A black week for OL: defeat against Manchester United and a lost derby
The 72 hours spent were difficult for the Lyon team, which suffered two successive losses. First, on Thursday night, Paulo Fonseca’s men were beaten by Manchester United (5-4), a game marked by a strong emotional impact. Then, on Sunday, during the 126th derby against the Stéphanois rivals, OL lost again (2-1), despite a rotation in the team made by the Portuguese technician.
Nicolas Puydebois, a former Lyon goaltender and consultant on our show “As long as there are some Gones”, expressed his dissatisfaction with the physical engagement of the players during this derby. According to him, duels are essential in a derby, but they were won only by the Stéphanois. He took Caleta-Car as an example, which preferred to apologize after deviating a corner rather than imposing its presence.
OL-trained players also disappointed in this game. Rayan Cherki, “throwing” against Manchester United, was extinct against Saint Stephen. Georges Mikautadze had to wait for the referee’s intervention to start playing. Enzo Reale, who would have liked to see his training club attack from the entrance a Stéphanois formation in defensive difficulty, criticized the Lyon defence, too far from marking.
Even if the paper announced an unbalanced confrontation, the rivalry between the two teams has ravaged the ranking and level differences. The Greens showed the spirit of a derby in the Chaudron, while OL did not play a real derby.
Paulo Fonseca’s turnover was also criticized by Enzo Reale, who was dubious about Lyon’s ambitions against Saint-Étienne. The entry of Paul Akouokou after the injury of Corentin Tolisso, replaced at half-time by Ainsley Maitland-Niles, one of the few players to have shown character in the Lyon Marasm, was a symbol of this bad coaching.
The reception of Rennes this Saturday (26/04, 21:05) will be a first answer to questions about OL’s ambitions in the Champions League. The pressure will be raised on the shoulders of Marc Bollengier, referee of the OL-Rennes match, after the polemics surrounding François Letexier’s arbitration in the last OL match in Saint-Étienne (defeat 2-1).**