wrote:Who would you replace him with ?

Blanc, Gourcuff, Kombouare would be the best choices. But half of the ligue 1 coaches would already be an improvement over Garde. Garde isn't a coach, he is the players's friend.

But as he is from inside the club and since he is very cheap, he will probably stay if he does not leave on his own. Aulas has little ambition theses days, other than cutting the payroll.

To be fair Spurs created nothing in the last 30 minutes when you played like that,until Dembele scored a screamer...