Lyon Ease To Grenoble Victory

There was nothing spectacular about Lyon’s 2-0 victory over Grenoble at the Stade Gerland on Saturday evening aside from the ease at which the home side won. A first half spent in complete control of proceedings saw Makoun and Benzema fire the home side into a comfortable lead, allowing them to coast throughout the second period.An efficient first half performance set the bedrock for Lyon’s victory. Claude Puel had set his side out in a very attacking manner - Piquionne and Benzema were paired in attack while defensive midfielder Jérémy Toulalan was relegated to the bench – and it took only five minutes for Lyon to reap the rewards.Kim Källström had flourished in midweek as Sweden faced France, he would continue such form against Grenoble. It was his early corner that was met by Jean II Makoun, who had managed to find himself in a vast clearing in the penalty box to thump a header into the net. With such a wealth of experience in their defence, Grenoble should really have avoided losing such a soft set-play goal.The tone for the early part of the match was set as Lyon piled forward. Piquionne was denied a penalty kick only minutes after the goal before Wimbée kept his side in the match by producing a fine save from Piquionne, who had burst onto an intelligent Källström pass.GF38 did manage to lull the Lyon tempest for five minutes but were soon forced onto the back foot again, defending with desperation on several occasions. Juninho and Piquionne both had efforts on Wimbée’s goal before an inevitable second followed. A quick piece of thinking allowed Karim Benzema to fire Lyon two ahead as the visiting defence was again caught lacking in concentration from a free-kick.With the game won in the first half, it was a noticeably less aggressive Lyon side that emerged after the break. Passes were played with less urgency as Puel’s side were happy to keep control of the ball and play with a patient approach, waiting until Grenoble made errors.It would take over 20 minutes of second half play for a moment of real note. Slack play again from the visiting defence allowed Benzema to steam in and shoot on goal, however, the young forward’s effort was far from his best and Wimbée dealt with it rather easily. A Juninho free-kick sent tamely into the wall rather summed up a lacklustre second half performance from les Gones. But, given their first half display, it did not need to be any better as the defence was easily coping with the minimal threat the Grenoble were providing.Puel threw on youngsters Mounier and Pjanic in order to inject some urgency but Lyon were reluctant to move through the gears at such a late stage in the match. Makoun did have a header blocked on the line by Wimbée following an Ederson corner but, quite simply, the match was over and both sides were playing out time.OLYMPIQUE LYON 2–0 GRENOBLE FOOT381-0 Jean II Makoun 5’2-0 Karim Benzema 36’Lyon: Lloris; Réveillère, Grosso, Cris, Bodmer; Makoun, Juninho (Mounier, 75’), Källström (Toulalan, 61’), Ederson; Benzema (Pjanic, 83’), PiquionneYellow cards: Källström 41’, Piquionne 45’Grenoble: Wimbée; Flachez, Robin, Mainfroi (Jemmali, 82’), Vitakic; Batlles, Romao, Feghouli, Dimitrijevic (Courtois, 46’); Akrour (Dja Djedje, ’60), MoreiraYellow cards: Batlles 26’, Dimitrijevic 37’