Conquering and reinforced by the Ndombele-Faivre tandem, Lyon signs its “reference match” and clings

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At OL Park,

“I think we have our reference match. “Anthony Lopes could not resist this good old football cliché, a few minutes after the astonishing success of Lyon (2-0) against OGC Nice on Saturday evening, at the microphone of Canal +. In his defense, displaying 60.2% possession of the ball, with a record of 11 shots to 1, and even nearly 250 more successful passes than his opponent, cannot be trivial for this Olympique Lyonnais in search of certainties. As against OM (2-1) on February 1, Peter Bosz’s men were able to negotiate a double or quits turn.

Given their defeat in Monaco a week earlier (2-0), we imagined they could be 11 points off the podium at the end of the weekend. But thanks to a controlled shock from one end to the other (yes, believe us), they are back 5 lengths from the Gym (3rd). A great operation that makes sense in a difficult context, with Peter Bosz whose future hangs by a thread, Jérôme Boateng dismissed by the Dutch coach, and turns.

“With the ball, without the ball, I liked everything”

“Your irregularity and your mentality are sickening, wake up! “, thus swung the north turn, while the south then proclaimed its support for Juninho, while tackling the direction: “Juni: a start in indifference but an eternal love! “. It is therefore in this heavy context that the Lyon workforce has perfectly validated the offensive precepts of Peter Bosz, when they seemed to be forgotten. The interested party particularly liked the content of this fourth success in the last five Ligue 1 games.

“From the first to the last minute, with the ball, without the ball, I liked everything. The players weren’t afraid to play and I’m very happy about that. We pressed very, very well, we kept up the intensity all the time. This season, we had made good quarters of an hour, good half hours, but here we played a great match in full. It was very, very high level. This is exactly the style I’ve been trying to put in place since the start of the season. But you also need the players to play like that. »

“When we have Tanguy, it’s easier for everyone on the pitch”

This is a small spade heavy with meaning: the former coach of Ajax Amsterdam and Bayer Leverkusen therefore believes that his group was not built to stick to his “attractive and attacking” game. The big gain of the weekend came from the return from the CAN of Karl Toko Ekambi, second scorer (2-0, 52nd) and only real depth striker for this OL. “Our recruits bring us a lot too, appreciates Peter Bosz. With Karl and Romain Faivre, I can play with three forwards, whereas before I couldn’t. And then it’s sure that when you have Tanguy Ndombele, it’s easier for everyone on the ground. »

Here in the duel with Nice winger Justin Kluivert, Tanguy Ndombele launched his return to Parc OL perfectly on Saturday evening. OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE / AFP) – AFP

A thrilling midfielder for supporters with his power-speed-creativity combo, the player still belonging to Tottenham has shown from his first tenure how much more mature and involved in recovery he was than during his first stint in Lyon (from 2017 to 2019).

“Not the right state of mind” in Monaco

“I hope to find my marks as soon as possible, confides the person concerned. All week, we talked about playing as a team, with or without the ball, and I think we showed that today. In addition to constant pressing that stifled the Nice block, OL increased their spectacular attacking movements, most often with a rediscovered Lucas Paqueta.

But exactly, how can this recital be the extreme opposite of the Monaco match (2-0)? “Last week in Monaco, we did not enter the match with the right state of mind, slips Romain Faivre, the other recruit from the Lyon winter transfer window. The coach warned us and we put intensity and aggression from the start. I do not know if some had buried Lyon, but we know that there are quality players here, with whom we necessarily speak the same football. Not just every other week, then?


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