Lyon: Europe's BEST ?

would that be a true statement ?

interesting article in the FR

http://www.f-r.de/in_und_ausland/sport/aktuell/?sid=14969acf316b0b8bd1f5173987f7be61&em_cnt=1027692

del Bosque believes Lyon are right amongst the CL favourites

the Dutch Lama thinks they play some of the continent's finest football

how exactly do they manage to pull it off ?

brilliant youth policy ? like Bayern, merely buying the best of the national league ? or like Bremen spotting the hottest talents at home and beyond ?

how much is Houllier responsible for the success ? did he merely inherit a tight ship ?

or is it all down to a brilliant commercial manager like Bremen's Allofs ?

would that be a true statement ?

obviously not

del Bosque believes Lyon are right amongst the CL favourites

controversial

the Dutch Lama thinks they play some of the continent's finest football

indeed they do

how exactly do they manage to pull it off ?

brilliant youth policy ? like Bayern, merely buying the best of the national league ? or like Bremen spotting the hottest talents at home and beyond ?

obviously through an initial batch of good young players and some very very good talent scouts who picked up the likes of essien, juninho and diarra for cheap. now that they are established they can pick the cream from the french league and with a little help from chelsea along the way they are now very rich

how much is Houllier responsible for the success ? did he merely inherit a tight ship ?

very little, he has merely succeeded so far in not messing up what the previous managers achieved. But give him time



So the final answer to your question is NO otto as you very well know

Houillier can in no way be responsible for this, they have made some shrewd signings and they are among the favourites although IMO they'll fall short

*Waits for Obi*

To be fair - in his season and a half so far Houllier has done the squad rotation very well.

otto: Albion's No 1 fan wrote:

interesting article in the FR

http://www.f-r.de/in_und_ausland/sport/aktuell/?sid=14969acf316b0b8bd1f5173987f7be61&em_cnt=1027692

Its all in foreign

How exactly do they manage to pull it off ? Unlike several years ago (late 90's) all the best talents went to Italy, England or Spain in some of the best clubs. Some of these were far too competitive for some players, so they were on the bench or playing cup games.
As there were more and more wasted talents abroad (Anelka, Silvestre at Inter, Dalmat and Luccin to name a few), Young talent French players thought twice before risking playing abroad and decided that it could be safier to play for one of top 3 French clubs (Lyon, Marseille, Monaco). So Lyon jumped on the case and bought all the best players in each position mainly French, which they did very well with year after year (Squillaci, Malouda, Abidal, Reveillere, Toulalan, Kallstrom, Diarra and so forth) or almost did (Ribery). Reveillere had a successful spell (1 year) at Valencia prior joining Lyon. Tiago and Fred where the only young and promising players bought abroad. Fred scoring 42 goals in 40 games in the Brazilian league and Tiago finding it difficult having a starting place at Chelsea).

There are now 10 players who played for the national side, a record I think (Coupet, Abidal, Clerc, Reveillere, Squillaci, Benzema, Toutalan, Diarra, Wiltord and Malouda).


like Bayern, merely buying the best of the national league ?
brilliant youth policy ? or like Bremen spotting the hottest talents at home and beyond ? Totally

How much is Houllier responsible for the success? did he merely inherit a tight ship ?

He is doing a great job, really he is. He has been rotating well and his decision making during matches were very often brilliant (subs replacements, tactical plans, etc...). He also has been lucky to have a group of players who have been playing together for more than 4 years (which is rare these days)

Lyon has also developed and grown some excellent youth players such as Govou, Ben Arfa (, and Benzema (19 y.o).

Or is it all down to a brilliant commercial manager like Bremen's Allofs

Starting to be better. Lyon will soon have a 60 000 place stadium, very much like the Emirat Stadium of Arsenal). There will be stores, salons and restaurants selling the logo to increase revenues.

I don’t think Lyon can be considered as favorite, Chelsea and Barcelona (at full strength) can be. If we get further than the quarters maybe (but who knows we will have in the draw) then I think we can be labeled as real potential winners)
As an outsider would be the best option because we haven’t been further than the quarters, unfortunately.

TeamTurtleDoves™ wrote:*Waits for Obi*

MASSIVELY overrated.

Very disappointed that they finished top of their group. They would have made a decent opponent come next year.

Every year its the same: "Lyon are the dark horses, watch out!",

then an inevitable exit along the line.

They own Real Madrid, that much is clear, but other than that what major scalps have they taken to justify this tag?

I like the fact that they are from outside the big 3 and wish them well, who knows, they may do a Man United (who post 1999 threatened but never quite justified their tag as one of the most exciting teams to watch until finally pulling off the results in the treble season) and go all the way this time around,

but I doubt it.

The Real White Christmas wrote:Every year its the same: "Lyon are the dark horses, watch out!",

then an inevitable exit along the line.

They own Real Madrid, that much is clear, but other than that what major scalps have they taken to justify this tag?

