Saint-Étienne (ASSE) finally turns green. After three worrying matches, punished by three defeats, without any goal scored, Olivier Dall’Oglio’s players, back in Ligue 1 after two years in the lower category, demonstrated, on Friday 13 September, great discipline and great defensive solidarity to achieve their first success of the season, at the expense of Lille (LOSC), in the opening of the 4my day (1-0).
Dominant but ineffective, LOSC, beaten by Paris Saint-Germain (1-3) just before the international break, suffered its second consecutive defeat, after starting the championship with two victories. It is not very reassuring for the Mastiffs, who face a marathon series of six matches in twenty-three days before the next break.
“Tonight was a shameful game; I am ashamed of what we set out to do.”declared Lille president Olivier Létang after the defeat. “I am going to talk about commitment. I must congratulate Saint-Etienne who made a commitment. Their victory is deserved and we could have conceded a second goal.”admitted.
Cafaro sole scorer
With more than 70% possession of the ball, the northerners, who will play on Tuesday in Lisbon against Sporting Portugal for 1D In the Champions League, they were largely in control of the match, but they were not realistic. The opposite was true for Les Stéphanois, who quickly opened the scoring thanks to Mathieu Cafaro, with a shot into the top corner after a cross from the right flank by the Georgian Zuriko Davitashvili, from the 6th.my minute (1-0).
Lille player Rémy Cabella, formerly of Stéphanois, was very dangerous close to Gautier Larsonneur’s goal, who, in the corner that followed his action, saved well a header from Benjamin André (14).my). Edon Zhegrova found the bar (34my).
In the second half, Lille, handicapped by the absence of several players, particularly midfielders (Bentaleb, Haraldsson, Mukau, Ethan Mbappé), pressed even harder against a Saint-Etienne that had regrouped in defence and was counter-attacking.
The entry into play of Jonathan David, Angel Gomes or Osame Sahraoui at the hour (57my) confirmed Lille’s pressure on the Greens but without further success, as a shot from the first, although well placed in front of Larsonneur, failed (75my). The goalkeeper was again decisive against Mitchel Bakker at the end of the match (84my).
“We are forming a team”
“We didn’t have enough situations in relation to our dominance”lamented Lille coach Bruno Genesio. “ We lacked technical precision in the last play and especially in the crosses”he explained, without wanting to comment on the absences in his squad. “It is the fate of all European teams that have international players”said.
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For their part, the Stéphanois had several opportunities to double their lead, notably thanks to Cafaro, whose attempt was blocked by Lucas Chevalier and sent to the feet of Belgian Lucas Stassin, who shot over (19).my). Saint-Etienne’s only scorer also forced Chevalier to make a difficult save just before the break (45′).my), while the Lille goalkeeper also intervened against Davitashvili (25my).
On a ball lost by Diakité, Stassin was once again alone against Chevalier, but the goalkeeper won his duel against the Belgian international (72).my) while Davitashvili narrowly missed in added time (90my + 2).
“We are building a team. It takes time”commented the coach of the Greens, Olivier Dall’Oglio. “I know that some people are very impatient. We will have to wait a little bit. But I have high hopes of having a real collective and being able to fight in every game as we did this afternoon against Lille.”he added.
Létang promises an “explanation” with the players
With this brief but precious success, the Stéphanois leave the bottom of the rankings and temporarily move up to 15th place.my ranking, waiting for the continuation of this 4thmy day time.
LOSC, on the eve of a new European campaign, suffered a third consecutive defeat – including the one suffered in Prague in the Champions League play-off return leg – and fell one place in Ligue 1 to seventh.my range. “We have four league games and six points. This is a warning message for everyone to wake up. At the moment, what we are doing is not quite enough.”He lashed out at Olivier Létang, who promised a ” explanation ” with the players.
