still fragile, Lyon loses to Lens for its first match since the dismissal of Fabio Grosso

OL did well at the Bollaert stadium on Saturday, but were caught out by individual errors. He remains last before facing Marseille in a late match next Wednesday.

The coaches parade, and Olympique Lyonnais does not advance. For its first match since the ouster of Fabio Grosso last Thursday, Lyon lost on the lawn of Lens (2-3), Saturday December 2, for the 14th day of Ligue 1. Now led by Pierre Sage, a A novice technician at this level, the Gones delivered a rather coherent performance, but were caught up by their defensive shortcomings and remained last in the championship.

The three Lensois goals were, in fact, conceded on approximations. There was first an error of judgment from Jake O’Brien, whose unfortunate deflection on a long ball put Wesley Saïd back into play, allowing the Artesian striker to adjust Anthony Lopes (25th, 1-1 ). Skelly Alvero then conceded a penalty after light contact on David Pereira da Costa, transformed by Przemyslaw Frankowski (51st, 2-1).

This defensive naivety materialized even more on the third Lensois goal, on which this same Frankoswki benefited from a disconcerting freedom to place a volley from the left, deflected into his own net by the unfortunate Dejan Lovren (73rd, 3-2 ). This oversight undermined the Rhone residents all the more as they had just equalized a minute earlier from a corner, by Jake O’Brien (71st, 2-2). The Irish defender even opened the scoring in an identical phase of play (14th, 0-1).

These individual errors reduced to nothing the efforts of Lyonnais who could have expected a more favorable outcome and, collectively, defended rather well. “In the animation, it was much betterjudged striker Alexandre Lacazette on Prime Video after the match. There are things to remember, but we are not rewarded.”

Better, but still no points

Lyon once again suffered from its chronic inefficiency, and came up against a much more inspired Brice Samba (five saves) than against Arsenal on Wednesday in the Champions League (0-6). They lost for the sixth time despite having a higher Expected Goals total than the opponent (3.03 versus 2.66 – a statistic that measures the number of goals a team should have scored based on the dangerousness of its shots).

“We can’t not be rewarded every weekend”, slipped Pierre Sage after the match. While waiting to know if his interim will be renewed and if the tide will finally turn, the coach tried to “release” the squad, according to Alexandre Lacazette, while the players seemed lost by the tactical trials and errors of Fabio Grosso.

His speech partly worked, but the accounting result remains zero, facing an opponent who is nevertheless timid and still marked by his London debacle. OL thus remains cloistered in last place in the standings, with just seven points. And he will be on deck from Wednesday against another sick team in Ligue 1, Marseille.