I like the fact that they are from outside the big 3 and wish them well, who knows, they may do a Man United (who post 1999 threatened but never quite justified their tag as one of the most exciting teams to watch until finally pulling off the results in the treble season) and go all the way this time around,

but I doubt it.

Finally someone else who gets it.

Snowbispo wrote:

The Real White Christmas wrote:Every year its the same: "Lyon are the dark horses, watch out!",

then an inevitable exit along the line.

They own Real Madrid, that much is clear, but other than that what major scalps have they taken to justify this tag?

I like the fact that they are from outside the big 3 and wish them well, who knows, they may do a Man United (who post 1999 threatened but never quite justified their tag as one of the most exciting teams to watch until finally pulling off the results in the treble season) and go all the way this time around,

but I doubt it.

Finally someone else who gets it.

I think otto also gets it which was the idea behind the thread . praising another team or nation just does not happen with otto .

P.S obi do you even think they are capable of winning it at all

Rafa the Grinch wrote:

Snowbispo wrote:

The Real White Christmas wrote:Every year its the same: "Lyon are the dark horses, watch out!",

then an inevitable exit along the line.

They own Real Madrid, that much is clear, but other than that what major scalps have they taken to justify this tag?

I like the fact that they are from outside the big 3 and wish them well, who knows, they may do a Man United (who post 1999 threatened but never quite justified their tag as one of the most exciting teams to watch until finally pulling off the results in the treble season) and go all the way this time around,

but I doubt it.

Finally someone else who gets it.

I think otto also gets it which was the idea behind the thread . praising another team or nation just does not happen with otto .

P.S obi do you even think they are capable of winning it at all

Well obviously they could win it. I just don't see why they're put ahead of Valencia or Porto this year, for example.

Plus they're French CotR. They'll throw in the towel half way through a match and disappear underground until a brit comes along to save them. Probably in the shape of Graham Poll.

Snowbispo wrote:

Rafa the Grinch wrote:

Snowbispo wrote:

The Real White Christmas wrote:Every year its the same: "Lyon are the dark horses, watch out!",

then an inevitable exit along the line.

They own Real Madrid, that much is clear, but other than that what major scalps have they taken to justify this tag?

I like the fact that they are from outside the big 3 and wish them well, who knows, they may do a Man United (who post 1999 threatened but never quite justified their tag as one of the most exciting teams to watch until finally pulling off the results in the treble season) and go all the way this time around,

but I doubt it.

Finally someone else who gets it.

I think otto also gets it which was the idea behind the thread . praising another team or nation just does not happen with otto .

P.S obi do you even think they are capable of winning it at all

Well obviously they could win it. I just don't see why they're put ahead of Valencia or Porto this year, for example.

Plus they're French CotR. They'll throw in the towel half way through a match and disappear underground until a brit comes along to save them. Probably in the shape of Graham Poll.

It's not like they have a great big bloody mass of water to hide behind is it?

no lyon is not really to be considered a top team untill they beat a top team(madrid not counting). they have not proven their quality in knock outs the last couple of years. and im not sure they will get there this year either which i think is their last chance imo.
they have made the mistake of rising to the top of fame in europe whitout justifying it. which means that they cant play the underdog role that much which is need to win the cl.

supermadrid(zizou legend) wrote:no lyon is not really to be considered a top team untill they beat a top team(madrid not counting). they have not proven their quality in knock outs the last couple of years. and im not sure they will get there this year either which i think is their last chance imo.
they have made the mistake of rising to the top of fame in europe whitout justifying it. which means that they cant play the underdog role that much which is need to win the cl.

.

I quite agree with that, we need to beat a big team and have to go further the quarters final before saying anything. But each time it was on the edge, and in the past we have beaten some pretty good teams, away and at home (Bayern, Inter, Lazio when they were good), so it's not that a new idea that we do have quality. I think Houllier and the rest of the team management should say humble and avoid saying we absolutely need to win this champions league rather than we should go far. The main thing is to know whether this team is still able to play well in March, which she doesn't always do.

They also beat (huh...trashed rather) Bremen when they were going to be champions of the Bundesliga...

Does anybody remember?

Lyon's biggest problem is Houllier. He completely bottled it against Milan last season by sitting back and playing for a draw.

Snowbispo wrote:

TeamTurtleDoves™ wrote:*Waits for Obi*

MASSIVELY overrated.

Very disappointed that they finished top of their group. They would have made a decent opponent come next year.

One day, I hope Obi will explain us why Lyon, with such results (in European cups and French league) and with a budget inferior at Everton, don't deserve this hype...

Because they're average? I would have thought it was fairly self-explanitory, but there you go.

Oh, and the "inferior budget" thing doesn't hold much water when they're out-spending everyone domestically and teams with a similar, possibly smaller, budget have won the CL recently.


Average.

Lyon : Average team => it's a subjective point of view, your point of view and I don't discuss it.

But explain me how a such average team could have done such great results during last 4 years?

Great results : it's not a subjective point of view, it's a fact.

I'm guessing beating Munich 3-0, Werder 11-3, PSV 4-0 are all crap scores.

