“We were unworthy of being Olympique Lyonnais”, Pierre Sage very critical of the “unworthy” first period of his players

Moved in the first period by Lille this Friday for the 10th day of Ligue 1, the OL players received a blow from their coach Pierre Sage, who did not at all appreciate the first 45 minutes of his team .

Doctor Olympic and Mister Lyonnais. After a two-sided match, OL finally snatched a draw this Friday on the Lille pitch during the 10th day of Ligue 1. Punished by a goal from Jonathan David, the Gones could have collapsed in the first act and came out with just one goal behind at the break. Lyon's performance during the 45 minutes hardly pleased coach Pierre Sage, who was very critical of his team.

“I find our first half unacceptable. We completely abandoned ourselves,” he conceded at the microphone of DAZN. “We were unworthy of being Olympique Lyonnais. There was no intensity, no mentality to play this match to be competitive. The mistake Lille made was to leave us alive. Halfway through time, I told them that I didn't care about the score I wanted to see OL on the field. It wasn't our team. Our pressing was poorly coordinated. The best news was that. “We're only down 1-0 at the break.”

>> Relive Lille-OL (1-1)

Sage remains a good player on the disallowed goal at Maitland-Niles

If OL are still progressing slowly after a defeat against Besiktas (1-0) in the Europa League and a draw against Auxerre in the championship, they found the resources to reverse the trend against the Mastiffs and got to the end of the suspense a deserved point given the match thanks to Malick Fofana's equalizer at the start of added time. But the second act was especially marked by the goal refused to Maitland-Niles for an offside by Niakhaté.

“For me, with VAR, we have a meeting with the truth. From the moment we have this tool, we must trust the refereeing body, even if it is hard at the moment,” added Pierre Sage . “Some decisions are favorable to us, others, like these, which do not go in the right direction. It's fairer. The referee was very transparent with me at the end of the match. He told me says that from the moment there is contact with the goalkeeper, he can consider it to be offside.

Happy with the reaction of his players – “the sign of teams that are doing well” – who went for a point away from home, the Lyon coach “remains focused” on future objectives. Provisionally 5th in Ligue 1 before the weekend's matches, OL continues its marathon with a new trip to Hoffenheim in the Europa League on Thursday (9 p.m.), but above all the return of the derby at Groupama Stadium against AS Saint-Étienne on November 10 (8:45 p.m.).