Out of Relegation Zone
By: Julien |
1 Comment
Lille’s fourth match of the season moved the club out of relegation zone. We did lie 20th place in the table prior to match day four. What a rough season it has been for us so far. Last Sunday, LOSC upset Girondins de Bordeaux, last season’s Ligue 1 runner up. At home we won the match thanks to goals from Bastos and Obraniak. We move up in the table amid a flurry of transfer news: Kevin Mirallas looks to be on his way to ASSE, Larsen Touré is heading back on loan to Grenoble, also both Ludovic Butelle and Sébastien Grax could move to Lille on loan. Match facts:
Sunday, August 31st- 17:00H
STADIUM LILLE METROPOLE
14,599 spectators
LOSC
VITTEK
FAUVERGUE (71′ )
MALICKI
BERIA
TAFFOREAU
EMERSON (71′ )
RAMI
DEBUCHY
BALMONT
CABAYE
BASTOS
OBRANIAK
DUMONT (88′ )
MAVUBA (c)
Bordeaux
RAME (c)
HENRIQUE
JURIETTI
PLACENTE
DIAWARA
FERNANDO
GOURCUFF
JUSSIE (69′ )
WENDEL
GOUFFRAN
CHAMAKH (79′ )
CAVENAGHI
BELLION
OBERTAN (69′ )
Yellow Cards:
Lille
18 ‘ OBRANIAK
82 ‘ CABAYE
83 ‘ RAMI
Bordeaux
27 ‘ DIAWARA
82 ‘ JUSSIE
83 ‘ FERNANDO
Goals:
32 ‘ BASTOS
75 ‘ OBRANIAK
28 ‘ CAVENAGHI
Category: Team NewsLille Loses To Le Mans: The Mediocrity Continues
By: Julien | Add Comments
LOSC Lille Métropole played their second match of the new Ligue 1 season last Saturday. The match was home againts Le Mans UC 72. Le Mans had a chance for vengeance against us for taking their former manager, Rudi Garcia. Garcia’s results thus far this season have been unimpressive. We lost 1-3 against Le Mans, which is simply ridiculous. Lille rarely conceded so many goals under Claude Puel’s reign (he manages Unstoppable Lyon right now). Yet again, Les Dogues dominated possession for most of the match. And yet again, our efforts were fruitless. Le Mans scored and quieted our supporters. They gained even more confidence after scoring a second goal. Lille came out in the second half lacking confidence. They just didn’t believe in a victory anymore. When Bastos finally scored hope was already lost. We are 19th place in the table. I know it won’t stay that way, but what a shitty start to the season. Our next match is against Stade Rennais. They started off strong drawing OM 4-4. Match details:
Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 19:00 H (local time)
STADIUM LILLE METROPOLE
Attendance: 13,206
Les Dogues
MALICKI
BERIA
FRANQUART
TAFFOREAU
EMERSON (51′ )
DEBUCHY
BALMONT
CABAYE
BASTOS
MAVUBA (c)
DUMONT (79′ )
TOURE
OBRANIAK (51′ )
FAUVERGUE
The Bad Guys
ROCHE
GEDER
CERDAN
CAMARA
STROMSTAD
KEITA (89′ )
THOMAS (c)
MAIGA
COUTADEUR
LE TALLEC
HELSTAD
DOSSEVI (66′ )
BAAL
BEN FREJ (70′ )
Yellow Cards: Tafforeau (45+1′), L.Touré (48′) and Bastos (74′) for Lille - Ib.Camara (12′), Baal (44′) and Le Tallec (64′) for Le Mans.
