Dominant but ineffective, Lille conceded its second consecutive defeat in the championship by losing Friday to Saint-Etienne (1-0) on a goal from Mathieu Cafaro scored at the start of the match counting for the 4th day of Ligue 1.
While waiting for the other matches of the weekend, Losc, already beaten by Paris Saint-Germain (3-1) just before the international break and which has just started with this trip to the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium on a marathon series of six matches in 23 days before the next break, falls back one place, to 7th place in the ranking, overtaken by Le Havre in the number of goals scored.
“Tonight, the match we played was shameful, I am ashamed of what we offered,” declared Lille president Olivier Létang.
“I’m going to talk about the commitment. I have to congratulate Saint-Etienne who were committed. Their victory was deserved and we could have conceded a second goal,” admitted the Lille manager.
For its part, ASSE, which won for the first time this season after three defeats at the start, took its first three points and moved up to 15th place, opening its goal tally in the process thanks to Cafaro, who scored with a shot into the top corner after a cross delivered from the right wing by Zuriko Davitashvili in the 6th minute.
“We are building a team. It takes time,” commented Loire coach Olivier Dall’Oglio. “I know some are very impatient. We will have to wait a little bit. But I am hopeful of having a real collective and of being able to fight in each match as we did tonight (Friday) against Lille.”
With more than 70% possession of the ball, the Northerners, who will play Tuesday in Lisbon against Sporting Portugal for the first day of the Champions League, had control of the match which they clearly dominated but did not show themselves to be realistic despite a few clear chances.
– Zhegrova trouve la barre –
Rémy Cabella, ex-Stéphanois, was very dangerous near the goal of Gautier Larsonneur who, on the corner that followed, made a great save on a header from Benjamin André (14th). Edon Zhegrova hit the bar (34th).
In the second half, Lille, handicapped by the absence of several players, notably midfielders (Bentaleb, Haraldsson, Mukau, Ethan Mbappé), were even more pressing against a Saint-Etienne team grouped in defense and proceeding on the counterattack.
The entry into play of Jonathan David, Angel Gomes or Osame Sahraoui at the hour mark (57th) confirmed the pressure of Lille on the Greens after half-time but without any more success, like a shot from David, although well placed in front of Larsonneur, going wide (75th). The Loire goalkeeper was again decisive against Mitchel Bakker at the end of the match (84th).
For their part, the Stéphanois had several opportunities to double the lead, notably through Cafaro, on an attempt pushed back by Lucas Chevalier into the feet of the Belgian Lucas Stassin, who shot over (19th).
Saint-Etienne’s only goal scorer also forced Chevalier into a difficult save just before half-time (45th) while the Losc goalkeeper also got in front of Davitashvili (25th).
On a ball lost by Diakité, Stassin again found himself alone in front of Chevalier but the Lille goalkeeper won his duel with the Belgian Espoir international (72nd) while Davitashvili narrowly missed the target in added time (90+2).
After three worrying outings, the Greens, back in Ligue 1 after two years of purgatory in the lower tier, this time displayed great discipline and defensive solidarity to snatch their first success, important in the fight for survival, the objective displayed by the new owners, the Canadian group Kilmer.
fjt/hpa
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