Despite generally good content, OL have just gone three games without a victory. Before the break, he intends to show that he has learned from his last unsuccessful outings.
It's a funny paradox. OL remain, before traveling to Hoffenheim this Thursday (9 p.m.), in three matches without a victory. After five wins in a row, he lost to Besiktas (0-1), then followed by two draws in Ligue 1 against Auxerre (2-2) and Lille (1-1). However, with the exception of the missed first period in the North, the game has not been so much at the heart of the debates in recent days.
Indeed, it is not the content that has been singled out. Other reasons, mainly efficiency, have been put forward to explain this lack of success. “We tend to associate performance with results and I don't have that conviction, supported Pierre Sage. In the five games we won, the five were not perfect in the game like in Toulouse (1-2). Conversely, in those we didn't win like Besiktas, the performance lived up to our expectations. There is a gap to fill. The idea is to play well, but also to win, because we are an ambitious team. Football is made of quality play, but also a notion which is that of finishing, and when it is absent, no matter how well we play, the counter does not tick.”
OL will need time
Olympique Lyonnais now have two outings to focus on before the break, in the Europa League on November 7, then in the championship with the inevitable derby against Saint-Etienne on Sunday. On these two posters, he hopes to show that he has learned from recent disappointments. “We made mistakes which are both very surprising and which I also consider unusual, observed the Rhone coach. In any case, this means that everything is not perfect yet and that we need time and matches to establish all these positive things and bring them into different playing contexts.”
Not everything is perfect, which seems quite logical. The good series between September and October should not obscure the fact that this team is still convalescing. There will inevitably be times of less good times, and the current period is not overly worrying, for the moment. “It's up to us to get back into this situation, when everything was going well and we managed to multiply our successes. To do this, you have to work, try to improve what has worked less well. We must be more demanding, rated Clinton Eye. I think it's a package, defensively and offensively. There's not really anything special to do, it's just up to us to put the right ingredients in, like in Lille after the break, where we saw Lyon before Besiktas.”
Finding consistency in a match, and more
In addition to efficiency, a problem more cyclical than structural, OL surprised, in the bad sense of the word, during their first period against Lille. Another problem that the staff tried to resolve this week. “From the end of the game, we raised a lot of questions and we tried to answer them by making some changes ahead of the match, in the organization of things and in the match eve session, by lightening certain points, detailed Pierre Sage. Once again, we are not calling everything into question, because we have also started very well on other posters. We'll see tomorrow (THURSDAY) if there are positive effects.“
The challenge today for Corentin's teammates Tolisso is to maintain a level of consistency over 90 minutes, while adding goals if possible. Achieving this over time would be a sweet dream that is still distant, but doing it over two, three, or even four successive outings would already be a very good start. “The contrast between the two halves takes us back to our worst nightmares, but also to our most beautiful dreams. We must now bring together the ingredients that led us to produce our second period and ensure that these things last in a confrontation, then in the sequence of these“, explained the 45-year-old coach. If he succeeds in this mission, then Olympique Lyonnais will have taken a big step towards a return to the forefront.
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