Goals:
21 ‘ HELSTAD (LMN)
33 ‘ MAIGA (LMN)
65 ‘ BASTOS (LOSC)
82 ‘ MAIGA (LMN)
A Rough Start: Lille Draws Nancy In Opening Match
By: Julien | 1 Comment
The 2008/2009 Ligue 1 season started last weekend. Lille’s first match was against AS Nancy. Nancy finished 4th in the table last season taking them to the UEFA Cup. Lille finished 7th and led the league in ties. It is very fitting that our first match and another Ligue 1 match ends in a draw and is low scoring. No goals were scored in the entire match. The Ligue 1 yawns continue. No surprise at all that few people watch Ligue 1 outside of France. It just isn’t as exciting title and match wise as the EPL, La Liga, or even Serie A. We were missing Kevin Mirallas for the match. He is still at the Olympics playing with Belgium, which is having a nice tournament. So maybe the score could have been a little different. Maybe he would have scored and earned us our first three points. Well at least we gained 1 away point. We weren’t at home and at the end of the match LOSC was down to 10 men from a Rami red card. Our midfield played really well. Despite missing Claude Puel Les Dogues still played well. There were many chances to score. Lille’s next match is against Rudi Garcia’s former club, Le Mans. Match facts:
Saturday, August 9th- 21:00 H
STADE MARCEL PICOT
17,611 spectators
Nancy:
1 BRACIGLIANO (c)
5 LUIZ
20 CHRETIEN
27 OUADDOU
MACALUSO (73′ )
4 MALONGA
15 HADJI
18 FERET
24 GAVANON
CURBELO (89′ )
26 N’GUEMO
10 DIA
NDIAYE (61′ )
22 FORTUNE
Lille:
16 MALICKI
18 BERIA
20 TAFFOREAU
23 RAMI
2 DEBUCHY
4 BALMONT
7 CABAYE
EMERSON (90′ +1)
8 BASTOS
DUMONT (84′ )
24 MAVUBA (c)
6 FRAU
TOURE (28′ )
13 FAUVERGUE
Yellow Cards:
23 ‘ N’GUEMO (ASN)
36 ‘ LUIZ (ASN)
39 ‘ BALMONT (LOSC)
63 ‘ GAVANON (ASN)
85 ‘ BERIA (LOSC)
Red Cards: 90′+2 Rami (LOSC)
Strengthening The Offense: Émile M’Penza
By: Julien | 2 Comments
Belgian international and Manchester City striker Émile M’Penza is another attacking possibility for Lille. Our northern rivals, RC Lens also have negotiated with him. He has 17 goals in 52 appearances for Belgium. LOSC also wants PSG’s young striker, Yannick Boli. Boli is only 20 years old. Here is where we currently stand attacking wise: Nicolas Fauvergue, Larsen Touré, Chris Makiese, Kévin Mirallas, Pierre-Alain Frau are our five main attackers.
LOSC plays their second to last friendly of the season against OGC Nice this Saturday. Kickoff is at 19H local time in Touquet, France. Should be a good match. OGC Nice has picked up better players than we have during this mercato. They signed a promising young Colombian goalkeeper and Rémy from Lyon.
One of Rudi Garcia’s goals for the next season is to finish in Ligue 1 within the top 10 spots of the table. Last season we finished 7th place. Our squad seems weaker this time (Puel is gone and no Sylva, Makoun or Lichtsteiner). I think we can just make it within that area of the table. Certainly, it will be difficult. I still am not fully confident with our new manager.
Another Lillois may move to Turkey. Tony Sylva currently plays there with Trabzonspor. Souleymane Youla may join him in Anatolia. Eskipehirspor wants the LOSC striker. Youla has played in Turkey before for Beşiktaş. Also, Stephan Lichtsteiner has finally transferred to Serie A’s Lazio. He played with Lille for three years.
Lichtsteiner To Lazio For 1.2 Million Euros
By: Julien | 3 Comments
La Voix du Nord reports that Stephan Lichtsteiner will be transferred to S.S. Lazio for around 1.2 million euros. PSG was another possibility for the LOSC defender.
28 year old Slovakian goalkeeper Lubos Hajduch is another potential replacement for Tony Sylva. Sylva transferred out of Lille to Trabzonspor earlier in this mercato. Saint-Étienne’s Jéremie Janot is still another option.
Kevin Mirallas will play a Belgium olympic squad friendly tonight against the Netherlands to prepare for the upcoming Olympic Games.
Adil Rami extended his contract with Lille to 2012. This secures his spot on Lille’s roster. He was a prospective Olympique Lyonnais.
LOSC played a friendly last Saturday against Belgian Zulte-Waregem. Lille won 2-0 thanks to two goals scored by Balmont (40′, 57′). Match facts:
Squad: Oukidja – Debuchy (Benzerga), Rami (Taravel), Béria (Salibur), Tafforeau (Lebbihi) – Balmont (Yanes), Mavuba (Dumont), Cabaye (Chedjou) – Frau (Touré), Fauvergue, Bastos.
