As against PSG or Brest, OL failed to do well on Saturday against Toulouse. With just one point taken, the Lyonnais once again missed an opportunity to move up the standings and put themselves in a comfortable position.
In the sad past week, they were content with that. Draw against Toulouse (0-0) was not necessarily the stated objective, but after the defeat at Brest and the elimination in the Coupe de France, the OL players welcomed this point in a different way than if this sharing of points had taken place in November. In the sporting crisis which has been affecting the club for a month now, the Lyonnais were above all keen to stop the bleeding. Just by listening to everyone's speeches after the match, OL preferred to see the glass half full rather than half empty to launch the second part of their season in Ligue 1. Nevertheless, the Rhone formation continues to tread water after having been a steamroller for more than two months.
With only four points taken in four league matches, OL do not have the record of a candidate for the Champions League. And that is the paradox of the situation. In their winter misfortune, Pierre Sage and its players are still far from being out of the race. When Clinton Eye admits not understanding the speech of recent weeks, “we have the impression that we are last, like last season”we can give the Angolan defender a point. Lyon's game is no longer what it was in October and November, but at the end of the 18th day of Ligue 1, OL remains in ambush. The podium is only three lengths away and the Champions League is two points away. For hard training for a month, the damage remains limited.
The crisis really?
However, on Saturday evening, there was even more of a feeling of frustration among the supporters. The latter logically expected a reaction of pride after leaving the road at Bourgoin. The players were able to put forward “a visible change of state of mind”in the game, the more than 42,000 spectators clearly did not experience the evening they hoped for. Was this the goal sought against Toulouse? Certainly not since OL sought to reassure themselves more than anything else, by doing simple things. Pierre Sage partly regretted it after the meeting, he who would have “liked more speed in the transmissions and perhaps more individual initiative” to undermine the Toulouse bloc.
We would have had to do more to take the three points and therefore do the right thing in the ranking. With this draw, OL continued to stagnate and were unable to regain their place in the top 5 of Ligue 1. Above all, they were unable to take advantage of the poor performances of Monaco et Nice the day before to get back on the podium and thus reassure themselves at least on an accounting level. “We already knew that last week, by winning, we would be back with the team that was third. There, we also knew that if we won, we would be back in Monaco and that we would be even closer to third place. So a little disappointed not to have won for this objective”admitted Corentin Tolisso.
-A psychological barrier to remove?
During this weekend, almost everything was done so that OL, failing to reassure themselves in the game, could enjoy a more than pleasant accounting situation in Ligue 1. Only, for the third time in a month, the Lyonnais failed to seize the opportunity. There was PSG, which seems to have been a real break, Brest last week and therefore Toulouse on Saturday evening. Three missed appointments with only one point taken and which could be expensive. Corentin Tolisso assures that he “There’s still time to go back up”by missing these opportunities, OL could well regret it.
Does this highlight a psychological barrier that players cannot overcome? The captain confided that “it’s a bit painful and lacking” to the team, but he believes in better days. With the end of the transfer window as was the case after the summer? A whole group hopes for it in order to resume its march forward. Even if Pierre Sage assures that on Saturday, the objective was elsewhere. “We had freed ourselves from the situation in the ranking. We wanted to shine the spotlight on ourselves more than on the others”. Moreover, as the coach so well reminded, “Last season, we qualified for one minute in the Europa League.” This was enough for Lyon's happiness. But will patience be the same this season?