The fact is, two years in a row Lyon have either been cheated (Against PSV, they get a dodgy penalty against them, after having hit the bar and the post), or unlucky (concede two goal sin the last three minutes against Milan). TYhis year Lyon have considerably strengthened themselves. They have the best midfield in Europe (TOulalan, Juninho, Govou, Malouda, Tiago, Diarra, Kallstrom, benzema, Ben Arfa) and they play the best football in Europe. Which is why they get the hype that Liverp0-0l don't get because they are boring shits.

theflyingfrenchman wrote:I'm guessing beating Munich 3-0, Werder 11-3, PSV 4-0 are all crap scores.

The fact is, two years in a row Lyon have either been cheated (Against PSV, they get a dodgy penalty against them, after having hit the bar and the post), or unlucky (concede two goal sin the last three minutes against Milan). TYhis year Lyon have considerably strengthened themselves. They have the best midfield in Europe (TOulalan, Juninho, Govou, Malouda, Tiago, Diarra, Kallstrom, benzema, Ben Arfa) and they play the best football in Europe. Which is why they get the hype that Liverp0-0l don't get because they are boring shits.

Yawn. Is the only way of proving your point having a poor, rehashed dig at Liverpool. It's unsurprising the only person to find it witty is LRD, given that he's still trying to fit the round pegs into the square holes.

Best midfield in Europe? Stop kidding yourself. That is precisely the kind of hype that makes me sick of the chokers.

Maybe when get past the quater finals I'll change my mind. Until then, why should I? Fuck sakes, with all due respect, even Recreativo just took apart Madrid. It's hardly an impressive feat.

werder bremen 11-3

Snowbispo wrote:Yawn..

Your kidding me right, a yawn from obispo, wow does this clown read his own shit. soon as i see his name i say yawn before reading the first predictable word. Is a fucking robot i can tell you what this clown is gonna say word for word.
You trying to make out someone is dumb again Obispo, tell me what intelligent persons life revolves around pointless arguments on a forum all day everyday 365 days a year
Don't sit in your shitting room all day doing fuck all with your life, and think you intelligent because you take care in spelling well and having good grammar on a football forum

Go on get all upset because someone said something bad about a liverpool player awwwwww, lost sense of reality, a strange man on 60k a week you have never met, needs to be defended by a 20 yr old clown why? come on confused kid what is wrong with you. Tell me why gerrard is shit when he is praised by liverpool fans, because he is english, yet if someone else says he is shit, he is great
in 2007 PLEASE GET A LIFE. Merry christmas
broke ass guy from wales, cannot get a job, doesn't leave his house, and has no plans to do so, thinks he is intelligent ffs give me a break

I really hope we meet Liverpool later.... oh sorry next year

To come back at the topic, is Lyon Europe's best. Come on we are not. We are playing extremely well now, but what counts is in February and March. We still have to prove something, which hopefully will come in the soon future.

otto: Albion's No 1 fan wrote: like Bayern, merely buying the best of the national league ?

otto, otto otto.....poor old otto.

have a read of this....

Wenn das mal kein passendes Geschenk ist! Zwei Tage nach seinem 18. Geburtstag hat der FC Bayern Abwehrspieler Mats Hummels zum Profi gemacht. Das Münchner Eigengewächs erhält zum 1. Januar 2007 einen neuen Vertrag, der ihn bis zum 30. Juni 2009 an den Rekordmeister bindet.

Nach Owen Hargreaves, Philipp Lahm, Andreas Ottl, Christian Lell, Michael Rensing, Bastian Schweinsteiger und Stephan Fürstner ist Hummels bereits der achte Spieler im aktuellen Profikader, der aus der eigenen Jugend kommt. Und Kern ist sich sicher: „Er wird nicht der letzte sein.“

http://www.fcbayern.t-com.de/de/aktuell/news/2006/10210.php?fcb_sid=690a0566635ca3dea85c49eabb2ac9aa

L r d wrote:

Snowbispo wrote:Yawn..

Your kidding me right, a yawn from obispo, wow does this clown read his own shit. soon as i see his name i say yawn before reading the first predictable word. Is a fucking robot i can tell you what this clown is gonna say word for word.
You trying to make out someone is dumb again Obispo, tell me what intelligent persons life revolves around pointless arguments on a forum all day everyday 365 days a year
Don't sit in your shitting room all day doing fuck all with your life, and think you intelligent because you take care in spelling well and having good grammar on a football forum

Go on get all upset because someone said something bad about a liverpool player awwwwww, lost sense of reality, a strange man on 60k a week you have never met, needs to be defended by a 20 yr old clown why? come on confused kid what is wrong with you. Tell me why gerrard is shit when he is praised by liverpool fans, because he is english, yet if someone else says he is shit, he is great
in 2007 PLEASE GET A LIFE. Merry christmas
broke ass guy from wales, cannot get a job, doesn't leave his house, and has no plans to do so, thinks he is intelligent ffs give me a break

You need to get laid mate.

You should try as well, it's quite nice