Without a victory since the start of the year and temporarily ejected from first place in the afternoon by Metz, victorious over Paris (3-1), FC Lorient had to raise its level of play in Dunkirk, unplayable like him this season at home (8 wins and two draws in 10 matches). The two ambitious maritime cities spent a good ten minutes measuring each other. But Lorient quickly put its host in difficulty, refusing to go up on goalkeeper Adrian Ortola so as not to get sucked in and blocking the opposing team’s attempts in the corridors. The Bretons did not try too hard to play with the proven defensive alignment of the Northerners either. “We took the option of being one against one and leaving the ball to the goalkeeper, who has a very good kicking game. It disturbed them,” said coach Olivier Pantaloni.
Talbi, scoring defender
The Merlus gradually got their foot on the ball and were well established in the opposing camp when Montassar Talbi opened the scoring (14′). The elegant Tunisian defender took the ball, given behind by Junior Kroupi, as he came to deceive Ortola at the far post. A real striker’s goal, which counts double, because it will be the only one of the match. The Lorient players should have seized the opportunity to aggravate the score, in particular by Jean-Victor Makengo (17′, 62′) and Pablo Pagis (54′), who lost all their face-to-face meetings with not only a goalkeeper good feet.
And they remained almost constantly under threat of an equalizer from Dunkirk, who pushed hard at the end of each act. But this time they presented real collective strength, to gradually gain the upper hand in the duels and defend their goal until the final moments of a match that was both tactical and exciting. “An excellent result and excellent behavior from the team as a whole,” said Pantaloni. “After our poor start to the year, we had to find new resources outside. It was the ideal match for that, with the challenge of keeping first place in the standings. The players have become aware of what we have to do today. We will have to keep this state of mind. »
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