Europa League Match Thread - Tottenham V Lyon

At the request of Spurf, "bells & whistle productions" present the match thread for our upcoming game against Lyon, in the Europa League.

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Match Preview

Tottenham come into this game, on the back of a ten match unbeaten league run, with the from of Gareth Bale being key to the points gained, Bale is our only league scorer in our previous three league games, scoring goals of individual brilliance to ensure the good run under Villas Boas has continued.

The arrival of Holtby means Tottenham now have more options in midfield, in a creative sense, and his experience in the champions league with FC Schalke, will of course be key if Tottenham wish to progress.

Hugo Lloris, a summer arrival from Lyon will be facing his former club in fine form, having kept nine clean sheets in total and five in the ten match unbeaten run, however his fine form won't be of any surprise to Lyon, where he was a favourite and picked up awards for his performances in french football and the champions league.

With Defoe out injured, the return of Adebayor from the ACON and a warm up appearance against Newcastle, should ensure we still have an attacking threat, with many believing Adebayor offers more of an overall threat in the lone striker role, allowing Bale more freedom to roam and attack centrally.

Lyon FC come into this game sitting second in the french league, six points behind leaders PSG, and have had a dip in form since the new year, allowing them to fall slightly behind in the title race and also defeat in the french cup by third-tier minnows Épinal.

In their previous game against Lllie, they lost 3-1, yet having read the match report it appears they could have lost by a greater margin, yet it was only their second home loss of the season, meaning the return leg in Lyon is going to be a tough game considering their home record.

Their manager speaking after the game

Possibly we're facing Lyon at the right time, with their confidence taking a knock, the fine form of Bale and our defence providing a solid base to pick up points and over the two legs we appear to be slight favourites for this tie.

Did you know:

• Tottenham finished second in Group J behind Serie A outfit Lazio. The north London club took 10 points from its six games.
• Hugo Lloris made 195 appearances for Lyon during his four-year spell at the club before he departed to move to Tottenham in August.
• The north London club has won the UEFA Cup twice - during its inaugural season in 1972 and in 1984.
• Lyon won Group I in impressive fashion - taking 16 points out of a possible 18 - nine more than second-placed Sparta Prague.
• Ex-Spurs midfielder Steed Malbranque has scored twice in 16 appearances since he joined Lyon last summer.
• Bafetimbi Gomis has netted twice in three Europa League games so far this season, and has been linked with a move to a host of Premier League sides.

Back In Time (provided by THFC6061):

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http://www.myfootballfacts.com/index.html

Previous Meeting:

[video=youtube_share;YCqjSIjPCx8]http://youtu.be/YCqjSIjPCx8[/video]

I apologise on behalf of the creator of the above video for his moment of madness in adding music to the highlights so you may wish to press mute....unless "eye of the tiger" is your type of thing!


*written by Boss, not Spurf

 

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Tottenham Hotspur in Europe 1961-62 to 2012-13

Every European game played by Spurs from the European Cup in 1961-62 to the UEFA Europa League in 2012-13....

http://www.myfootballfacts.com/TottenhamHotspurinEurope1961-62to2010-11.html



Tottenham Hotspur European Goalscorers & Appearances 1961-62 to 2012-13

Tottenham Hotspur's European goalscorers together with a list of games played by Spurs players in Europe

http://www.myfootballfacts.com/TottenhamHotspurEuropeanGoalscorers1961-62to2008-09.html

 

Gomis and Briand are their striker's and of course they have ex-Spurs Malbranque in the side,that's all i know,which is not a lot of help!

 

Its in France and their fans are probably annoyed that we have their old goalkeeper.

Remember watching them a few years ago in the Champions League, Lopez and Gomis were class acts then, Cissoko stood out for me too, and obviously Malbranque played for us. Wasn't Yoann Gourcuff bullied at the 2010 WC?

 

I wondered where Steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed ended up

 

I don't follow the French league but the last I saw they were joint top of the league with big spending PSG so they must be doing pretty well. We were linked with Gomis and Lopez in the January window too, weren't we? I'm looking forward to the tie, I expect it to be a really good couple of games and it's the kind of tie we want to be playing in Europe. No disrespect to the more obscure sides but you don't really get the same feeling when your side is lining up against the second biggest Albanian side, or whatever.

 

Lyon aren't the same powerhouse as they were 3-4 years ago.

Their financial troubles have seen them sell a few star assets over the years - Benzema, Ben Arfa, Lloris and yet there's still talk of a possible fire sale around the corner, hence our supposed bid of €8m for Lisandro Lopez in January - which was knocked back.

Lopez is one of their key players, along with Gomis and Gonalons, Jimmy Briand is another decent player on his, has a great amount of pace. They also have a familiar face to us Spurs lads - Steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed Malbranque.

In my opinion, our first team is far more talented than what Lyon have to offer nowadays and we SHOULD progress through to the next round, a win at home and draw away in my opinion.

 

Malbranque used to play for us, Grenier is great on that barometer of a player's true quality Football Manager, we were linked with Cissokho a couple of seasons ago but stuck with Benny, Reveillere is permanently linked with moves to Arsenal or Newcastle, Lovren is a pretty tidy defender from what I've seen of him, Bastos is a threat...but on loan, and Gionalons' name always makes me laugh whenever the commentator says it.

 

Didn't everton use that as their scouting system?

..as for Lyon, french football isn't appealing to watch as a league so I can't comment on their team but as YV says, this is going to be an exciting game, as Lyon have pedigree in Europe and are a big club and this is now where it gets serious!

 

If Steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed is in their starting 11 then that probably gives some indication of the two teams relative strengths. No offence to an Old Boy who did a job for us, but he wouldn't make our first team these days.

But that aid, I have a feeling that we might still struggle to get through.

 

THFC will not be doing a match thread for the Lyon games so if somebody would like to do one you are free to use the links supplied by THFC.

Boss?

 

I think notso is the man for europa league match threads although if he isnt about then i can do one tomorrow after work.

 

.

 

Lyon are a decent team on FIFA if that's anything to go by

Gomis is a good player up front as well as Lopez.

 

You mean this isn't one?

 

Arsenal were using Pro Evo 6 about three years too late, judging by their signing of Nasri, Park Chu-young and Podolski.

 

It is now!

 

Is it? I was hoping you or notso were going to produce one with whistles and bells.

 

bells and whitsles are on standby yet when i log in tomorrow and see this as a match thread ( or if notso wakes up)... ill send them to the recycle bin ha

 

and they also make a wicked cup a tea.