At OL Park,
“So far it’s pretty good, it’s better than last year. » Corentin “obvious” Tolisso struck on Sunday evening when commenting on the arrival in the Top 5 of Ligue 1 of Olympique Lyonnais. A year ago to the day, after 11 days of championship there too, Alexandre Lacazette's gang had still not won a single match and they were dying as the red lanterns promised to Ligue 2. You know the continuation of this Lyon-style blockbuster: the unknown Pierre Sage will succeed an out-of-touch Fabio Grosso, and he will little by little breathe new life into OL, to the point of qualifying the club for the Europa League (6th).
But after this derby won (1-0) with panache then suffering on Sunday (1-0), what importance should be given to this symbolic Top 5 in which OL is installed, instead of OGC Nice? A priori not much you will answer us, 23 days before the end of the championship, and 11 points behind PSG. And yet, as the Stats Foot account on
One (undeserved) defeat in the last ten matches
This means that for more than two years and 75 consecutive days of Ligue 1, the Lyonnais were out of the race for the Champions League, despite their vital objective every summer. A quick look at the composition of the fine team of 09/11/22 is necessary. Under the orders of Peter Bosz, we found for this defeat (2-1) in Monaco Thiago Mendes, Karl Toko Ekambi, but also Tetê, Romain Faivre and Jeff Reine-Adélaïde. Enough to give us a serious indication as to the longevity of this dark series on the Lyon side.
Have OL rebuilt sufficiently so that this Top 5 is not just a one shot ? Let's say that recent results reveal real consistency under Pierre Sage: there has only been one defeat in the last ten official matches for Lyonnais, and it was in addition to a robbery of Besiktas in the Europa League, after a convincing performance from OL but without a finish (0-1). That said, Pierre Sage is well aware that there were only two correct halves out of four during the week: the second at Hoffenheim (2-2) but especially the first on Sunday.
“We only play half-time, it’s a bit disappointing”
“We have to change the half-time which is not good,” notes the Lyon coach. To keep the performances going, we have to take care of our game, which we have to stabilize. This evening, in the offensive initiative, we were much less consistent after the break and we fell back. We fell back into our mistakes. There was a very measured joy in the locker room at the end of the derby because we scared each other. » In 4-3-3, in 4-2-3-1 with the entry of Ernest Nuamah in the 65th, then again in 4-3-3, Pierre Sage's observation was generally the same.
“Our offensive play was broken up in the second half and we were no longer able to defend while moving forward,” he regrets. As for captain Alexandre Lacazette, scorer of his first goal of the season at home, there were not a thousand explanations for this generalized lights-out halfway through: “As is often the case, we only play one half-time, it's a bit disappointing. We don't get into our halftimes well, I don't know why. Maybe we were afraid of conceding a goal.”
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“It’s up to us to aim even higher”
The electric dimension of the derby nevertheless gave the impression of transcending OL at home during almost the entire first act. “It was complicated in the second half but unlike the Hoffenheim match, this time we managed to hold on in difficult moments,” explains Corentin Tolisso. It shows that we have a group with character and personality. »
Our file on OL
And obviously ambition, with Alexandre Lacazette very present on the file, while Monaco (2nd) is five points behind, Marseille (3rd) two lengths and Lille (4) one point away. “It’s good but we can do even better,” insists the former Gunner. We must not be satisfied with this 5th place. It’s up to us to aim even higher. » Be careful, having openly announced that they would play for the title this summer is no longer a real success for Marseille.
