Olympique Lyonnais: The Lyons Will Leap Again

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After a spectacular start to our season, we had another important month ahead of ourselves, with the league action heating up and the Europa League Group Stage games getting underway. In fact, we had one big game coming up, one which would mean so much to the fans, a derby encounter with AS Saint-Etienne.

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Our first game this month was against OGC Nice in Ligue 1. We turned in yet another fantastic attacking display, with the outcome a 5-2 result in our favour. The hosts did take a shock lead early into the game but we soon hit back with goals on our end coming from Jimmy Briand, Alexandre Lacazette, two from Yoann Gourcuff with won via the penalty spot and Tom Ince.

The next match was another league fixture, this time against Stade Malherbe Caen. Yet again though we were dominant throughout, cruising to a 4-1 win. It could have been all so different with Maxime Gonalons red card reducing us to 10 men inside 20 minutes, but despite our disadvantage we still managed to rise above our opponents. Samuel Umtiti found the net first, with Tom Ince, Milan Bisevac and Alexandre Lacaztte adding to the lead later on with the visitors getting a consolation towards the end of the 90 minutes.

We were in European action, afterwards, with our first game of the Europa League Group Stage coming with a trip to Slovan Liberec. Although we were comfortable within the game, it would have been expected that we win by a bigger margin, with a 2-0 victory all we could muster. Goals came courtesy of Alexandre Lacazette and Yassine Benzia, and it was still a good three points to get regardless of the score line. There was still bad news to come out of the game though with Lacazette sustaining an injury and thus ruling him out for the next two games.

The loss of Lacazette proved to be a massive blow in our return to the league, against Montpellier. We were able to create plenty of opportunities, but without our star man we lacked the cutting edge to tuck away these chances. The game eventually finished scoreless, however considering our opponents are still a good side and we were playing away this was still a fairly good results. Our winning streak does end, but our unbeaten run continues.

Undoubtedly the biggest game of the month was thereafter, the derby game, against AS Saint-Etienne. Once again, Lacazette was unavailable through injury, but thankfully we still had enough about ourselves here to come away with a 2-1 win. A Clement Grenier goal and an own goal from Moustapha Bayal own goal gave our fans the bragging rights, while shaming Les Verts.

Finally, to conclude September, we were up against SC Bastia. With the return of Alexandre Lacazette, the side was definitely given a boost for the Ligue 1 fixture, and once again he proved his class as well as how much we really did miss him. Yes, Alexandre Lacazette found the net, as did Yoann Gourcuff to help us to a 2-1 victory.

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Just as after the end of August, we are top dogs in the league at the moment, leading the pack at 1st place. As expected, Paris Saint Germain have climbed towards the top of the table, currently trailing us in by just two points in 2nd place.

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Even with him missing two games in the month through injury, Alexandre Lacazette still claims the Player of the Month award for September. 4 goals in 4 games once again once again highlights his clinical ability in front of goal, if anyone else needed convincing yet. The first game without him was a 0-0 draw, and as soon as he returned he was back to score a goal, just showing what a key player to our side he is. He is key to the future at the club and especially any glory we are to have this season, will all rely on this man.

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So, the run continues, we remain unbeaten in all competitions. We could have still been on a winning streak, but the loss of Alexandre Lacazette against Montpellier was what cost us, with the side clearly lacking his goal scoring talent in that 0-0 draw. Nonetheless, he was still on fire once again and the team is also in a strong position as we close the month. PSG are hot on our tails in the league, but I am confident we can stay strong at the top of the league, as well as compete at a high level in the Europa League.

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You're creaming it!! Let's hope you can keep this super form up!

Great.

Beautiful updates as always mate along with great results! Great stuff!

Aaron: Thanks, that's what I am aiming to do

Pauker: ermahgerd another Pauker comment

MCox93: Cheers buddy, appreciate it!

Haha you amateur you drew a match

What a start! Lacazette seems to be on great form.

That goal difference!

^ I love this guy's username!

Neal: Nealeo, just shut up

Purple Bananaa: Thanks man

Justice: Ikr, it's class

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Olympique Lyonnais’ French star Clement Grenier has admitted that he is very encouraged with the club’s start to the season and believes their early form can set the tone for the rest of the campaign.

Les Gones have got off to an unbeaten start in the new 2014/15 campaign and currently lead the pack in Ligue 1 too, top of the table with 22 points, after 8 games. They have won 7 of these games, drawing the other but most impressively have accumulated a goal difference of +16 as well as plaudits for their attacking ability.

The sudden upturn in form for the club and new revolution is currently being overseen by new manager Juninho, with the Brazilian in his first ever managerial position at a club he was so loved at as a player. The 38 year old has deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation which so far has been highly effective and just one of the reasons the side has found success.

