Sunday evening, OL won the derby against Saint-Etienne thanks to a goal from Alexandre Lacazette (1-0). But in the second half, Pierre Sage’s team had big scares.
In recent weeks, Olympique Lyonnais supporters have experienced difficult scenarios. Against Marseille of course, with the goal scored by OM in added time but also against Besiktas, Auxerre or Hoffenheim. Each time, Pierre Sage’s players conceded goals in the second half, letting valuable points slip away. The scenario could have repeated itself this Sunday against Saint-Etienne. In front at half-time, OL had produced a convincing first act with total domination. But after the break, Alexandre Lacazette’s teammates transformed, leaving the ball to the ASSE players and completely releasing their domination of the match. Without two saves from Lucas Perri, Les Gones could have suffered further disappointment. The joy was therefore very measured in the OL locker room after the victory, as Pierre Sage revealed on Free.
No euphoria in the OL locker room after the derby
“The players are very clear about their performance and there was a very measured joy in the locker room after the victory. I think it’s because the players know we scared each other. And given that we have just experienced a difficult scenario two or three times in a row, we said to ourselves that we were falling into the same mistakes again. But this time, the public ensured that the scales remained balanced. The changes? I found that we were no longer able to defend by moving forward, we were leaving too many opportunities to Saint-Etienne. But by reorganizing ourselves, we started to defend by moving forward again and their game was less fluid, they no longer took advantage of our mistakes” indicated Pierre Sage, refusing to get excited and preferring instead to sound the alarm after the narrower victory than he hoped for OL in the derby this Sunday. Lyon will have to learn to kill its matches in the weeks to come, otherwise the disappointments will be repeated and the 45-year-old coach is well aware of this.
Belgium
