Lyon 2 - 0 Amiens Goals: Traore (24), Depay (75) Lineup: 4-4-2 diamond Gorgelin Dubois - Marcelo (cap.) - Morel - Mendy Ndombele - Tousart - Aouar Memphis Traoré - Mariano Terrier, 76 for Mariano Cornet, 87 for Traore Diop, 88 for Tousart L'Equipe Notes from the match: Lyon Overall: 5.5 Gorgelin - 6 Dubois - 5 Marcelo - 5 Morel - 5 Mendy - 4 Ndombele - 5 Tousart - 6 Aouar - 5 Memphis - 7 Traoré - 7 Mariano - 5 Genesio - 6
The match schedule is not being very friendly to me so far, and I again will be relying on highlight videos and match summaries. This is our last match without Lopes (and hopefully also last without Fekir).
Reims 1 - 0 Lyon Goals: Chavarria (32) for Reims Lineup (4-3-3) Gorgelin Dubois - Marcelo - Morel - Mendy Ndombele - Tousart - Aouar Traore - Mariano - Memphis Rafael, 83 for Dubois Cornet, 65 for Aouar Terrier, 65 for Mariano L'Equipe Notes from the match: Lyon Overall: 4.3 Gorgelin - 5 Dubois - 3 Marcelo - 4 Morel - 4 Mendy - 4 Ndombele - 6 Tousart - 6 Aouar - 3 Memphis - 5 Traoré - 4 Mariano - 3 Genesio - 4 IMO the 3 for Dubois is a bit harsh, he was at fault for the goal, but he provided most of the attacking impetus for the first 30 mins of the game, I think. Tousart was the best OL player on the pitch, but that's not saying much. Sadly, Aouar deserves the 3, it's one of the worst games I've ever seen him play. You can catch the full match here: https://www.fullmatchesandshows.com/2018/08/17/reims-vs-lyon-highlights-full-match/
Damn what had happened oh? didn't watch the match so nothing to argue here, nevertheless a bad result for Lyon. Promising start for Reims in Ligue 1 campaign since moving up from Ligue 2 though.
Not as disappointed that I couldn't watch in retrospect; as easy as it is to blame our defense in general it doesn't really seem like we put much dangerous attack together either.
Working from home so I can actually watch this one! Hoping for a better performance. Fekir on the bench, but should make his first appearance of the season. Denayer also on the bench to start.
About 20 minutes in. It's not a great start, giving Strasbourg way too much space (although they haven't done much with it) and I also feel like they are winning nearly every 50-50 ball.
35-40 minute Starting to shift the flow of the match our way a little bit, but still not looking super dangerous. And it's a goal! Terrier finishes nicely. I feel like on replay Mendy may have misplayed a square pass to Memphis that turned into a nice through ball.
HT 1-0 Traore with a kind of embarrassing miss (of the ball + falling) from near the penalty spot seems like a fitting end to that half. Definitely looked to have woken up since around the half hour mark
Early 2nd half. Firmly on the front foot and feels like the flood-gates could open any minutes. Fekir warming up.
FT 2-0 Lopes never really tested... so 6 Rafeal and Mendy were solid on the outside, probably go 6 and 7 (even if accidental a nice assist counts). Marcelo and Morel stilll don't inspire much confidence, Strasbourg's finishing was woeful, but they still gave too much space especially in the first 30. I'll go 5 and 5. Tousart and Cheikh Diop were probably the two best players over the full 90, I will give 8 and 7.5 respectively. Ndombele was not so great, so 5. Terrier was best upfront and tremendous instinct/placement on the first goal, 7. Traore had a nice goal, but overall was mediocre, 6. Memphis looked awful out there, I mean he played a slightly below average match overall but still had an impact. Still that hair deserved an official warning and bleaching the eye-brows to match is at least a yellow card , 5. Subs didn't really add much as we kind of coasted the rest of the match. Never been convinced by Genesio and this match didn't change that. If Strasbourg were a better team they would have put us on the back-foot early.
I honestly thought in the first half, Strasbourg deserved to be leading. Lyon improved a lot in the second half, but they can't afford such slow starts against more dangerous teams like PSG.
Leading Manchester City away and playing brilliant... I will never understand this team, but I love it.
In general we are starting to look more like what we expected coming into the season the's last few matches.
FT 1-1 home against Nantes. Giving up points to bottom table teams is so predictable that I'm not even that disappointed. Can't even blame Genesio for this we had several chances including a penalty but couldn't put them away. At this point, I like our chances more against PSG than I do against Guingamp.
No idea where Shakhtar Donetsk falls on our tendency to play to our competition level, especially with an empty stadium. I generally propose that the teams from 1st tier league teams (and Ligue 1 is probably more accurately Tier 1.5 or 1B) should view Champions League opponents from 2nd tier leagues as the equivalent of a mid-table teams in top leagues... you should probably beat them more times than not, but you certainly shouldn't expect victory or expect it to be easy.
Denayer should have put away that cross instead of heading it across goal, but overall not a bad half despite being behind. This match may end as a five-a-side at this pace.