As for the attacking play there is one player in particular who is at the front of it all, and this is the club’s undoubted star player, Alexandre Lacazette. Despite having a two game spell out due to injury, the 22 year old has 15 bagged goals, during 11 games. This also takes into account the Europa League, with Lyon currently topping their group.

Lacazette may be the man stealing all the headlines, but there are also many other players who have made a big impact in the games played so far. One of them, is attacking midfielder Clement Grenier, subject of much transfer talk in the summer. The club did managed to keep hold of him however, and he has been proving his worth to the fans at the Stade de Gerland already, as we come to the end of September.

Speaking to Canal+, the 22 year old academy product told reporters the following: ”The start to the season has been really encouraging, an unbeaten run heading into November, is a good achievement which the whole team can be proud of. It offers us a very good foundation for success in the rest of the season, and is something we can definitely build on from.

Obviously with the new manager, coming on, things would have to change around here and our performances were in real need of improving for the new season. I think, we have done just that, we have really stepped up our performances and look like a much stronger outfit. The 4-2-3-1 formation is a system I really like playing in, and I’m sure my team mates will agree. It gives the attacking players a lot of freedom and once more, the proof is in the pudding, with our attacking displays proving how effective Juninho’s methods have been.

We can be champions this season. We have the ability to, we have that confidence, so I ask the question, what is stopping us? We are not to underestimate other sides around us, there are some very good teams in this league but we have the right mind-set as well as the talent which I have spoken about, to pull through. There is a great team spirit here, great chemistry between us all and in general we are all just very excited and encouraged about this season.

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Absolutely love your graphics! And good to see Grenier getting confident, mustn't get complacent though

pokarioboy: Cheers man, appreciate it! Don't worry, he's not getting complacent, we really are good enough to at the very least challenge strongly for the title. At least that's what I think anyway

Grenier is a brilliant player, glad to see he's doing well for you

Neal: He sure is! Thank you

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Looking at the fixture list this could be seen as one of the easier months of the year, however with the problems of competitive seasons really starting to kick in, this would still be tough nonetheless. With Paris Saint Germain hot on our tails in the league and European football to contend with too, keeping our unbeaten run intact would be another challenge that lay ahead.

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Our first game of the month was a Europa League encounter with Hadjuk Split. We put in a good performance however considering we were playing at home I would have liked to have won by a bigger margin, the final score being 2-1. Arnold Mvuemba and Yoann Gourucff were the players to get on the score sheet, although plenty more players could have got themselves on their too.

We returned to league action next, FC Lorient our opponents, for the first league game of the month. Once again we put in a strong attacking display storming to a 3-0 win and three fairly routine points. Gael Danic, Jimmy Briand and Clement Grenier found the net, with our top goal scorer Alexandre Lacazette failing to score as these three did, for the second game running.

Following this we had another league fixture, this time away from home, against Evian TG FC. The game proved to be a tough one, with the hosts resilient defending a real problem, and we were finding it hard to break them down. But eventually we did wrap up the win, but it wasn’t until late on. Tom Ince broke the deadlock with 20 minutes to play and Alexandre Lacazette returned to scoring ways with just moments left to grab a 2-0 triumph.

A journey to Romania was next on the agenda as our European adventure in the Europa League continued with another group stage game, against CFR Cluj. For the first time this season, we were not the dominant side in the game and have goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa to thank for not conceding. The Mexican was incredible throughout, making some fine stops. Then, just when we needed it our star man Alexandre Lacazette popped up with a goal we so desperately needed, and we somehow walked away with a 1-0 win.

Our final game of October was on the road once again, but this time at least we were staying in France, with a trip to play Guingamp in the league. The game was fairly drab, in all honest, but thankfully we put to bed two of the few chances we created. Captian Maxime Gonalons hammered home the opener with Tom Ince scoring later on, as we maintained our unbeaten run so far this season, and ensured we had won every single game in October too.

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As another month comes to an end, yet again we are in the commanding position in the league, 1st place. But, Paris Saint Germain are keeping up with the pace well and just like us are still unbeaten, and sit in 2nd trailing us by 2 points. In the Europa League, we are 1st in our group too, and are quite some distance above 3rd place so like almost certain to qualify already.

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Wait, what? Am I reading this correctly? Alexandre Lacazette did NOT win the Player of the Month award?!?! Nope, Tom Ince is the victor of October with his performances on the wing a joy to watch over the course of the month. Unfortunatly Lacazette has not hit his usual goalscoring form recently and in turn Tom has really upped his game and been a real outlet on the right hand side. He has torn opposition defences to pieces and I look forward to him continuing this for the rest of the season, at least I hope he can!

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Another great month from my players as the unbeaten run continues and we win all of our games. We are still on top in the league and in our Europa League group which is very pleasing, also giving me great confidence that we can strongly compete for silverware, especially the league title. Next month will be a huge challenge however, with a massive game against PSG coming, it should show me what level we really are at.

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