Yellow Cards: Cabaye (32′), Fauvergue (66′, 73′).
Red Cards: Bastos, Fauvergue (73′).
Piquionne No Longer An Option?
By: Julien | 2 Comments
One of our transfer hopefuls, Frédéric Piquionne, is slipping further away from Lille. OGC Nice’s Maurice Cohen confirms that if Piquionne doesn’t move to Lyon he will transfer to Nice.
LOSC says that only ticket holders for next season will be able to spectate the club’s friendly match on July 25th against Roulers at 19H. The match will be played at Stadium Nord.
Footlille reports that Grégory Tafforeau could play his 300th career match if he plays in our opening Ligue 1 match. Our first opponent of the upcoming season is AS Nancy.
Franck Béria thoughts on our opening match:
“They aren’t the best club for us to face at the start of the season. We have to learn from our last season’s performance. Nancy is a great first challenge for us and we should try to return to Lille with some points. ”
LOSC Official Presentation! New Jerseys Unveiled!
By: Julien | 1 Comment
LOSC’s official presentation was yesterday at Stadium Nord. Around 3,000 supporters came to witness the unveiling of the new jerseys. They were designed by Canterbury. What do you think? Richard’s comment yesterday said the third jersey looks a little like Borussia Dortmund. For those that don’t know, it is colored that way because of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region’s Coat of Arms:
It is based on the Flanders (La Flandre in French, Vlaanderen in Dutch) flag:
Awhile ago northern France was part of the Low Countries, which also included present day Belgium and Netherlands. That is why many northern French cities/towns have a French and Dutch name (Lille is Riijsel in Dutch and my family’s town, Douai, is Dowaii). Our culture still has some Dutch influence. A few nordistes/ch’tis (French northerners) are even French separatists that want to be a part of a unified Netherlands. The Dutch culture is pretty strong in northern France. My dad jokes that we aren’t even really French, but Belgian.
It looks like Olympique Lyonnais have chosen John Mensah over our defender Adil Rami. According to Football365, Mensah is going to sign a 4 year contract with Lyon worth 8 million euros.
Footlille says that their may still be a chance for Lille to sign Sébastien Puygrenier. I disagree, since LOSC leaders think he is too expensive. ASSE seems to think so as well. They aren’t even ready to hand over approx. 5 million euros to Nancy.
Nicolas Fauvergue says that Lille is reaching their top level of play:
“We are working very well. We had a tough week that helped us to progress physically. Already against Calais we were better.”
Grenoble wants Larsen Touré to come back. He was loaned to the club last season. There were rumors that the Isérois would sign him. They might just want to have him on loan again.
New Jersey And Stephan Lichtsteiner Moves To Lazio
By: Julien | 4 Comments
Here is a picture of LOSC’s third kit for next season. It uses the yellow and black colors of La Flandre française (Flanders). The club has a new outfitter, Canterbury. They specialize in Rugby uniforms.
Rudi Garcia said that more LOSC players will probably leave this summer. Lichtsteiner looks to be out and Olympique Lyonnais wants Adil Rami. According to Mercato365, Stephan Lichtsteiner transferred to S.S. Lazio for 2 million euros. His contract is for 5 years. Stephan was in Rome today for his physical. Where Lille currently stands transfer wise:
Departures/Potential Departures
Kluivert (let go)
Fauvergue (Ligue 2)
Lichtsteiner (Lazio Rome) COMPLETED
Makoun (Lyon) COMPLETED
Maric
Mirallas (PSG, Marseille, Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne)
Schmitz (Valenciennes) COMPLETED
Sylva (fc - Trabzonspor) COMPLETED
Tahirovic (FC Zurich) COMPLETED
Youla
New Players/Potential Recruits
Balmont (Nice) COMPLETED
Bratu (Dinamo Bucarest)
Dernis (Saint-Etienne)
Desmarets (V.Guimaraes)
Janot (Saint-Etienne)
Juanma (Levante)
Lyng (Aarhus) COMPLETED
Mavuba (Villarreal) COMPLETED
Oulmers (Charleroi)
Piquionne (Monaco)
Tenorio (Al Saad)
L.Touré (May return on loan from Grenoble)
We still need at least one attacker, defender, and goalkeeper (Janot deal is close).
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