Lyon vs Liverpool - Prematch Analysis
Analysis Before Lyon's Match with Liverpool in the Champions League
Nov 4, 2009
Liverpool must travel to Lyon in one of their most crucial matches in years, and attempt to take three points off a team who defeated them at Anfield. Going into the last half of the group stage, Liverpool are six points behind their opponents who lead Fiorentina in the qualification places by three points.
This puts Liverpool three points adrift of Champions League qualification. With recent injury crises rocking England’s most successful club this is not an ideal position to be in, and manager Rafa Benitez knows that, although staying positive with a team of players who are “determined to win”, it is a game that could leave them all but out of the most prestigious competition in Europe.
The fixture at Anfield only two weeks ago saw Yossi Benayoun put the reds in front, but goals from Gonalons and Delgado late in the second half put Liverpool in their worst slump in over 20 years. Although Liverpool qualified from a similar position two seasons ago, winning their last three games in spectacular style to qualify in second place, the team looked much more comfortable and able than they do now.
Injuries
The team must overcome a lack of first team quality, with Glen Johnson, Steven Gerrard and more than likely talisman Fernando Torres all, at very best, sitting on the bench come kick off. Centre-back Martin Skrtel and left full-back Fabio Aurelio have all recently pulled out too, leaving Rafa few options as to who to choose, especially on the left wing where Lyon last looked the weakest.
Viewers can expect to see Benayoun and Kuyt start on the wings, though whether they will play the full match is down to an unpredictable manager who saw fit to take off the Israeli all-rounder at a score of 1-1. Benayoun has, by far, been Liverpool’s most reliable attacker in recent weeks, and the brevity of the situation if the team were to lose will surely, this time, drive Rafa to give him free reign both wide on the left and centrally for a full 90 minutes. You can’t win, after all, without scoring and Benayoun was the only one to do so against Lyon at home.
Decisions
Problematic are the full-back positions, but we might expect to see Daniel Agger on the right and Emiliano Insua on the left, though unless Benitez sees fit to play new centre back Kyrgiakos, who he has put little trust in so far, at the back alongside Carragher then Agger may play in his preferred central role. This would leave Liverpool, though, without a right full-back as Martin Kelly is also a doubt.
With important players like Gerrard and Torres both off with injury it is likely that Rafa will have no choice but to play David Ngog up front and Lucas Leiva in central midfield. These are two players who made no real dint in Lyon’s defence last time, and players who continually gain the manager criticism from both fans and the media.
All that matters in Benitez’ mind is the match tonight. With a slipping chance in the Premier League and debts to pay in America, he needs to show that not only is he gaining success somewhere and coming close to winning trophies but that he is also getting the money that qualifying for the knock out rounds in the Champions League will bring. We can expect that, if Liverpool don’t at least take an increasingly unlikely point away from the team at the top of the table, even Rafa’s disjointed bosses may see fit to find a replacement.
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