What's Wrong With Lyon? - Football (Soccer) News And Picks

What's Wrong With Lyon?
By David Hein
Posted:11:00 am PDT 2007-02-10

Olympique Lyon have an 11-point lead on Lens in the French Ligue 1. So why are Lyon fans distraught about their Champions League club?

Because as great as Gerard Houllier's five-time reigning French champions were in winning 16 of their first 18 league games, Lyon have been just as horrible since then.

Dating to Dec. 23, Lyon have collected just two draws and scored two goals in five league games. Those two points in 15 games is Lyon's worst drought in 14 years.

In addition, Houiller's side gave up two goals in the final four minutes as Marseille won 2-1 in the Round of 16 of the French Cup.

"At the moment, our form has dipped slightly, it's true. We're still creating chances, but not having as much luck putting them away as we were at the beginning of the season," said Lyon defender Patrick Mueller.

"During a season, spells like this happen to every team, so there's no need to panic. We're sure our form will pick up, and we're not giving up. We have to look ahead, not back, even when things have gone well."

Lyon did beat Le Mans UC 72 1-0 to reach the final of the French League Cup, and they're still in the Round of 16 of the Champions League -- where they play Roma.

But as Mueller said, Lyon's troubles have been scoring goals. Houllier's attack collected over two goals a game in the first half. But they've averaged just 0.5 goals since the second half stated.

And the Lyon defence is giving up 1.5 goals in the second half after allowing just 0.58 in the first half.

On Saturday, Lyon host promoted side Lorient and are expected to right their ship -- -345 odds on WagerWeb.com. But Lorient -- +750 underdogs -- have collected three straight victories, including a 1-0 home victory against second-placed RC Lens.

RC Lens for their part have a difficult home test on Sunday against Sochaux. RC Lens -- getting -125 odds -- are second with 40 points while Sochaux -- +333 underdogs on the road -- are fifth with 36 points despite just one goal in three draws over their past four games.

Third-placed OSC Lille -- 39 points -- travel to Toulouse and fourth-placed Marseille -- 37 points -- are on the road at Bordeaux.

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