Girondins Update

Olympique Lyonnais 0-0 Girondins Bordeaux

I am flumoxed. I stayed up to watch this game last night (conveniantly following the Super Bowl) on channel 4 and I can't believe not only that Bordeaux are second, but that they arn't bottom of the league. They are the most negative, one dimensional, boring team I have ever had the pleasure of watching. How they managed this incredible result is beyond me as Lyon absolutely wiped the floor with Bordeaux who blatently came looking for a draw, so blatent was it that they did not even register one shot on target. Bordeaux's main strength seems to lie in the fact that they are so damn negative that they can kill any game dead. Lyon were simply unable to play the fast flowing attacking football that has made them so deadly whilst bordeaux just sort of... well... bored the arse off of whoever had the ball so they just kicked it out of play or fell over or something. Honestly, I have seen them 6 times now; 3 times in the flesh and 3 times on tv (2 tv games away at Lyon...) and I have seen 4 draws and 2 defeats. I used put it down to the idea that European football has always been played at a slower pace and that I was just not used to the differences in the game however I am now convinced that it is an atribute exclusive to Bordeaux. They never looked like scoring last night, in fact they never looked like they wanted to score, they went simply to ruin Lyons game plan and to take a point. Job done then, but little in evidence to show they won't be destroyed in next years Champions League.

Don't get me wrong, it was a stunning hard fought result and Bordeaux did remember to play a little bit of football in the last five minutes. The Lyon result really does show how far Les Bordelais have come since they were humiliated 5-1 at Gerland last season and whilst you struggle to see where they will get their goals from they never look like conceding either. With regards to the race for European qualification it was almost as good as a victory last night, but for a football purist (like myself) there is something slightly upseting about Bordeaux's approach to football. That said they are second in the league after nearly getting relegated last year so it seem very unfair to complain after such a fantastic result.