OL (3-4): the top and flop of Nicolas Puydebois

Mama Baldé, scorer during Lille – OL, with Clinton Mata. (Photo by FRANCOIS LO PRESTI / AFP)

As usual, OL won following a stunning scenario against Lille (3-4). The Lyon club was once again able to count on the entry of its supersubs. Discover the tops and flops of Nicolas Puydebois.

Top: Mama Baldé decisive again

As in front of Toulouse, Brest, Or Monacoone should not be heartbroken during the meeting between theOL At LOSC (3-4). Not to change, the Rhone club kept the suspense going until the 82nd minute of play thanks to a flamboyant entry from Mama Balde (79ᵉ). Like his decisive performance against the FC Nantes (passer on the 3-1 in the 90+7th minute), the 28-year-old striker brought to the Lyonnais the character and impact that they had been lacking since the start of the match.

Decisive passer on Malick’s equalizer Fofana (82ᵉ) and subsequently scorer for the release of the‘OL in the “money time” (90+2nd), Mama Balde logically appears in Nicolas’s top Puydebois ” Today he is the supersub. This (Monday) evening, it’s this player that I want to highlight. His status as a substitute is not easy and yet when he returns, he is defiant, he accelerates. Thanks to its boost, theOL makes the difference“, underlined our consultant in the post-match debrief on the set of “Tant que il y sera des Gones”.

Flops: Matic, Nuamah in difficulty and a defense still too timid

Who says stunning success, also says a lot of failures in Lyon’s game on Monday evening. Like Nemanja Matic which turned out “very disappointing. He lost a lot of balls (74% of successful passes at the break, his worst total with OL) and demonstrated a major lack of technical mastery. This is quite surprising, because he usually uses the ball very well. But this (Monday) evening, he cost us a goal by delivering a faulty pass towards Caleta-Car“said Nicolas Puydebois on the set of TKYDG.

The Serbian midfielder was not the only one to miss his performance. His teammate Ernest Nuamah also still lacked effectiveness. “He was absent from the debates, he lost too many duels throughout the match. His runs did not frighten the Lille defenders“, regretted our consultant. Despite an important victory which pushed the Rhone club up the standings to 7th place (two points behind Lens, sixth), Pierre’s players Wise have once again fallen back into their faults.

With three goals conceded during this meeting, the Lyon rearguard once again proved too feverish (54 goals conceded this season). For Nicholas Puydebois, the strategy of relying on an efficient attack to return to matches cannot last forever. “We are too permeable in the set-piece phases. Fortunately we have a fire attack, which turns out to be realistic every time when we come back from very far away. But you have to be able to count on the whole team, we can’t always afford to concede so many goals per match.”