Pierre Sage during Pontarlier – OL (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP)
Pierre Sage delivered the outlines of his speech at half-time against Reims on Saturday (1-1). He also made his self-criticism on the last point mentioned in the locker room.
Quite quickly after the start of the second period against Reims, we noticed that something was wrong on OL's side. Far from showing the same face as during the first 45 minutes, which they largely dominated, the players on the contrary seemed lost, no longer able to win the second balls or find themselves.
“VObviously, I wasn't insistent enough“
As a result of this absence of around fifteen minutes, the Rhone club lost two points, caught up by the reinvigorated Rémois (1-1). However, Pierre Sage had warned his men about this return from the locker room. “For the third point, I urged them to continue playing, but obviously I was not insistent enough on this subject, he admitted. At least for the first quarter of an hour.”
Difficult to prove him wrong on this aspect. It is also a shame that it was the Champagne equalizer that woke up Alexandre's teammates Lacazette. Before this speech on the state of mind, the 45-year-old coach had raised two tactical problems. “The first on the right side pressing, where Ernest Nuamah couldn't get out on the central defender because they restarted with three, he deciphered. We weren't moving far enough behind. Then I talked about ball releases, since we weren't creating passing lines when Ainsley Maitland-Niles had possession, which made us move backwards rather than around them.”
