The flops
Stubbornness in follow-ups
Liam Rosenior has always hammered it home. The day his team concede a goal because they want to restart cleanly from their surface, he will take responsibility. So it happened on this Sunday, October 6, at the last minute of regulation time of the first period. So at the worst time.
The Lensois had perfectly crisscrossed the surroundings of the Strasbourg area. Petrovic served Doukouré in the center. Andy Diouf was, however, on the lookout. The Strasbourg recovery environment was not the most prompt either. Borrowed, he saw the Lensois steal the ball from his feet to beat Petrovic from close range. It’s probably easy to say in hindsight, but at times, you have to know how to deny your principles. Racing did not deprive itself of it the closer we got to the end of the debates.
High pressing has its limits
The almost one-on-one pressing right into the opposing area worked wonderfully a week earlier against Marseille. But Lens displayed much better arguments than the Olympians, playing fairer from its bases. And once this first pressing is annihilated, the danger is immediate. The Strasbourg residents noticed this during a good part of the first period. They could have paid much more for it, even before being caught in their own game on the second Lensois goal.
The tops
Sylla’s aerial presence
Abakar Sylla is not his first attempt. The Ivorian international hopeful scored his 5th against Lense goal under the Strasbourg colors in just over a season. It’s not the first one in the head either. In this case, the Nanasi-Sylla duo maneuvered perfectly. From a corner, the first placed the ball on the head of the second. The latter still had to make a sharp call at the near post before distilling a perfect cross header to extend the run of the ball to the far post, lobbing a helpless Brice Samba.
The will of youth
Quite tossed around in the first period, most often deprived of ammunition, the young Strasbourg players could have given up. Instead, they came back twice. In the first half with almost clinical realism, on one of their rare opportunities. After the rest, managing to dictate their law for the time it takes to Lensois suddenly less sovereign.
If salvation came from a penalty, it was the Blues who forced destiny. Against a very good Lensoise team, it was meritorious. Racing then showed the same character, the same gnacity to preserve the point which, ultimately, made them happy.
