Wise after Lille – OL (1-1): “An unworthy first half”

Pierre Sage, coach of the OL (Photo by FRED TANNEAU / AFP)

Satisfied with the reaction of his players in the second half, Pierre Sage couldn't take his eyes off OL's face in the first half against Lille (1-1). “Unacceptable”, according to the Lyon coach.

We're almost used to it now, but the half-time speech once again bore fruit in the ranks of theOL with this draw snatched at the end of the match (1-1). Corentin Tolisso conceded, the Lyon players and the staff said things to each other during the break and there was quite a bit to say. After 45 minutes of play, OL only returned to the locker room with only one goal behind and we are still wondering how. Same Peter Sage who admits that “Lille's only mistake in the first half was to leave us alive”.

It must be said that with two amounts affected by Meunier (13e) et Angel Gomes (32nd), LOSC could have widened the gap from the first act and put the heads under water of the Lyonnais who had almost decided to do it themselves. “I find our first half unacceptable. We completely abandoned ourselves, we were clearly unworthy of being Olympique Lyonnais. There was no intensity, no mentality in playing this match to be competitive.”

“I found my typical eleven in second grade, not in first grade”

This draw in Lille at least had the merit of supporting Pierre Sage's philosophy on the fact that a typical eleven did not necessarily emerge before the match. In the space of a fifteen-minute half-time break, the face of OL was transformed and “yet they are the same ones who were on the field in the first year.” However, the coach's words resonated with his players who displayed a more attractive football and closer to that observed in recent times. “What I told them at half-time was that I didn’t care about the score, sorry, I’m speaking badly, but I wanted OL on the pitch because they weren’t our team.”

The frustration of not leaving with the three points was almost present in the Rhone ranks at the end of the 90 minutes and this second act of Lyon domination. But with each having their own half, LOSC and OL parted ways as good friends.